Sockers Close in on Title : MSL finals: A 6-1 victory over Cleveland puts defending champions on the brink of another championship.

Waad Hirmez complained about the pain in his rib cage after he scored two goals to help the Sockers to a 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Crunch in Game 5 of the MSL championship series.

The Sockers lead the series, 3-2, and head for the Sports Arena for Game 6 at 7:35 p.m. Thursday. A victory would clinch their ninth indoor title.

Because of a strained muscle in his rib cage suffered in Game 3, every time Hirmez twisted his torso he felt as if someone were taking a jagged edge to his midsection.

Which, to Hirmez, was almost as painful as the backstabbing he’s heard throughout the year.

Hirmez, whose 43 regular-season goals led the team, said he hoped his performance proved to his teammates that he is a contributor.

“I know a lot of things have been said about me,” he explained. “It has been said I don’t run. It has been said I don’t work hard. But I think this proves that I can come through for this team at a crucial time.”

He was one of several to come through in Game 5, but the only regular to do so.

Michael Collins contributed three assists (one on a scoring error that went uncorrected). Until Tuesday, Collins had not played a regular shift since early March.

Jacques Ladouceur, who has not pulled regular shifts all season, scored the first goal of the game off a pass from Paul Wright midway through the second quarter.

Perhaps more significant, however, were the efforts of Wes Wade and Alex Golovnia, both of whom helped turn away a Cleveland flurry late in the first half.

The Crunch got off only two shots in the first 28 minutes of the half, then got off six more in the next two minutes. Goalie Victor Nogueira got to watch as his teammates did all the work.

“I must have blocked four right in a row in that flurry,” Wade said.

He also had one in the first quarter when he thwarted Hector Marinaro, who broke past the defense and fired. But Wade came from nowhere to deflect it. The official scorekeeper, however, did not credit Wade with a block.

Nevertheless, Wade and fellow defenders Kevin Crow, David Banks and Ben Collins were credited with an even more significant statistic.

They held the duo of Hector Marinaro and Zoran Karic--who entered Game 5 having combined for 22 of the Crunch’s 39 points in the series--scoreless for the first time this season.

The defensive effort was a dramatic turnaround from Game 4, when the Sockers blew a three-goal lead.

“I think the difference between the games was their collective concentration at the job at hand,” Coach Ron Newman said. “I showed them a film (of Game 4) and showed them the reason why they let in all the goals last time. Every one of them could have been stopped.”

This time all of them were stopped, except for one from David Hoggan that came early in the third quarter and pulled the Crunch within one, 2-1.

Hoggan first-timed a pass off the end boards from Michael King.

“It came in a flash,” Newman said. “It was one of those things that you can’t stop, really.”

Hoggan’s goal was sandwiched between the two from Hirmez.

His first came as he dribbled from left to right and through a slide tackle by Marinaro above the penalty area. Once Hirmez got by Marinaro, he wound up with his left foot and blasted one inside the right post.

That gave the Sockers a 2-0 lead. Only two minutes after Hoggan halved that lead, Hirmez made it 3-1 when he volleyed one behind goalie P.J. Johns.

Johns was expecting a header from Michael Collins, but an end-boards pass from Hirmez went over Collins’ head and made its way back to the passer.

“I think maybe they (the official scorers) thought it skimmed my hair,” Collins said. “Or maybe they gave (an assist) to me because I ended up causing some confusion in front of the goal.”

As for Hirmez, who held an ice pack to his rib cage when he was on the sideline, he said the pain flared after the game.

“I can barely move now,” he said.

Rod Castro, Crow and Wade finished the Sockers’ scoring.

Socker Notes

Ron Fowler, managing general partner of the team for four seasons, has said he will announce whether he will keep funding it for a fifth after the playoffs. “It would be premature to discuss the matter until the season is over,” Fowler said after the game. “But I have had some very good conversations with the commissioner (Earl Foreman) over the past 10 days.”

. . . The Sockers are scheduled to arrive at Lindbergh Field today on American Airline Flight 743 out of Nashville at 12:22 p.m. . . . The Crunch averaged 10,405 for seven playoff games after averaging 4,640 during the regular season. . . . Ben Collins, who was playing on a sprained left ankle, sprained the other one Tuesday.