By NICK BRILOWSKI
Special to The Gazette
Former University of Michigan player Mike Leggs made the move famous and earned countless highlight show replays by pulling it off in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
Joe Pavelski simply re-enacted it to perfection.
With a jaw-dropping goal that left those in attendance asking, "Did he just do what I think he did?" Pavelski gave his Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) hockey team a much-needed insurance goal as the Panthers defeated Mosinee, 3-1, in the championship game of the Community Parks Improvement Committee Holiday Hockey Classic on Saturday night at K.B. Willett Arena.
With SPASH holding a precarious 2-1 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period, Pavelski gathered the puck behind the Mosinee net. After playing the puck off of the back of the net in order to elude a defender, Pavelski crouched low to the ice and scooped the puck off the ice with his stick.
While balancing the puck on top of his stick, the junior forward stepped from behind the net and coolly jammed the puck into the top right corner of the net, over the shoulder of unsuspecting Indian goalie Mike Peterson.
"I just put a new tape job on my stick," said Pavelski who explained that it helped the puck stay on the stick. "I tried (the move) one other time in a game and it didn't work."
Asked if he had ever seen the move accomplished in person before, Panther head coach Jack Stoskopf said, "Never in my life. Not in a high school game.
"That's a rink rat goal."
The victory gave the Panthers (9-1-1) their third-consecutive title in their host tournament and improved their winning streak to nine consecutive games. It was also a key non conference victory that could help for postseason seeding purposes against a potential sectional opponent.
"I have a lot of respect for Mosinee, they played an excellent game," Stoskopf stated. "They are one of the best teams we've played all year.
"I really think we are starting to move toward playing three periods. We're headed in the right direction I think."
Mosinee drew first blood in the contest as Kole Heckendork was able to beat SPASH goalie Shaun Kruzitski just 29 seconds into the game to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.
But after that, Mosinee found Kruzitski to be impenetrable as the junior goalie stopped 24 saves for the game.
"I was a little off (at the beginning of the game) I guess," Kruzitski said. "It helps when the team comes and taps you on the pads and picks you up. The more pucks you see throughout any game, it gets better and better."
The Panthers were able to tie the game at the 3:59 mark of the first period as junior Jay Wolf was able to put the puck past Peterson off an assist from Mark Lutz.
SPASH then got the lead and a fortunate break as sophomore defenseman Tom DeWitt was credited with a goal at 8:20 of the period when his shot deflected off a skate in front of Peterson and went into the net. After a short conference, the referees decided to allow the goal.
Following their Wisconsin Valley Conference meeting at Wausau East on Tuesday, the Panthers will be off until Thursday, Jan. 17, when they travel to Marshfield.