Sting's playoff hopes die

Coach Willy Roy and his players left the Stadium last night withmixed emotions.

They were glad they defeated the Baltimore Blast 5-4. But theywere disappointed the victory was not enough to prevent the Sting'sfirst elimination from a playoff appearance in six years of indoorplay.

Manny Rojas led the way with three goals for the Sting.Karl-Heinz Granitza had three assists and Ricardo Alonso scored thewinner 12:44 into overtime.

In winning, the Sting caused a three-way tie with the Blast andPittsburgh Spirit for fourth place, the last playoff spot in theEastern Division.

All three teams have 23-24 records. But the Sting waseliminated because the tie-breaker procedures gave the edge to theBlast and Spirit, who play each other for the playoff spot tonight inBaltimore.

The Spirit prevailed in the first tie-breaker by winning itsseason series with the Sting 4-2. The Blast tied the Sting 3-3, butwon the second tie-breaker by scoring more goals over all (three).

The Sting went into the game needing to beat the Blast by fouror more goals to stay in the playoff hunt.

"It's always nice to win," said Roy. "It's certainly nice forthe fans and the players. Unfortunately, this one was a hollowvictory. One that was good for the fans. But for us, it's exit stage right so far as the playoffs are concerned."

"A one-goal victory is good any other night but tonight," saidGranitza, who drew cheers assisting on three goals, including thegame-winner. "Tonight it was not enough for us to win because it did not help us make the playoffs."

"At least it helps us end our home schedule on a positive note,"said Alonso.

"Unfortunately the schedule does not help us in this situation,"said Sting owner Lee Stern. "If Baltimore and Pittsburgh were playingany other opponents (tonight), we would have a chance."

The Blast outshot the Sting 45-26. Sting starting goalie HubertBirkenmeier faced 35 shots, made 14 saves and was named the over-allstar of the game. Victor Nogueira replaced Birkenmeier with 3:08left in regulation, faced 10 shots and made eight saves.

Blast goalie Scott Manning faced 26 shots and made 10 saves.

Alonso started and ended the Sting scoring. After a scorelessfirst quarter, he took a Granitza free kick and blasted it pastManning 14 seconds into the second quarter, the liveliest of thegame.

Blast defender Mike Stankovic tied the game at 7:24, StanStamenkovic assisting. But Rojas' first two goals offset a goal byBlast defender Tim Wittman and enabled the Sting to lead 3-2 athalftime.

Rojas' third goal was the only scoring in the third, giving theSting a 4-2 lead going into the fourth before goals by Stamenkovicand Wittman sent the match into sudden death overtime.

A boarding foul on Sting defender Hayden Knight forced the Stingto kill off a power play 5:16 into the extra session. But the Stingheld until Granitza, Alonso and Rojas put together a three-on-two forthe winner.

Said Granitza, "Alonso deserved the winning goal because of histremendous effort."