Knoxville 3 Huntsville 4 (OT)

HUNTSVILLE, AL — The Huntsville Havoc again avoided elimination in their best-of-five semi final playoff series against the Knoxville Ice Bears , this time with a gutsy 4-3 overtime win Monday night at the Von Braun Center to tie the series at two games apiece. The win sets up a winner-take-all game five at the Knoxville Civic Center Wednesday night at 7:35 PM .  2,181 fans watched as the home team come back from one goal deficits twice and go ahead 3-2 in the second period before Knoxville tied the game in period three to force overtime. Keith Rowe then got the overtime game winner for Huntsville by redirecting a blast from the point past losing goaltender Andrew Gallant.   The first period was, from the start, intense and physical as befitting a possible eli mination game. The Ice Bears jumped into the lead when Mark Van Vliet took a pass from Shaun Norrie and launched a wrist shot over the shoulder of Havoc goalie Tim Haun at 10:16. It came after the Havoc had just finished killing off three straight penalties including a two-man disadvantage for well over a minute.   That score held up until with six seconds left in the period, Jeff Winchester scored on a wicked slap shot from the point while the Havoc enjoyed their first power play of the night. Brett Smith of Knoxville had been whistled off for tripping and a minute and three seconds later Billy Tibbetts dug the puck out of a scrum in the corner and shuttled it back to Winchester who blasted his shot past Gallant at 19:54 .   The score remained tied until Ice Bears’ defenseman Kevin Harris crept in from the blue line and beat Haun on his stick side early in the second period. The goal at 3:47 drew assists from Bobby Joe Pelkey and Van Vliet. Moments before, Gallant had stopped Huntsville ’s Tibbetts on a semi break away right up the middle. Gallant made a sprawling pad save with some late arriving help from Harris.   Midway through the period, Huntsville scored twice within a minute and half to jump into the lead. First, Tibbetts poked the puck into the net while most of both teams had collapsed into a huge scrum in front of Gallant while chasing the puck in the crease. The net was shoved off its moorings in the action but referee Dan Dreger ruled that the puck had crossed the line before the net was dislodged, giving the Havoc the equalizer and a 2-2 tie score.   John Ronan then put Huntsville in the lead 3-2 at 11:51 on a clean shot that beat Gallant on his glove side, set up by Rowe and Tibbetts. The teams traded opportunities for the rest of the period but the Havoc’s 3-2 lead held going into period three.   Knoxville struck back at 7:52 in period three off a face-off in the Havoc’s defensive zone. Forward Chris Rebernik popped a rebound past Haun after Justin Keller won a faceoff sending it back to the point where Harris put it on net and Rebernik finished it off.   The teams played cautious and scoreless hockey after that with each team placing nine shots on goal in the period and except for one minor penalty early on against Huntsville, staying out of the penalty box.   Overtime, as it often does, ended quickly. Huntsville scored on their second shot on goal at 2:23 of the overtime period causing the crowd to erupt and the Havoc to start packing for a return to Knoxville to play the Ice Bears for the right to move on to the finals.   Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com