May 5/6, 2000
SCORE BY PERIODS
Louisiana 1 1 0 0--2
Greenville 1 1 0 1--3
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Greenville-Venedam 6 (power play) (Masa)
7:32. 2, Louisiana-Nedomansky 8 (power play) (Valicevic) 13:22.
Penalties: Kucsulain, LA (Roughing), 1:35. Shanahan, LA (Roughing),
2:31. Kirton, GRV (Roughing, Double minor), 2:31. Murphy, LA (Holding),
5:59. Weingartner, LA (Elbowing), 7:44. Cech, GRV (Holding), 13:07.
Mulvihill, GRV (High sticking, Double minor), 13:07. Van Acker, GRV
(Interference), 19:17.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Louisiana-Murray 5 (power play)
(Nedomansky; Spoltore) 0:17. 4, Greenville-Masa 7 (power play)
(Fewster) 9:49. Penalties: Neilson, LA (Cross checking), 3:27.
Murphy, LA (Roughing), 8:06. Rezansoff, LA (Ten minute misc.),
10:21. Kucsulain, LA (Roughing, Unsportsmanlike Cond, Double minor),
10:21. Timofeev, GRV (Ten minute misc.), 10:21. Stewart, GRV
(Roughing), 10:21. Cech, GRV (Hooking), 12:19. Nedomansky, LA
(Roughing), 16:31. Jean, GRV (Holding stick), 19:34.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Nedomansky, LA (Roughing,
Double minor), 11:05. Jean, GRV (Roughing, Double minor), 11:05.
OVERTIME
-- Scoring: None. Penalties: Neilson, LA (Cross checking), 8:12.
Kirton, GRV (Cross
checking), 8:12. Valicevic, LA (Roughing), 16:16.
Mulvihill,
GRV
(Roughing), 16:16.
SECOND OVERTIME -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Kelly, GRV (Slashing),
1:49. Shanahan, LA (Roughing), 5:47. Van Acker, GRV (Roughing),
5:47. Kucsulain, LA (Holding), 10:14. Nedomansky, LA (Roughing),
10:14. McCauley, GRV (Roughing), 10:14. Cech, GRV
(Unsportsmanlike Cond), 11:14. Shanahan, LA (Slashing), 11:44.
THIRD OVERTIME -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Shanahan, LA (Slashing),
18:49. Kirton, GRV (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 18:49. Bogas, LA (Slashing,
Major, Game misc.), 19:44.
FOURTH
OVERTIME -- Scoring: 5, Greenville-Masa 8 (game winner) (Jean; Vitucci)
1:24.
Penalties: Fewster, GRV (Tripping), 0:53.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Louisiana 17 10 5 28--60
Greenville 13 13 7 32--65
Power Play Conversions: Louisiana - 2 of 8, Greenville - 2 of 9.
Goalies: Louisiana-Valley (65 shots, 62 saves; record: 6-1-2).
Greenville-Vitucci (60 shots, 58 saves; record: 8-2-1).
A: 6581. Referee: Hansen. Linesmen: Hamlett; Eberle.Masa scores goal at 1:46 a.m. to end marathon
BY Adam Davis
It was a
game that would have made Ernie Banks proud. "Let's play two,"
the Chicago
Cubs great used to say.
Long
before the end, the players' bodies could not keep up with their will. The
concession stands were closed. Many of the 6,581 fans were gone, most
likely asleep.
Even the Bi-Lo Center ice looked weary, with puddles
forming in several places.
Goalies
Nick Vitucci of Greenville and Mike Valley of Louisiana had seemingly put up
barbed wire fences and "No Trespassing" signs in front of their nets.
The longest game
in East Coast Hockey League history was refusing to end.
But
suddenly, after more than two full hockey games, Greenville's Martin Masa did
something no one had done in nearly five hours. He scored a goal.
At 1:46
a.m. Saturday morning--1:24 into the fourth overtime and 121:24 into the game--Masa
took the puck the length of the ice and beat the unbeatable Valley for a 3-2
Greenville
triumph.
The
victory gave the Grrrowl a 2-0 lead in the teams' best of seven Southern
Conference
final series, heading into Saturday night's game 3 in Lafayette, LA.
"It's
amazing the way Martin Masa, he can come up with magic when he needs to,"
Vitucci said.
"Where he got the energy to do that after playing six
periods of hockey, that's phenomenal."
On Masa's
game-winner, the teams were skating 4-on-4. Masa took the puck behind the
Grrrowl
net, zipped down the right side, and had only defenseman Stan Melanson
to beat.
Masa faked
to the outside and cut inside, leaving Melanson in his wake. Now alone in
front of
Valley, Masa flipped the puck into the right side of the net, causing a
swarm of sweaty white
jerseys to attack him in jubilation.
"This
is the biggest goal in my whole life," said Masa, a sixth-year veteran who
is in the
playoffs for the first time.
Previously,
as players lumbered sluggishly around the ice, an ugly game-winning goal seemed
inevitable. Yet Masa summoned the energy for one of the prettiest goals of
the season.
Vitucci
stopped 58 pucks, including 28 in overtime. Meanwhile, Valley had 62
saves, seven
short of the ECHL playoff record.
"He
was making some big saves, and I was sitting down on the other end thinking,
'God, I kind
of want to counter and overlap him a little bit here,'"
Vitucci said.
Both teams
had several chances to win, including one power play each in the second
overtime.
In the third overtime, the teams passed Mississippi and South
Carolina, who set the previous
record last season by playing for 110:37
(Mississippi won 4-3).
Ironically,
Greenville lost part of a five-minute power play before Masa's goal.
Louisiana's
Chris Bogas drew the initial penalty, plus an ejection, for a slash
on Greenville's Bill
McCauley with five seconds remaining in the third overtime.
But 53
seconds into the fourth OT, the Grrrowl's Neil Fewster was sent off for
tripping,
leaving each team with four skaters. And that's when Flight No.
28 took off.
Earlier--much
earlier--Sean Venedam and Masa scored for Greenville, with goals by Louisiana's
Vashi Nedomansky and Mike Murray in between. Masa's first goal, which tied
the game 2-2, came
9:49 into the second period. In hockey time, he had 91
minutes, 35 seconds between scores.
A day
earlier, Masa watched the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers play the
third-longest game in NHL history. The Flyers' Keith Primeau won that one,
12:01 into the
fifth overtime.
Little did Masa know that in almost 24 hours, he would be Primeau.
"I
was up until 2:20 when Philly scored a goal, and I was...kind of laughing--these
guys have
to be tired," Masa said. "And I never expected I would
play almost (the) same thing like
they did."