DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290506

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   70 lines

ROANOKE GETS EVEN, WINS SHOOTOUT DESPITE LOSS, HAMPTON ROADS TAKES OVER 1ST IN NORTHEAST

The Roanoke Express continues to treat Scope as home ice, virtually shutting down the Hampton Roads Admirals with a swarming defense Friday to emerge with a 2-1 shootout victory.

Roanoke was the only team to have a winning record against the Admirals in Norfolk last season and is 1-1 at Scope this season. With the win Friday, the Express avenged a 3-2 shootout loss to the Admirals on Thursday night in Roanoke.

Dave Stewart and Duane Harmer scored on Roanoke's first two shootout shots. The Express didn't score in its final three tries, but it didn't need to. Of five Hampton Roads shooters, only Dan Ceman scored. Daniel Berthiaume, the former Boston Bruins goalie, poke-checked the puck away before Alexander Kharlamov could get off a shot on the Admirals' final try.

With the loss, which counts as a tie in the ECHL standings, the Admirals (10-3-3) took sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division from idle Wheeling. Roanoke (9-4-1) is fourth.

At 8-1-2 in their last 11 games, the Admirals remain the ECHL's hottest team.

``You don't want to play for ties at home, but getting a point is some consolation,'' Admirals coach John Brophy said.

Apparently not enough, however. Brophy spent about 10 minutes behind closed doors blistering his players, kicking over a basket of clothes in the process.

``I had one line that played their guts out,'' Brophy said of Joel Poirier, Dan Carney and Billy Lincoln. ``The other two lines were just so-so. Not that we played bad. We just didn't play good enough. You've got to have everyone playing like that, especially at home.''

One player Brophy had no complaints about was goalie Jason Saal, who played perhaps his best game of the season.

Roanoke scored only once, on its first shot - a 40-foot wrister from Michael Smith that Saal never saw. The shot passed through a pileup of players in front of the crease and sailed into the net above his shoulder.

Saal pitched a shutout the final 59:37 with a lot of help from the defense, which surrendered just 23 shots.

Marty Clapton scored the only Hampton Roads goal at 13:05 of the second period as the Admirals worked their power play to near-perfection.

Defenseman Chris Phelps took a shot that was blocked by Berthiaume in front of the net. Defenseman Jason Mansoff got the rebound, carried several feet then fired a pass to Clapton, who one-timed it past Berthiaume.

Hampton Roads had few good chances from that point on as the Express repeatedly frustrated the Admirals by clogging the passing lanes and breaking up rushes before they got started. When the Admirals did manage to get shots off, Berthiaume turned them all away with ease.

``Our games with them are always very close,'' Roanoke coach Frank Anzalone said. ``Their team works hard, and so do we, so everybody's kind of offsetting everyone's talent.

``You're going to see Ceman and some of their other guys get their shots, but not as much as you do when other teams come in that don't play a system.''

NOTES: A questionnaire was passed out about the Admirals' likely move to the American Hockey League. Fans were asked if they would pay $10-$14 per ticket for an AHL team, what they would like best about a move up, and what they would like least. ``Our main concern in making this decision is what the fans want and what they think they can afford,'' Admirals owner Mark Garcea said. . . . The crowd of 8,870, 92 short of a sellout, raised the Admirals' average attendance to 7,235, third in the league and well ahead of last season. . . . Defending ECHL champion South Carolina comes to Scope on Wednesday. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Roanoke's Chris Fess drives a helmetless Yuri Yeresko into the

boards during second-period action Friday night at Scope.

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