Goal lifts the Spirit

DARRELL L. BREESE/ Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - There are over 3,100 miles between Reed Lally's home in Duluth, Minnesota and Wasilla. Sunday night he traveled nearly that far on the ice on his way to scoring the game winning goal in a 4-3 overtime victory against the visiting Billings Bulls.

Skating four on four in the five- minute sudden death overtime period, Lally chased down a puck dumped into the corner by teammate Miikka Keskitalo, with a Billings defender closing in he skated around the back of the Bulls net.

"At first, I just wanted to win the puck," Lally said. "After that, I figured I'd skate around the net and look for someone at the point to pass to. But there was no one there."

Unable to pass of the puck, Lally forced his way around the front of the net. A Billings defender attached himself to his hip as he circled.

"I just kept going around, hoping I could find someone to pass to, but the defense was closing in on me," Lally said. "So I decided to throw the puck in net with a backhand shot. They say good things happen when you put the puck in net. Tonight they were right."

Lally's shot slid under the leg of Billings' goalie Mike Reilly breaking the 3-3 tie and giving the Spirit their third straight win. More importantly it gave the Spirit a victory over a West Division foe. The win also puts the Spirit in first place in the division after the first full weekend of play.

"It's great to have won three straight," Lally said. "There isn't any better way to start the season."

Eric Dahl gave the Spirit a lead inside the two minute mark of the first period with a little help from Geoff Mies. But the lead was short lived as the Bulls responded less than four minutes later when Jon Cook tapped in the puck from the left side.

Midway through the second period the Bulls grabbed their first lead of the season on the first of two goals from Jeff Stone.

Spirit wing Mike caught fire, scoring back to back goals in the remaining moments of the second. Giving Wasilla a 3-2 lead.

Stone scored the lone goal of the third period to tie the score, setting up Lally's dramatic overtime goal.

The win comes on the heels of a 4-3 over the North Iowa Outlaws Saturday, which included the Spirit surviving the Outlaws pulling their goalie late.

Four different Spirit skaters scored in the victory, Steve Murphy and David Gault scored in the second period and Dahl and Glaesmer netted the puck in the third.

Wasilla will attempt to tame the Bulls again Friday and Saturday, game times are 7:30 p.m. each night.

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@

frontiersman.com.