In what had to be their best performance of the season, the Wings cracked the Rock's defense as they were unable to do last week in Toronto. The Wings forced the game into overtime with a Jake Bergey goal with 1:00 left, then Bergey drove the game winner past a surprised Watson with 2:07 left in overtime, leaving 17,057 fans screaming in ecstasy Saturday night at the First Union Center.

The game started out looking a lot like last week's game, back and forth with a fair number of shots, but few goals. The Wings jumped out and scored the first three goals, exciting the fans, and held the Rock to one goal in the first quarter. It was much of the same in the second quarter, with the Wings scoring first and taking more shots than Toronto, but the Rock managed to push three past goaltender Dallas Eliuk, leaving the half-time score as a 5-4 Wings lead.

The third quarter saw the Wings back on top with a 2-to-1 margin of shots, and a 4-to-1 margin on goals. Marechek scored his third goal of the night, and Gill continued his attack towards an eventual five-goal night against the Wings. The fourth quarter was a wild one, with Toronto coming out strong and scoring three goals in a two minute period. Colin Doyle capped off his goal scoring at five when he tied the game with 4:20 left. Two minutes and seventeen seconds later, he assisted the pesky Gill in breaking the tie.

With one minute left, Jake Bergey dove into the crease and buried one into the net to tie the game again, and then whipped another past Watson, (who finished his night with 44 saves), to win the game and MVP honors. The big ending by Jake Bergey was sorely needed by the Wings, who had lost Tom Marechek to a double major for fighting/roughing and a game misconduct. Both teams played well, and it was hardest hitting game so far. This was Toronto's first visit to the First Union Center as the Rock, who last year were the Ontario Raiders.

A nine-point effort by Toronto's Colin Doyle was wasted in tonight's contest, as were Gill's five goals. Both teams played as well as they have all season, hitting everyone that moved as hard as possible and playing smart on both ends of the field. Several fights erupted during the game, one resulting in the removal by referees of Marechek from the game.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4 OT     TOT
Toronto Rock (4-3)                1  3  1  6  0  --  11
Philadelphia Wings (2-5)          3  2  4  2  1  --  12

TORONTO ROCK                  PHILADELPHIA WINGS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Doyle          5 - 4     9    Bergey         3 - 3     6
Gill           5 - 0     5    Marechek       3 - 2     5
Veltman        0 - 5     5    Oglesby        2 - 2     4
Heard          1 - 2     3    McEvoy         1 - 2     3
R Squire       0 - 3     3    S Radebaugh    2 - 0     2
Watson         0 - 3     3    Finneran       0 - 2     2
Coyle          0 - 2     2    Hanford        0 - 2     2
Stroup         0 - 1     1    Rogers         0 - 2     2
                              Busza          1 - 0     1
                              Slate          0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           38    Shots on goal           56
Saves made by           44    Saves made by           27
   Watson                        Eliuk
Penalties               12    Penalties               11
Penalty Minutes         36    Penalty Minutes         34
Power Play Chances       4    Power Play Chances       5
Power Play Goals         4    Power Play Goals         2
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        0
Faceoffs Won            13    Faceoffs Won            15

*** ALL STATS UNOFFICIAL UNTIL VERIFIED ***