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Roanoke Express Weekly

January 12, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Roanoke Express News Release


ROANOKE, VA – The Roanoke Express closed out this past week's action with a 1-2-0 record. The Express enters this week with a record of 20-15-2, (42 pts., 4th place in Southern Division).

LAST WEEK'S ACTION

THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2003 at COLUMBIA 7-0 Loss

The Express suffered its worst defeat of the season last Thursday night at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, SC, when the Inferno handed them a 7-0 loss. The seven goals against was also the second highest amount allowed by Roanoke this year.

The Inferno tagged the Express for three goals in each of the first two periods, and added a seventh in the final frame. Alex Burrows and Paul Cabana each scored twice for Columbia, who picked up their first win against the Express this season. The Inferno out-shot the Express 50 to 27. David Belitski started in goal for the Express, and suffered the loss, allowing five goals on 32 shots before getting lifted from the game with 4:16 remaining in the second period. Jason Wolfe closed out the game in net for the Express and surrendered two goals on 18 shots.

The Express is now 2-1-0 vs. Columbia this season with three games remaining in the season series, all at the Roanoke Civic Center.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2004 vs. ATLANTIC CITY 5-1 Loss

The rough start to the week continued on Friday night at the Roanoke Civic Center, when the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies handed the Express a 5-1 defeat in the third game of the season series between the two former division rivals.

After a quiet beginning to the contest, Atlantic City opened the scoring with four minutes left in the opening period. The Bullies added to their lead with two goals coming just 51 seconds apart midway through the second period to open a 3-0 lead. Atlantic City pushed its lead to 4-0 after two periods of play with another goal coming with just under four minutes remaining in the second stanza.

Roanoke collected its lone goal 2:18 into the third period when Rick Kowalsky one-timed a pass from Duncan Dalmao into the net to cut the lead to 4-1. However, the Bullies regained its four goal advantage at the nine minute mark of the third period.

The goal for the Express in the third period, snapped the teams longest scorless drought of the year. The Express had gone 123:25 with out a goal prior to Kowalsky's tally.

Jason Wolfe got the start in goal for the Express and took the loss allowing the five goals on 46 shots, to fall to 9-8-0. The Boardwalk Bullies remained perfect against the Express this season with the win, raising its record to 3-0-0 vs. Roanoke this year. The win also improved Atlantic City to 9-0-1 in its last 10 games.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2004 vs. TOLEDO 3-2 Shootout Win

The Express snapped its two-game losing skid with a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout victory over the Toledo Storm Saturday night at the Roanoke Civic Center.

In the first of three meetings on the season between the teams, and the only one at the Roundhouse, the Express saw themselves fall behind 2-0 by the 22-second mark of the second period. However, the Express dug deep and forged a comeback to get back in the game. David Silverstone picked up the first Roanoke goal, completing a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Express. Jeremy Kyte fed Silverstone in the slot with a pass from the left-wing boards, and Silverstone put the puck on net. Toledo goaltender Doug Tesky made the save, but slid into the net with the puck to give the Express its first goal of the night. Trailing 2-1 into the third period, Roanoke converted on a power play when Andrew McPherson slid a perfect pass to defenseman Josh Barker in the slot, who was patient enough to wait for the goaltender make his move, then fire the puck into the open side of the net to tie the game a two five minutes into the third period.

Neither team could find the leading goal over the remaining time in regulation, or in the five-minute overtime period. That forced the game into a shootout, Roanoke's sixth this season, and allowed the Express to come up with the win. McPherson scored on Roanoke's first attempt, and that was all goaltender David Belitski needed. Belitski turned away all five Toledo shooters to preserve the win for the Express. With the shootout win, Roanoke has won five of its six games that have gone to a shootout.

Belitski stopped 32 of 34 Storm shots in regulation and overtime, and raised his record to 11-7-2 on the season with the win. Belitski is now 3-0-1 in shootouts this season, and has stopped 17 of 20 shooters against him this season.

The Express and Storm will meet twice more this season, both times in Toledo, OH on the final two days of January.

UPCOMING GAMES

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 & 17 at FLORIDA 7:30 p.m. (Both Games)

The Express has a short week this week, playing just two games, both against Southern Division rival Florida Everblades. The games will be the second and third of the four-game season series. Roanoke collected a 7-5 win over the Everblades on Nov. 28 at the Roanoke Civic Center. The two games are the only two played between the teams in Estero, FL this season. Florida enters this week's action with a record of 20-11-7 (47 pts., 2nd Southern Division), and is an impressive 12-2-3 at home this year. Roanoke is 2-2-0 all-time vs. Florida. The all-star break follows this weekend's action.

NEWS & NOTES

Special Teams: The Express enters this week ranked 11th on the power play (18.6%) and ranked 16th on the penalty kill (83.1%).

League Leaders: Roanoke Express captain Rick Kowalsky is ranked 11th in overall scoring in the ECHL with 42 points (18 goals, 24 assists)...Kowalsky is also tied for third in the league in shots taken with 148... Tim O'Connell is tied with Kowalsky in the league, and leads all defenseman in shots taken with 148 despite playing just one game in the league since Dec. 21...Duncan Dalmao is 3rd in the league in power play assists with 16, and is tied for 5th in power play points with 20...Dalmao also ranks 7th in overall points by defenseman with 31...David Belitski is first among all ECHL goaltenders in shootout save percentage, stopping 85 percent of shooters.

In The Division: Roanoke is 14-4-2 against its Southern Division opponents this season. 30 of their 40 points have come against divisional opponents. Roanoke's intradivision point total is the best among all Southern Division teams.

Called-Up: Express forward Joe Dusbabek was called up to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League on Friday. Dusbabek, had a career year with Roanoke last season, has 29 points in 31 games with the Express this season. The call-up is Dusbabek's first of his career. The 25-year-old Fairbault, MN native is in his fourth professional season, all with the Express, and has 59 goals and 94 assists in 210 career games. Dusbabek is the fourth member of the Express to receive a call-up to the AHL this season.

Who's Hot for Roanoke: D Duncan Dalmao has picked up a point in six of the last seven games...LW Shawn Limpright has scored a point in 13 of the last 14 games he's played in (12 G, 9 A)...RW Rick Kowalsky has points in six of the last eight games (5 g, 5 a)...LW Joe Dusbabek has points in four of the last games he's played in and has picked up 25 points in the last 20 games.

-more-

What Are They Up To?: The Express currently has four players called-up to the AHL. Here's an update on how each have performed: Dan Carlson (Lowell Lockmonsters) - 17 games, 3 goals, 1 assist, 8 PIM. Tim O'Connell (Norfolk Admirals) - 9 games, 1 goal, 3 assists, 14 PIM. Shawn Limpright (Syracuse Crunch) - 5 games, 0 goals,

2 assist, 6 PIM. Joe Dusbabek (Bridgeport Sound Tigers) – 2 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 PIM.

ALL EXPRESS GAMES ARE BROADCAST LIVE ON THE 3WR RADIO NETWORK, 910 AM IN ROANOKE AND 990 AM IN BLACKSBURG. ALL GAMES ARE LIVE ON THE INTERNET AT www.wcqv.com



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