Barely.
With the difference between the end of their season and survival measured at a mere millimeter, the Aces used Colin Hemingway's goal late in overtime to shed their Southern discomfort and earn a 3-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays in Game 5 of the Kelly Cup Finals.
Hemingway jammed in his own rebound 17 minutes, 22 seconds into extra time at the North Charleston Coliseum to disappoint an announced crowd of 7,564 and deny the Stingrays a chance to collect hardware on their home ice.
And suddenly, with the end of sudden-death overtime, the Aces owned sudden life -- granted, thanks in part, to a South Carolina OT shot that ricocheted off the post behind Alaska goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux.
The victory put the Aces in rare company and forced the series back to Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, where Game 6 is set Thursday night.
Of the 11 previous teams to face a 3-1 series deficit in the ECHL Finals, 10 surrendered in Game 5. Only the 1999 Mississippi Sea Wolves bucked that trend, roaring back to beat the Richmond Renegades in seven games.
To match that feat, the Aces will have to win Thursday and again Friday against a Stingrays club that split the first two games of the Finals in Anchorage.
"We'll enjoy it for a little while,'' Lamoureux said after he made 36 saves. "We live to fight another day.''
That the Aces' spirits were lifted for their cross-country flights home today came courtesy of handiwork from Hemingway and Lance Galbraith.
Galbraith won a battle for the puck against Stingrays winger Brad Scherer behind the South Carolina net, stepped out to the right of Stingrays goalie James Reimer (40 saves, many of them fabulous) and fed a cross-crease pass to Hemingway at the left post. Reimer denied Hemingway's initial point-blank bid, but Hemingway hounded the rebound.
"I luckily jammed it in,'' Hemingway said. "I couldn't believe he stopped the first one.''
The game-ending play was born of a conversation Hemingway and Galbraith shared earlier this week. With Galbraith frustrated by his failure to score in the series before his second-period goal Saturday -- he has been repeatedly rebuffed by Reimer and South Carolina's other goalie, Jonathan Boutin -- he told Hemingway that if he got the puck to the side of the net, Hemingway should report to the far post.
"He was a man of his word,'' Hemingway said.
"He listened to me, and we're going to Game 6,'' Galbraith said.
Thus ended a hard-fought game indicative of most of this series. The exception was South Carolina's commanding 5-0 win in Game 4 Friday.
"Both teams getting chances, both working so hard in all three zones,'' said South Carolina coach Jared Bednar. "No one expected anything less.''
Staying alive required some puck luck for the Aces, though.
Five minutes into overtime, a funky bounce off the right-wing boards in Alaska's zone went directly to South Carolina's Maxime Lacroix in the slot. Lacroix, who scored the second-period goal that tied the game 2-2 and leads all playoff snipers with 12 goals, launched a rocket that rang off the inside of the right post. The puck ricocheted laterally behind Lamoureux and out of harm's way to the left wing.
In overtime, Lamoureux stoned Lacroix, Scherer and Jeff Corey, who between them have accounted for 32 of South Carolina's 78 goals in these playoffs.
"My biggest mindset is I owed the guys a big performance and big saves,'' Lamoureux said. "That was my mentality the whole game -- don't leave anything in the dressing room.''
He flourished despite giving up a soft goal to former UAA skater Spencer Carbery, whose second-period wrister from the bottom of the left circle hit the cuff of Lamoureux's glove, then glanced off the inside of his right knee and through his legs.
"You don't see him dwell on it,'' said Aces coach Keith McCambridge. "He doesn't shrink in net. A bad goal doesn't faze him.''
That the game was extended to overtime came courtesy, too, of South Carolina captain Brad Farynuk. With the game tied 2-2 midway through the third period, Aces center Tomas Kana enjoyed a clean breakaway. But Farynuk chased Kana down and stripped him cleanly of the puck before Kana could muster a shot.
"You've just got to bury your head and skate as hard as you can,'' Farynuk said. "Hopefully, that's why you get bag-skated (for conditioning) by your coaches all your life.''
The Aces made it clear from the outset they would not succumb easily. They outshot the Stingrays 11-3 in a scoreless first period.
South Carolina answered with a 15-7 advantage in the second period, which furnished all the goals in regulation.
"We respect the Aces' hockey club,'' Farynuk said. "They came to work hard. It's a testament to their grittiness.
"They won a battle behind the net and banged it home. We don't expect anything less from them.''
Nor do the Aces think lightly of the Stingrays, who complement their deep talent with a ferocious work ethic and terrific goaltending.
That's why the Aces figured they had to exceed the Stingrays on the labor front.
"The only way we're going to beat them is to work harder,'' McCambridge said. "If they back-check hard, we're going to back-check harder. If they fore-check hard, we're going to fore-check harder.''
Galbraith said the Aces talked after Game 4 and before Game 5 about making the Stingrays work for their reward.
"We talked about not folding, we talked about going out with a fight, playing our game and winning battles,'' Galbraith said. "It's a huge win. We could have folded, but that's not us.''
Nor is capitulation in the Stingrays.
"You've got to tip your hat to S.C. because they played so well,'' Lamoureux said. "It was our destiny to win tonight, and I thought we deserved to win.''
The victory made good the word of Aces captain Scott Burt. After Friday's Game 4 loss, he guaranteed to a Charleston reporter that the series would return to Alaska.
"We came out and played with heart and desire, and we finally got a bounce,'' Burt said.
Shuffling the deck
In an extraordinary move, McCambridge made alternate captain and second-team All-ECHL selection Matt Shasby a healthy scratch and replaced him with defenseman Nick Tuzzolino.
"The last thing I want to do is take a veteran out of the lineup,'' McCambridge said. "But I need more from Matt Shasby, and I couldn't wait any longer.
"I talked to him before the game and it's the second talk we've had. When Matt Shasby plays like he can, he's a top three defenseman in this league.''
Tuzzolino assisted on Galbraith's goal.
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
Aces 0 2 0 1 3
South Carolina 0 2 0 0 2
First Period -- None. Penalties -- Kana, Aces (hooking), :42; Wellar, South Carolina (roughing), 12:56; Burt, Aces (roughing), 12:56.
Second Period -- 1, Aces, Galbraith 8 (Kana, Tuzzolino), 6:23; 2, South Carolina, Carbery 4 (Kashirsky, Corey), 11:58; 3, Aces, Imbeault 7 (Keith, Turek), 12:48; 4, South Carolina, Lacroix 12 (Morin, Kiser), 17:32. Penalties -- Burt, Aces (interference), 8:30; Corey, South Carolina (boarding), 9:34.
Third Period -- None. Penalties -- None.
Overtime -- 5, Aces, C. Hemingway 9 (Galbraith, Fast), 17:22. Penalties -- None.
Shots on goal -- Aces 11-7-10-14--42. South Carolina 3-15-10-10--38.
Power-play Opportunities -- Aces 0 of 1; South Carolina 0 of 2.
Goalies -- Aces, Lamoureux, 14-5 (38 shots-36 saves). South Carolina, Reimer, 3-3 (42-40).
A -- 7,564 (10,349). T -- 3:12.
Referee -- Geno Binda. Linesmen -- Mike Hamilton, Paul Reid.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.