After each of the games in San Francisco went extra time, the Seattle Rainiers knew that they had cause for concern despite having the chance to close the Hedgehogs out in five. "We had the same advantage against [Drayton Valley] last year, and we blew three straight," remarked Seattle coach Doug Norris. The evening's game started roughly, as Seattle's Dany Heatley tried to gain a measure of revenge for Vincent Damphousse's actions in Game Four. Heatley blatently crosschecked the Hedgehog left winger mere seconds into action, causing Damphousse to retaliate against the sideboards in Seattle's end. Both were taken to the box, although not before two scuffles erupted near center ice. Even goaltender Kevin Weekes made his way to his own blueline before calm was restored. Shortly after five-on-five play resumed, San Francisco's Oleg Petrov earned the first quality chance (OS11, GR6) but was stopped by Giguere. Giguere, who was pulled from the game four win, held on for the faceoff. A boarding penalty to Mike Keane gave the Hedgehogs the first man advantage of the contest. The Rainiers killed things off, however, but were put back on the power play with a bad tripping call on Nick Boynton, whose laziness with his stick was met with referee Dan Marouelli's stern gaze. Martin St. Louis drove hard to the net (IS12, GR5) but was denied by the Rainier netminder. The diminutive portsider found the back of the net shortly thereafter, however, with a one-timer just above the faceoff circle past the screened Giguere (OS10, GR8). With their backs to the wall, San Francisco had the critical first goal of the game, St. Louis' third of the series. Giguere stopped Jagr on the following Boynton penalty, followed by an impressive Weekes save on Chris Drury. Drury won the ensuing faceoff and the puck eventually found its way to the right point, where Vladimir Malakhov (OS4, GR7) found the back of the net past Weekes for his first of the postseason. At first it was thought that Drury had tipped the puck in, but the scorer gave the goal to the enigmatic Russian defenseman. At the end of the first period, the desperate Hedgehogs had outchanced the Rainiers, 4-2, but were tied at one despite three San Francisco power-plays (to Seattle's zero). During intermission, ESPN viewers learned that Seattle's Andy McDonald was skating with the club and could be in the lineup soon. The Rainiers went to the attack early in the second, but Heatley was thwarted by Weekes (IS7, GR8). A frustrated Viktor Kozlov was called for diving after repeated hacks on the leg from Ian Laperriere, and the Hedgehogs had their fourth consecutive man advantage. The Rainiers killed it off, and had their first power play when former Seattle star Jaromir Jagr was whistled for interference. Weekes stoned Seattle on the advantage, and then stopped Alex Tanguay point-blank (OS4, GR10). Viktor Kozlov followed up with the second goal of the game for the Rainiers (BR6, GR7), giving the home team their first lead of the contest. It was Kozlov's third of the playoffs. Kevin Weekes held strong, however, stopping both Kozlov and Ladislav Nagy on the ensuing attack. Although Weekes' performance had been admirable to this point, the Rainiers were clearly coming on in territorial play. Could Weekes hold the fort until the Hedgehogs' arsenal regrouped? Unfortunately for the visitors' playoff hopes, the answer was "no", as Mark Parrish (OS12, split 7) one-timed a Nagy pass into the top of the San Francisco net for a 3-1 lead with 5:59 left in the period. Defenseman Phil Housley, who is rumoured to be retiring following the playoffs, got the Hedgehogs back within one when he dropped a rebound past Giguere (BR9, GR8) who was out of position after stopping Andreas Johansson on a pad stack. As the second period ended, San Francisco still held a glimmer of hope, being down by "just" one goal. After overcoming a three-goal deficit in the last game, surely the spirit would stay with the Hedgehogs with their season on the line. Heatley busted out of the locker room in the third, charging past a stunned Damphousse to beat Weekes one-on-one (IS10, GR7) to restore Seattle's two-goal advantage. Heatley's goal was his sixth in the series to this point. Giguere stopped a hard riser from Laperriere (OS10, GR7) to keep the lead at 4-2; on the rush back up the ice, Nagy and Laperriere was entangled with the Hedgehog winger being sent off for interference. Weekes was solid on the penalty-kill, but just fourteen minutes were potentially left in San Francisco's season. Seldom-used Mike Keane, who probably wouldn't be in the lineup were it not for the McDonald injury, took advantage to score his first goal of the year (regular season and postseason) by crashing the visitors' net to drive Weekes and the puck over the goal line (IS12(G18), Split 9). The question was now this - could the Rainiers hold the three-goal edge after failing the night before (and why did Doug have his fourth line out there in the middle of the third period after being burned in game four?) Weekes did stop defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson on a partial breakaway (BR5, GR6) but was beaten by Heatley on the rebound (BR7, GR7) to be chased for the third time in five games. Sebastien Charpentier, who performed solidly in relief in games two and four, came in with 11:07 left in the game. Laperriere, with his club's chances all but over, took a vicious two-handed slash to Kirk Maltby's wrists, but the Rainiers held back on the power play, secure in their lead. Maltby got the Rainiers' seventh goal of the evening, welcoming Charpentier to the game after Seattle was penalized for two many men on the ice. (Remarked ESPN's John Buccigross - "For San Francisco, the Rainiers had too many men on the ice most of the evening"). Attacking Toni Lydman at the right point, Maltby forced a turnover and deposited the biscuit behind Charpentier (BR7, GR9). For the late-season acquisition from Buffalo, it was Maltby's first of the playoffs. Giguere put the exclamation point on things with a save on Martin St. Louis (OS10, GR4) that tipped off defenseman Ragnarsson's shinpad. A late penalty on Ed Jovanovski only delayed the inevitable, and the Rainiers closed things out with a 7-2 win. Despite the series loss, Seattle's Ed Jovanovski insists that the Hedgehogs need not hang their heads. "They make it easy to forget that they're just a second-year team. They fight hard every shift, and we learned very quickly that you can't take a minute off against them. That's the way hockey should be played." Seattle advances to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2000, finally winning a playoff series after three consecutive defeats. There, they will face the resurgent North Calgary Hawks, who have given them trouble over the years. "We don't control who we play," said Drury after the game. "The Hawks are a great team, so it's inevitable that we'd play them eventually anyways. I'm sure it will be a great contest." The post-series handshakes, always a good moment, were made more emotional when Drury and Housley, who was probably playing his final NSHL game, hugged at center ice. "To a lot of young American hockey players, [Housley] is what the game represents. To be honest, I hope that he decides to come back for one more year." -------------------- The Rainiers organization would like to congratulate Steve Kramer, Scott Shigemi, and the staff, coaches and players of the San Francisco Hedgehogs for an excellent season and series. It's always tough playing your club, and this was no exception. -------------------- STARBUCKS THREE STARS OF THE GAME: 1. Dany Heatley, Seattle - two goals, assist 2. Jaroslav Spacek, Seattle - three assists 3. Patrick Marleau, Seattle - three assists San Francisco Hedgehogs at Seattle Rainiers DATE : 03/16/2004 GOALS 1 2 3 OT F San Francisco Hedgehogs 1 1 0 0 2 Seattle Rainiers 1 2 4 0 7 SHOTS 1 2 3 OT F San Francisco Hedgehogs 8 10 9 0 27 Seattle Rainiers 10 12 14 0 36 G O A L S U M M A R Y 1. SFH. MARTIN ST LOUIS(3)( TREVOR LINDEN, ANDREAS JOHANSSON ): 1st 11:45 2. SEA. VLADIMIR MALAKHOV(1)( PATRICK MARLEAU, DANY HEATLEY ): 1st 19:22 3. SEA. VIKTOR KOZLOV(3)( ED JOVANOVSKI, LADISLAV NAGY ): 2nd 12:54 4. SEA. MARK PARRISH(2)( LADISLAV NAGY, JAROSLAV SPACEK ): 2nd 14:01 5. SFH. PHIL HOUSLEY(1)( ANDREAS JOHANSSON, TREVOR LINDEN ): 2nd 18:51 6. SEA. DANY HEATLEY(6)( JAROSLAV SPACEK, PATRICK MARLEAU ): 3rd 1:35 7. SEA. MIKE KEANE(1)( JAROSLAV SPACEK ): 3rd 7:47 8. SEA. DANY HEATLEY(7)( MARCUS RAGNARSSON, PATRICK MARLEAU ): 3rd 8:53 9. SEA. KIRK MALTBY(1)( MIKE FISHER, ED JOVANOVSKI ) (SH) : 3rd 14:46 P E N A L T I E S S U M M A R Y 1. SEA. DANY HEATLEY - 2 Minutes: 1st 0:23 2. SFH. VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE - 2 Minutes: 1st 0:23 3. SEA. MIKE KEANE - 2 Minutes: 1st 5:32 4. SEA. NICK BOYNTON - 2 Minutes: 1st 9:08 5. SEA. NICK BOYNTON - 2 Minutes: 1st 15:44 6. SEA. VIKTOR KOZLOV - 2 Minutes: 2nd 4:26 7. SFH. JAROMIR JAGR - 2 Minutes: 2nd 8:18 8. SFH. IAN LAPERRIERE - 2 Minutes: 3rd 4:25 9. SFH. IAN LAPERRIERE - 2 Minutes: 3rd 10:13 10. SEA. JAROSLAV SPACEK - 2 Minutes: 3rd 13:40 11. SEA. ED JOVANOVSKI - 2 Minutes: 3rd 19:51 I N J U R I E S NONE Player Stats For San Francisco Hedgehogs PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS DAN CLEARY -1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 12 6:58 0 0 JASSEN CULLIMORE -2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 36 20:27 1 0 VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE -4 3 0 0 2 0 0 9-5 46 25:10 0 1 PHIL HOUSLEY -3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 46 25:46 0 1 JAROMIR JAGR -4 2 0 0 2 0 0 0-0 37 20:45 0 2 ANDREAS JOHANSSON 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 2-2 37 20:57 0 1 FRANTISEK KABERLE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 23 13:47 0 0 JON KLEMM -2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 40 22:53 0 0 IAN LAPERRIERE -1 1 0 0 4 0 0 0-0 19 11:22 0 0 IGOR LARIONOV -3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 25 14:55 0 0 TREVOR LINDEN 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 9-4 28 16:10 0 0 TONI LYDMAN -3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 45 24:48 0 0 OLEG PETROV -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 19 11:22 0 0 LASSE PIRJETA -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2-1 15 8:21 0 1 MARTIN ST LOUIS 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 34 19:27 1 2 DANIEL TJARNQVIST 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 17 10:56 0 0 ROB ZAMUNER -1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 12 6:58 0 0 SERGEI ZHOLTOK -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4-3 22 12:45 0 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL -25 27 2 4 8 0 0 26-15 2 9 Player Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS NICK BOYNTON 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 0-0 28 17:18 0 1 ANDREW BRUNETTE 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1-0 21 12:37 1 0 CHRIS DRURY 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 8-6 30 16:49 0 1 MIKE FISHER 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 8-4 31 16:52 0 0 DANY HEATLEY 2 3 2 1 2 0 0 0-0 30 16:36 1 2 ED JOVANOVSKI 5 0 0 2 2 0 0 0-0 45 24:03 0 2 MIKE KEANE 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 0-0 18 11:18 0 0 VIKTOR KOZLOV 2 3 1 0 2 0 0 5-1 26 14:41 1 1 VLADIMIR MALAKHOV -1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 26 15:50 1 1 KIRK MALTBY 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1-0 31 17:12 1 0 PATRICK MARLEAU 2 4 0 3 0 0 0 1-0 30 16:49 1 1 LADISLAV NAGY 2 5 0 2 0 0 0 0-0 26 14:56 1 2 MARK PARRISH 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0-0 23 13:27 1 0 MARCUS RAGNARSSON 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 28 17:09 0 0 JAROSLAV SPACEK 4 1 0 3 2 0 0 0-0 42 22:49 2 0 ALEX TANGUAY -1 3 0 0 0 0 0 2-0 25 14:19 1 0 VITALY VISHNEVSKI 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 29 16:56 0 0 TYLER WRIGHT 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 18 11:18 0 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 24 36 7 13 14 0 1 26-11 11 11 Goalie Stats For San Francisco Hedgehogs PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS SEBASTIEN CHARPENTIER 10 5 1 0 1 0 18 KEVIN WEEKES 49 31 6 0 9 5 87 Goalie Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS J-S GIGUERE 60 27 2 0 7 5 105 VESA TOSKALA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 POWER PLAY OPP GOALS San Francisco Hedgehogs 6 0 Seattle Rainiers 3 0