SEATTLE (AP) - Ladislav Nagy is quickly developing a reputation as a big-game player. After scoring the only goal in Seattle's 1-0 victory over the North Calgary Hawks in game seven of the conference semifinals, Nagy tallied twice for the Rainiers tonight as the club advanced to the Farley Cup Finals for the first time in six seasons with a 4-2 win over the Topeka Scarecrows. "I can't really explain it," said Nagy after the game. "With the number of great players on our roster, mayvbe the other team loses track of me every now and then. Playing with [Fisher] and [Heatley] doesn't hurt." With everything on the line for the top two teams in the Western Conference, a standing-room-only crowd jammed Seattle's Key Arena, with an additional 42,000 or so watching on the screens at nearby Seahawks Stadium. Tickets were reportedly sold for as much as $600 for the contest, and a ticket giveaway run by flagship station KJR-AM had to be scratched when the flood of calls burned out their main phone banks. It took the Rainiers awhile to build on the crowd's fervor, however. Nagy was called for tripping just two minutes into the game, and Seattle had to kill off a five-shot power-play from the Scarecrows' arsenal. Vesa Toskala (thirty-eight saves, 10/11 GR) was the key. "If we'd have gone down 1-0 that early in the game, who knows what would have happened," remarked Seattle head coach Doug Norris. "Vesa and Giggy have a healthy relationship, and they know that they can both get the job done. They're very supportive and positive, and I know that whomever gets the call for a game, we're going to get their best game. And that's usually pretty good." Building on the strength of their penalty kill, the Rainiers jumped first as Patrick Marleau scored with a low snapshot just under the glove of Grahame. Nagy followed with his two markers, the second of which occurred less than one minute into the second period. Joe Sakic brought the game to within two midway through the period, one-timing a Rem Murray pass into the net, and it looked as though the momentum had switched. Eighteen shots for the Scarecrows came Toskala's way, but he was solid as only Olli Jokinen's point shot eluded him. In the meantime, Marleau had scored again for the home team, giving him five goals in the seven-game series for Seattle. "I always want to play well here," said Marleau, who starred for the major junior Thunderbirds. "Since it took me eleven games to get my first goal this playoffs, I figure that I owe the guys a bit." As the clock ticked down to zero in the third period, the crowd was so loud that the officials had to stop play twice because they couldn't hear each other. Said play-by-play man Mike Haynes: "It was the absolute loudest I've ever heard this building. Remember, we were in the Kingdome for the playoffs back in 1998, and the sound doesn't really carry there. It's not really a hockey venue. I'd put tonight's crowd against any in the league." The most touching moments of the handshake line was the moments between Nagy and Stephane Yelle, the former Rainier who was violently involved with Nagy throughout the series. The two combined for thirty-four penalty minutes during the series, but a long conversation resolved things peacefully. "We never really played together (Nagy was acquired at the 2002 trade deadline, and only appeared in five games with Yelle), but he's a hard worker and you've got to hand it to him. He never gives up." For Adam Oates, who may have played his last NSHL game, it was a bittersweet ending to a tough season. "To come as close as we did last year, and then to come this close this year, it's disappointing," said Oates, who is certainly one of the most prolific players never to have won a Farley Cup. "They outworked us when it mattered, and we had two chances to close this series out. We couldn't do it." John Grahame, who thwarted the Rainiers time and time again over the course of the series, had this to say: "I think that after a few months have passed, we'll be able to look back on this and say that we were proud to have been a part of this series. Right now it just hurts too much. Vesa and Giggy both came up big, and you've got to hand it to them. We'll be back, though." RAINIERS NOTES: * Former Rainier Valeri Bure, who had missed most of the playoffs with a knee injury, came back tonight and assisted on Sakic's goal. * Tonight's Game Seven marks the fifth game in which the Rainiers could have been eliminated from the Farley Cup playoffs. In those games, the club is now a perfect 5-0. It's a far cry from last spring's disaster, when the club held a three-games-to-one edge over the Drayton Valley Drillers only to lose Game Five, Game Six and Gave Seven. "I think that we learned a lot about ourselves last year," remarked assistant coach Brian Skrudland. "When you work as hard as you do in this league for six, seven months, only to piss it away in the first round, it just makes the work in the offseason that much more important. I'm proud of where we are tonight." Of course, Skrudland knows that it's not over, because he was on the ice the last time Seattle was at the Finals - unfortunately, he was on the roster of the winning Gulag. * The Rainiers will now sit and wait to see whom their opponent will be in the Farley Cup Finals. Regardless of whom they face, it's sure to be interesting. If Brooklyn advances, it will be a rematch of the 1998 Farley Cup Finals, in which the Gulag defeated the then-Pirates in five games. On the other hand, if Florida comes out of the East, it will be a Finals between the two most prolific NSHL teams never to have won a Cup. Rainier players wouldn't comment as to who they'd prefer, although Seattle would have home-ice advantage against the Gulag. "We haven't really blown the doors off of anybody at home this spring," joked defenseman Nick Boynton. Topeka Scarecrows at Seattle Rainiers DATE : 04/17/2004 GOALS 1 2 3 OT F Topeka Scarecrows 0 1 1 0 2 Seattle Rainiers 2 1 1 0 4 SHOTS 1 2 3 OT F Topeka Scarecrows 13 9 18 0 40 Seattle Rainiers 9 9 7 0 25 G O A L S U M M A R Y 1. SEA. PATRICK MARLEAU(5)( CHRIS DRURY, ALEX TANGUAY ): 1st 4:23 2. SEA. LADISLAV NAGY(6)( DANY HEATLEY, ALEX TANGUAY ) (PP) : 1st 13:25 3. SEA. LADISLAV NAGY(7)( CHRIS DRURY, ALEX TANGUAY ) (PP) : 2nd 0:41 4. TPK. JOE SAKIC(7)( REM MURRAY, VALERI BURE ) (PP) : 2nd 12:56 5. SEA. PATRICK MARLEAU(6)( ED JOVANOVSKI, ALEX TANGUAY ): 3rd 5:03 6. TPK. OLLI JOKINEN(9)( DANIEL ALFREDSSON, BRIAN LEETCH ): 3rd 11:16 P E N A L T I E S S U M M A R Y 1. SEA. LADISLAV NAGY - 2 Minutes: 1st 2:16 2. TPK. CHRIS CHELIOS - 2 Minutes: 1st 13:08 3. TPK. BENCH PENALTY - 2 Minutes: 1st 14:43 EXTRA MINOR SERVED BY OLLI JOKINEN 5. TPK. CHRIS CHELIOS - 2 Minutes: 1st 19:18 6. TPK. BRIAN LEETCH - 2 Minutes: 2nd 2:05 7. SEA. ED JOVANOVSKI - 2 Minutes: 2nd 2:05 8. TPK. STEPHANE YELLE - 4 Minutes: 2nd 3:22 EXTRA MINOR SERVED BY JOE SAKIC 10. SEA. LADISLAV NAGY - 2 Minutes: 2nd 3:22 11. SEA. VITALY VISHNEVSKI - 2 Minutes: 2nd 5:38 12. SEA. ALEX TANGUAY - 2 Minutes: 2nd 9:37 13. TPK. GRANT MARSHALL - 2 Minutes: 2nd 9:37 14. SEA. LADISLAV NAGY - 2 Minutes: 2nd 12:33 15. SEA. KIRK MALTBY - 2 Minutes: 3rd 0:27 16. SEA. MARCUS RAGNARSSON - 4 Minutes: 3rd 3:19 17. TPK. GRANT MARSHALL - 4 Minutes: 3rd 3:19 18. SEA. MARCUS RAGNARSSON - 2 Minutes: 3rd 15:56 19. SEA. DANY HEATLEY - 2 Minutes: 3rd 18:07 I N J U R I E S NONE Player Stats For Topeka Scarecrows PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS DANIEL ALFREDSSON 1 5 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 41 22:30 1 2 SERGEI BEREZIN 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 33 19:25 0 2 VALERI BURE -2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 28 15:55 0 1 CHRIS CHELIOS 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 0-0 27 15:59 1 0 OLLI JOKINEN 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 18-10 41 22:09 0 2 JOE JUNEAU 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 8 4:54 1 0 DMITRI KALININ -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 20 11:15 0 0 ALEX KHAVANOV 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 41 24:50 0 1 BRIAN LEETCH 0 5 0 1 2 0 0 0-0 46 27:13 0 2 GRANT MARSHALL 0 3 0 0 6 0 0 0-0 11 7:04 0 1 REM MURRAY 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0-0 28 15:17 0 0 ADAM OATES 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2-2 13 6:47 0 0 CHRIS PHILLIPS -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 23 13:15 0 0 BRAD RICHARDS -2 2 0 0 0 0 0 3-0 35 20:05 0 2 MARTIN RUCINSKY -2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 32 17:35 0 1 JOE SAKIC 0 6 1 0 0 1 0 0-0 28 16:32 1 2 SCOTT STEVENS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 31 17:39 0 0 STEPHANE YELLE 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4-1 23 13:53 0 1 BENCH 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL -5 40 2 4 18 1 0 27-13 4 17 Player Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER +/- SOG G A PIM PP SH FO-W AC IT TA AS NICK BOYNTON 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 26 15:18 0 1 ANDREW BRUNETTE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-0 20 11:31 0 0 CHRIS DRURY 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 9-6 35 19:01 0 2 MIKE FISHER 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 8-3 38 22:12 1 0 DANY HEATLEY 0 5 0 1 2 0 0 0-0 29 16:00 1 1 ED JOVANOVSKI 0 3 0 1 2 0 0 0-0 47 26:50 1 2 VIKTOR KOZLOV 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 24 13:21 0 0 KIRK MALTBY 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0-0 30 16:41 2 1 PATRICK MARLEAU 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 0-0 30 17:08 0 2 ANDY McDONALD 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 8-5 24 14:11 4 0 LADISLAV NAGY 0 2 2 0 6 2 0 1-0 21 12:31 0 1 MARK PARRISH 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 15 8:38 1 0 MARCUS RAGNARSSON 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0-0 23 14:02 0 0 JAROSLAV SPACEK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 56 30:51 0 3 ALEX TANGUAY 1 0 0 4 2 0 0 0-0 30 17:27 0 0 VITALY VISHNEVSKI 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0-0 22 13:27 0 0 JASON WOOLLEY 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 22 13:27 0 1 TYLER WRIGHT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 10 6:10 0 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 5 25 4 8 22 2 0 27-14 10 14 Goalie Stats For Topeka Scarecrows PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS JOHN GRAHAME 59 25 4 0 6 5 104 TOMMY SALO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Goalie Stats For Seattle Rainiers PLAYER MIN SHOTS GA ENG GR GRS J-S GIGUERE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VESA TOSKALA 60 40 2 0 11 10 105 POWER PLAY OPP GOALS Topeka Scarecrows 6 1 Seattle Rainiers 4 2