Going into game three down two games to none, the Hedgehogs needed a solid effort from every player in order to keep the game close. In the series' first Netmeeting game, San Francisco managed to defeat the Seattle Rainiers in overtime by the score of three to two. Former Rainier super-star, Jaromir Jagr was the hero for scoring the winning goal, but Kevin Weekes may have out-shined everyone on the ice. Weekes stopped 12 out of 13 goalie ratings and five out of six split chances. In all, the goaltender who was shaky in the first two games stopped 41 out of 43 shots he faced. Seattle was skating on thinner legs as they battle the injury bug. Their second leading scorer, Chris Drury was absent from the game with the flu. He joined Andy McDonald and Marcus Ragnarsson as sideline spectators. The Rainiers report that Drury will be in the line-up for game four. For San Francisco, two changes were made from their previous two games. First, Seattle Sasquatch owner Scott Shigemi took control of the team. Acting as the Hedgehog's coach, he then replaced Andreas Dackell with Rob Zamuner. He also mixed up the lines, trying to get San Francisco's top gunners as much ice time as possible, while at the same time neutralizing Seattle's scoring threats. "It was much easier to play the Rainiers without Drury," the interim coach said. "I should know him just as well as anyone. Hell, I gave the guy up to the Rainiers and we play against him six or more times every year. He's simply an outstanding player. Any time a team loses a player of that caliber, it's tough to win games." Matching lines combined with Kevin Weekes' MVP performance in goal, San Francisco managed to keep the Rainiers off the scoreboard in a tight checking first period. By tight checking, it means that both teams came close to never failing at any chance at intimidating one another. Trevor Linden was the only player to miss his check in the first period. Seattle was perfect, hitting four out of four, including a one off a three for Vladimir Malakhov. Eventually late in the second period, the Hedgehogs were able to break the ice with a goal by Toni Lydman. Lydman joined the offensive rush and was rewarded as the trailing attacker. Martin St. Louis dropped the pass back to the defenseman as he ran the screen. Screened in front, J.S. Giguere leaned the wrong way as the puck found the back of the net [BKWY4:SP3:G10]. The home town celebration wouldn't last very long. Seattle came back to tie the game just two minutes later. Patrick Marleau performed the "spin-o-ramma" with a goalie rating rebound resulting from the shot. Dany Heatley was sitting on the doorstep to knock in the garbage [REB9:GR5]. "Weekes was a wall out there," said Heatley. "No pun intended, but it almost felt as if we could shoot for a week straight and not get a goal." Going into the third period, Seattle remained the favorites to win the game. They had more quality scoring chances and a 4-0 special teams advantage. Despite giving the league's third best power play team six opportunities, San Francisco managed to keep the high-powered offense from scoring with the man-advantage. During their sixth power play, Seattle got sloppy. Andrew Brunette attempted a cross-ice pass, but Trevor Linden intercepted the puck and tore down the ice unopposed. With only Giguere to beat, Linden put the puck top-shelf over the shoulder of Giguere [BKWY9:GR8]. Leading 2-1, San Francisco decided to play back on their heels. By limiting Seattle to play against the walls, they'd be able to force a game five. The lead wouldn't last as Norris pulled Giguere with two minutes remaining and his checking line on the ice. Dany Heatley was put in as the extra attacker. The gamble was successful when Seattle pinned the puck deep in San Francisco's end. Big boy Kirk Maltby fed the puck to Kozlov. Kicking the puck up to his stick, Kozlov bounced the shot off Weekes' pads. The uncontrolled rebound went to Heatley who some how deflected it off Kozlov [REB11:SP3:G+11]. The bizarre nature of the goal was reviewed, but after discussing it with the commissioner who was in attendance (duh!), the play stood. Kozlov was credited with the goal despite Heatley taking the shot. The remainder of the third saw Martin St. Louis drilled by Maltby. On the play, the punishing forward looked as if he was going to get called for roughing, but the officials swallowed their whistles. Not posting the IP address to the NSHL mailing list meant that the peanut gallery couldn't chant "O-V-E-R-T-I-M-E!" over and over again, but that didn't diminish the fun being had by the two coaches. Going into the extra period, Seattle lead their assault with their top two lines, but using the home rink advantage, San Francisco got the match-up they wanted. In matching Jagr's line against the Nagy line, the Hedgehogs finally got their big break. Jon Klemm made a terrific breakout pass to Igor Larionov. Matched with Jagr to his right, Larionov had no intention of shooting. Slipping the pass under Nick Boynton, Jagr pounded the puck home to end the game [BKWY5:GR8]. With some luck, game four might be equally exciting. Hopefully Doug will go for another Netmeeting game. 3 Stars ------- 1. Kevin Weekes (SFH) - 41/43 saves, 12/13 GRS 2. Jaromir Jagr (SFH) - 1 goal, 3 shots, +1, 1 TA, GWG 3. Dany Heatley (SEA) - 1 goal (should be 2), 8 shots, +1 Defense 11's (Sponsored by Eric Goodman :) ------------------------------------------ SEA - 1 SFH - 5 Split Goal Chances/Goals ------------------------ SEA - 6/1 SFH - 2/1 Seattle Rainiers at San Francisco Hedgehogs DATE : 03/13/2004 GOALS 1 2 3 OT F Seattle Rainiers 0 1 1 0 2 San Francisco Hedgehogs 0 1 1 1 3 SHOTS 1 2 3 OT F Seattle Rainiers 12 15 14 2 43 San Francisco Hedgehogs 6 8 11 2 27 G O A L S U M M A R Y 1. SFH. TONI LYDMAN(1)( MARTIN ST LOUIS, ANDREAS JOHANSSON ): 2nd 14:10 2. SEA. DANY HEATLEY(1)( PATRICK MARLEAU, ALEX TANGUAY ): 2nd 16:23 3. SFH. TREVOR LINDEN(1)( IAN LAPERRIERE ) (SH) : 3rd 15:13 4. SEA. VIKTOR KOZLOV(1)( MARK PARRISH ): 3rd 18:47 5. SFH. JAROMIR JAGR(1)( IGOR LARIONOV, JON KLEMM ): OT 2:51 P E N A L T I E S S U M M A R Y 1. SFH. JASSEN CULLIMORE - 2 Minutes: 1st 17:07 2. SFH. IAN LAPERRIERE - 2 Minutes: 2nd 2:42 3. SFH. ANDREAS JOHANSSON - 2 Minutes: 2nd 6:47 4. SFH. IGOR LARIONOV - 2 Minutes: 2nd 10:41 5. SFH. SERGEI ZHOLTOK - 2 Minutes: 3rd 1:40 6. SEA. JAROSLAV SPACEK - 2 Minutes: 3rd 7:23 7. SFH. ROB ZAMUNER - 2 Minutes: 3rd 14:41 I N J U R I E S NONE Player Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS NICK BOYNTON -1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 32 37:09 2 1 ANDREW BRUNETTE -2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 35 37:23 0 0 IVAN CIERNIK 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 11 6:34 0 0 MIKE FISHER -2 1 0 0 0 0 0 8-6 38 38:45 0 0 DANY HEATLEY 1 8 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 37 20:01 0 1 ED JOVANOVSKI -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 50 27:46 0 1 MIKE KEANE 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 11 6:34 0 0 VIKTOR KOZLOV -1 5 1 0 0 0 0 4-1 30 17:20 0 4 VLADIMIR MALAKHOV 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 16 9:16 2 0 KIRK MALTBY 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 27 16:02 0 0 PATRICK MARLEAU 1 5 0 1 0 0 0 12-6 37 20:01 0 1 LADISLAV NAGY -1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 41 40:32 1 2 MARK PARRISH -1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 30 17:20 0 0 JAROSLAV SPACEK 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0-0 53 29:33 2 2 ALEX TANGUAY 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 37 20:01 0 0 VITALY VISHNEVSKI -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 35 38:31 0 0 JASON WOOLLEY 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 16 9:16 0 0 TYLER WRIGHT 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2-1 11 6:34 0 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL -5 43 2 3 2 0 0 26-14 7 12 Player Stats For San Francisco Hedgehogs PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS DAN CLEARY 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 16 9:29 0 1 JASSEN CULLIMORE 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0-0 45 25:33 1 0 VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 9-5 44 41:40 0 2 PHIL HOUSLEY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 32 36:02 0 2 JAROMIR JAGR 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 32 35:51 1 0 ANDREAS JOHANSSON 1 2 0 1 2 0 0 0-0 23 13:47 0 1 FRANTISEK KABERLE 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 33 18:25 0 1 JON KLEMM 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 44 42:38 0 2 IAN LAPERRIERE 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1-0 18 9:41 0 0 IGOR LARIONOV 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 1-0 29 34:29 0 0 TREVOR LINDEN 1 3 1 0 0 0 1 9-5 29 16:53 0 1 TONI LYDMAN 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 42 24:07 1 0 OLEG PETROV 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 12 7:01 0 0 LASSE PIRJETA -2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 24 13:46 1 0 MARTIN ST LOUIS 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1-0 35 20:02 1 2 DANIEL TJARNQVIST 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 24 13:15 0 0 ROB ZAMUNER -1 2 0 0 2 0 0 1-1 25 14:26 0 0 SERGEI ZHOLTOK -1 4 0 0 2 0 0 4-1 25 14:26 0 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 4 27 3 5 12 0 1 26-12 5 13 Goalie Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS J-S GIGUERE 62 27 3 0 5 3 109 VESA TOSKALA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Goalie Stats For San Francisco Hedgehogs PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 KEVIN WEEKES 62 43 2 0 13 12 110 POWER PLAY OPP GOALS Seattle Rainiers 6 0 San Francisco Hedgehogs 1 0