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katrina.waugh@roanoke.com 981-3127

For the past five seasons, Brian and Cindy Perdue have been to almost every Roanoke Express hockey game at the Roanoke Civic Center.

"The day after I had back surgery, I was at the game," Brian Perdue said. "The guys played their hearts out.

"We're going to miss them."

The ECHL Board of Governors terminated the Express' franchise Tuesday, leaving Roanoke without a team.

"We're very disappointed," said Brian Perdue, 46, an auto mechanic from Roanoke.

So was Henry Brabham, the founder of both Brabham Oil and a founding partner in the ECHL. Brabham owned the Roanoke franchise and parts of two others when the league began in 1988 with five teams.

"I sure hate it," said Brabham, who at 75 said he is done with the hockey business. "We've kept it alive for a long time. But you can't blame the owners. They've lost money year in and year out."

The board also voted to revoke the Greensboro (N.C.) Generals' franchise.

"I look for a couple more of 'em to go too," Brabham said. "The league has gone from developmental to where they think they're like the AHL. They've grown beyond what they can afford."

Express coach Tony MacAulay said Tuesday he was on the phone most of the afternoon, telling players, who are now free agents, that they must find new teams.

MacAulay, who has been with the team for two seasons, has a 2 1/2 year-old daughter. He and his wife, Tina, are expecting a second child.

"Hopefully we'll come together as a family, and the office will come together as a family and we can help each other," MacAulay said.

The Roanoke Valley has had a minor league hockey team continuously since 1980. Both Brian and Cindy Perdue have been fans since they were kids.

"I guess we'll have to go to more NASCAR races," said Cindy Perdue, 46, a medical billings professional.

ECHL President Brian McKenna held out hope that with new ownership, the league might be willing to put a new franchise in Roanoke as soon as the 2005-06 season.

There are other minor leagues, though it might be too late for Roanoke to attract at team this year.

Richmond, a former ECHL rival of Roanoke, now hosts a team in the United Hockey League.

The South East Hockey League began in 2003 and has teams in Huntsville, Ala.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Cape Fear, N.C.; and Winston-Salem, N.C. It recently announced the addition of teams in Pelham, Ala., and Tupelo, Miss., for the upcoming season.

"As long as it's hockey, we don't care," Brian Perdue said.