EAST ALTON • Just call them the comeback kids.
For the second straight night, the Edwardsville hockey team rallied in the third period -- this time from three goals down -- and knocked off Granite City 4-3 in a shootout to win the decisive Game 3 of the teams' Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association Class 2A North Division championship series.
The Tigers -- ousted by Granite City in each of the last three postseasons -- win the best-of-three series 2-1 to advance to the Class 2A championship series. Edwardsville will play the winner of the O'Fallon-Althoff series, which will have its decisive Game 3 on Thursday. The championship series will begin Monday.
"I think I aged about seven years in that game," said Tigers coach Jason Walker, who is all of 27 years of age. "It's not the way you want to win a game. It's a heart attack waiting to happen, but we got it done."
Granite City won the Class 2A championship last season, but finds itself on the outside looking in for this year's finals.
"It's definitely depressing to be up and let them back in and then lose it in a shootout," Warriors coach Scott Topal said. "Edwardsville's a good team. They're deep and they don't quit."
Granite City, which captured the regular season division title, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the blink of an eye, as leading scorer Brant Takmajian scored a pair of goals just eight seconds apart in the first period.
The first one came at the 5:08 mark when Takmajian knocked in the rebound of a Matt Burton shot. The second came right off the ensuing faceoff, as Riley Vanyo won it and poked it ahead to Takmajian, who skated into the zone and sent a wrist shot past Edwardsville goalie Loren Sawyer.
Thus, the Tigers found themselves in the same predicament they had been in the first two games of the series -- down 2-0 after one period.
It stayed that way until 1:18 remained in the second period when Takmajian completed a natural hat trick. He scored on a backhander that barely trickled past the goal line.
"He's a big strong kid," Topal said of Takmajian. "Last year, he started figuring out that he needs to play a power game and use his size and strength. He gets things done. I knew he'd come out strong tonight."
The Edwardsville offense awoke just in the nick of time, scoring three goals in a span of 2:13 to tie the game 3-3 in the third period.
Tyler Krapf started the onslaught with a blast from the left point that beat Warriors goalie Cameron Barton high to the stick side with one second left in a 5-on-3 man-advantage at the 3:51 mark.
Still on the power play, Krapf sent another shot in from the point that was tipped in mid-air by Jon Weisner to cut the lead to 3-2 just 58 seconds later.
The Tigers completed the comeback at the 6:04 mark when Marshall Gevers banged a rebound through the legs of Barton to tie the game. The goal gave Edwardsville seven third-period goals in two nights.
"It pretty much just bounced right to me, and I was able to score five-hole," Gevers said. "It was just dynamite."
No overtime is played in the MVCHA playoffs, so the game went right to a best-of-three shootout.
Weisner went first and made an unbelievable toe-drag move to give himself an empty net in which to deposit the puck for the first goal.
"I've been practicing that one for a couple years," Weisner said. "There are a lot of moves I try and some fail, but for some reason I just get that one every time."
After Sawyer made a good skate save on Burton's attempt, the Tigers struck again as Krapf went five-hole on Barton to put Edwardsville up 2-0 in the shootout.
At that point, the Tigers just needed a stop to win it, and they got it when Ryan Tinsley lost control of the puck while trying to make a move to the backhand.
Suddenly, Edwardsville had exorcised a three-year playoff demon in the most dramatic of fashions.
"It feels real good, especially for our senior group," Walker said. "That senior group (for Granite City) has had our number for sure, so this was our last chance to get these guys."
