Carl Lauzon netted the game-winning goal in overtime as Rapid Solicitors Hull Stingrays beat Braehead Clan 3-1 to advance to the Elite League play-off finals weekend.
Stingrays went into the second leg at Hull Arena trailing 3-2 and they found Clan goaltender Kyle Jones in outstanding form in the first two periods. 
Matt Haywood got the go-ahead marker on the night and gave Clan a two-goal aggregate advantage when he fired past Stingrays stopper David Brown at 44.48.
But never-say-die Stingrays tied the game at 49.26 through Zach Hervato’s powerplay strike before Eric Galbraith made it 4-4 on aggregate at 54.06.
The match moved into overtime and Lauzon, the player-assistant coach, won it for Stingrays with just 77 seconds remaining as Hull Arena went bazerk.
Stingrays, who reached the finals weekend in 2011/12, will now face league champions Sheffield Steelers in the first semi-final at 1pm next Saturday with Belfast Giants and Coventry Blaze meeting in the other at 5pm.
Player-coach Omar Pacha said: “We sure do it the hard way! But it is a great feeling.
“From day one with these young kids, no-one gave them a chance. All through the year we have had injuries but through all the ups and downs we have always worked hard.
“We were down by one but the boys never quit. We got a big goal by Hervs, then Gally driving the net and what can you say about Lauzon?
“But we had a good feeling and even after the second we thought we could have had one or two. Jones was unbelievable and Browny played big too.
“One of our goals was to reach the final four. Before the weekend we were four games away from lifting the cup, now we are only two. Why not us?”
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