It took 60 minutes of bruising lacrosse in punishing heat and three straight backs-to-the wall victories, but happy hour finally arrived for the College Heights Pub Assault.
They found a way to dethrone the two-time defending champion Shooters Pub Devils, scoring a heart-thumping 13-12 overtime victory Wednesday night at Kin 1 to win the best-of-five semifinal series 3-2.
Davey Jenkins, the overtime hero in Game 4, fired the deciding shot past Chris Scott 4:44 into the extra period to send the Assault into the final. It was Jenkins' third goal and eighth point of the game.
College Heights now takes on the regular-season champion BX Pub Bandits, who swept the Tabor Sports Pub in three games in their opening-round series. The best-of-seven final begins Monday night at Kin 1.
The Assault, who lost the first two games of the series, appeared to have Game 5 in control, leading 12-9 with less than 10 minutes to play. But the Devils, winners of of the Dale Rolufs Memorial trophy four of the past five years, found a way to tie it with three unanswered goals in rapid succession. An own-goal eluded Assault goalie Russill Mills, followed by a power-play goal from Blake McIntosh and an even-strength marker from Scott Anderson, his fourth of the game, which tied it with 5:15 left in the period.
The Devils struck first Wednesday and took a 2-0 lead, but gave up the next four goals on six shots. College Heights led 5-4 after one period and 10-7 after two. Craig Dunfield victimized Devils goalie Steven Brizan five times before Brizan was replaced by Chris Scott midway through the second period with the Assault leading 9-6.
Clarke Anderson scored five times for the Assault. Jordan Zacharuk collected four goals and Jamie Klarenbeek had two and McIntosh had a goal and seven assists for the Devils. Dunfield finished with five goals and four assists.
Mills stood tall while making 37 saves. Brizan and Scott combined to stop 44 shots.
