Express Weekly

October 20, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Roanoke Express News Release


ROANOKE, VA – The Roanoke Express opened the 2003-2004 season this past weekend with a pair of games. The Express began the season with two one-goal losses to Long Beach and Wheeling. The Express enters this week with a record of 0-2-0, (8th place in Southern Division).

LAST WEEK'S ACTION

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2003 vs. LONG BEACH 5-4 LOSS

The Express and Long Beach Ice Dogs made league history on Friday night, as the first game in ECHL history between and east coast team, and a former West Coast Hockey League team. A physical match-up saw the team's battle tooth-and-nail in the opening game of the season. In front of over 4,000 fans at the Roanoke Civic Center, the teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period. Newcomer Jeremy Kyte scored the lone goal for Roanoke midway through the opening period.

The second period saw the Ice Dogs dominate play. Long Beach scored three times in the middle stanza to open up a 4-1 lead after two periods. However, the Express battled back strong in the third period to close the gap. Roanoke opened the third period scoring twice in the first four and a half minutes. Dan Carlson netted his first goal of the season at 3:25 of the third period to cut the Long Beach lead to 4-2. Just over a minute later, Shawn Limpright cut the lead to one with his first goal of the year. With momentum building for the Express, the Ice Dogs quickly settled things down with their fifth goal of the night just 11 seconds after Limpright scored.

Trailing 5-3 going into the final seven minutes to play in the game, the Express again cut the lead to just one, when Joe Dusbabek collected his first goal of the season at 14:13 of the final period. Despite a strong flurry of action, and several golden opportunities late in the game, the Express couldn't manage to get the tying goal past Long Beach goaltender Colin Zulianello, who made several spectacular saves in the closing moments to preserve the win for the Ice Dogs.

David Belitski started in goal for the Express and suffered the loss, making 24 saves on 29 shots to see his record fall to 0-1-0 for the year. Zulianello, stopped 26 of 30 shots to earn the win for Long Beach and see his record climb to 1-0-0.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 , 2003 at WHEELING NAILERS 6-5 LOSS

The Express played its first road game of the season on Saturday night in Wheeling WV. The Express and Nailers, who played each other once in the pre-season, battled to another one-goal game at the newly named WesBanco Arena. The Nailers, playing in their first game of the season opened the game with jump in their step, by outplaying the Express in the opening period. After the first 20 minutes of play, Wheeling found themselves leading 4-1. The Nailers out shot the Express 20-3 in the opening period of play, and scored the first two goals of the game. The Express cut the lead in half with a power play goal by Andrew McPherson 14 minutes into the game, but Wheeling collected two more goal in the final six minutes of the period to open the three-goal lead. Former Express forward Jason Jaffray scored twice in the period for Wheeling.

Trailing by three, the Express endured penalty after penalty in the second period to score three times in the first 5:45. Dan Carlson and Shawn Limpright scored 31 seconds apart at 3:20 and 3:51 of the middle period to cut Wheeling's lead to 4-3. The Express tied the game at 5:45 of the second period on Jeremy Kyte's second goal of the season. The game remained tied at four until late in the period, when the Nailers took advantage of a favorable bounce on a clearing attempt by the Express to open a

5-4 lead after two periods. Overall in the second period, the Express found themselves short-handed eight times, and a total of 12 times in the first two periods.

In the third period, Wheeling upped their lead to 6-4 nine minutes in, but again saw the Express battled back to cut the lead to one, when Blair Stayzer notched his first goal of the season on a delayed penalty situation. Stayzer was the extra attacker on the ice for Roanoke, and stoked home a rebound after Tim O'Connell's shot hit the post. Trailing 6-5, the Express again kept the pressure on, but for the second time in as many nights, Roanoke could not find the equalizer in the closing moments.

Jason Wolfe started in goal for the Express and faced an incredible 48 shots in suffering the loss to fall to 0-1-0. David Belitski did see action, playing the final 3:57 of the first period, and stopped both shots he saw. The Express closed out the night 3-for-6 on the power play, and Wheeling scored on two of its 12 power play chances.

UPCOMING GAMES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2003 at ATLANTIC CITY 7:05 p.m.

The Express makes the first of its two trips to Atlantic City, NJ to take on the defending Kelly Cup Champion Boardwalk Bullies. Last season, the Express was 4-3-2 against their former Northeast Division rival. The Express and Boardwalk Bullies will skate against each other a total of four times this season, playing twice at each team's arena. The Bullies visit Roanoke on Oct. 28 and Jan. 9, and the Express make their second visit to Atlantic City on Feb. 27. The Express has an all-time record vs. Atlantic City of 10-6-3.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2003 at CINCINNATI 7:35 p.m.

Roanoke makes its only visit to Cincinnati, OH on Friday night, when they take on the Cyclones for the first of two games this season. Last year the Express and Cyclones faced off against each other twice, with the Express sweeping the series with wins of 8-3 and 7-3. Both games last year were played at the Roanoke Civic Center. Cincinnati's lone visit to the Roundhouse this year will come on Dec. 20. The Express holds and all-time record of 7-5-1 vs. Cincinnati.

NEWS & NOTES

POWERFUL STUFF: Early in the 2003-04 season, the Express has made the most of its power play chances. In its first two games, the Express has scored four goals on the man advantage in its 14 opportunities. After the first weekend of the season, that ranks the Express third with a 28.5 percent rating. On the other side, the Express ranks 9th in overall penalty kill, having successfully killed off 17 of 19 chances (89.4%).

OUT OF DIVISION EXPERIENCE?: The Roanoke Express begins the 2003-04 season in a new division (The Southern Division of the Eastern Conference), made up primarily of teams that are in the South. However, the Express play their first five games against teams outside the division. Roanoke's first divisional match-up comes on the final day of October when they travel to Greenville, SC. Interestingly enough, once the Express plays that game against the Grrrowl, they play seven of their next eight games against teams inside the Southern Division.



ECHL Stories from October 20, 2003


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