COLUMBIA, S.C. � The Columbia Inferno advance to the 2003 Kelly Cup Finals by knocking off the Mississippi Sea Wolves, 4-2 in Game 6 of the Southern Conference Finals and winning the best-of-seven series, 4 games to 2.
�Give Columbia a lot of credit,� Sea Wolves coach Bob Woods said. �The Inferno are a good hockey team and the Carolina Coliseum is a tough rink to play in. Our players showed a lot of guts coming back from a 3-0 deficit, most teams would have packed it in. I�m really proud of the guys. I also want to thank all of the Sea Wolves fans for supporting the team now and in the future.�
Mississippi opened the score on the power play at 5:50. Sergei Kuznetsov beat Patrick Couture with a shot from the low right circle, breaking a Sea Wolves 0-for-25 drought with the man advantage. The goal was Kuznetsov�s seventh marker of the playoffs.
Columbia battled to tie the score 1-1 with a goal at 16:23. Sean Owens scored his third goal of the postseason by depositing a rebound past Greg Gardner.
In the second, the Inferno heated up action. Darrell Hay let go with a hard wrist shot from the right circle to notch his second of the playoffs at 5:25.
Then at 8:06, Tim Smith counted another goal with the man advantage, burying a shot from the side of the net to give Columbia a 3-1 lead.
The Sea Wolves pulled to within one at 17:39, capitalizing on another power play. Mike Scott took a lead pass from Dave Paradise and backhanded a shot by Couture for his sixth of the postseason.
In the third, Mississippi pressed in Columbia�s zone. The Sea Wolves crashed the net and thought they had tied it partway through the period as the net became dislodged behind Couture, but the call didn�t go Mississippi�s way.
At 17:24, Chris Pittman carried into the Mississippi territory and sent a backhand shot through Gardner to seal the Inferno victory.
Gardner made 27 saves, on 31 shots, dropping to 8-4 in the postseason. Couture stopped 26-of-28 shots, raising his record to 9-2 in the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Mississippi went 2-for-6 with the man advantage. Columbia failed to convert on three power play opportunities.
Earlier in the day, Mississippi activated forward Josh Bennett from the injured reserve and placed defenseman David Cornacchia on the injured reserve.
Sea Wolves 2003-04 season tickets are available at $21 per month. Call the hockey office and ask about payment plans at (228) 275-WOLF.
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