Hartman Stays on Save Side

Whether it was the save in the fifth minute, the sixth, the 13th or maybe even the 23rd, the Crew had seen enough to render an early, emphatic verdict on the proceedings.

Columbus forward Edson Buddle was probably speaking for all of his teammates as he delivered the word to Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman on Saturday afternoon at Columbus Crew Stadium.

“He told me I was on fire,” Hartman said. I said, ‘It’s only the 22nd minute.’ ”

Then, of course, you know what happened next.

Buddle scored on a header off a set piece in the 36th minute.

But that was it. Hartman held off the Crew the rest of the way and the Galaxy equalized in the 64th minute on a header by forward Carlos Ruiz in a 1-1 tie in the MLS season opener in front of 22,058.

Perhaps the defending MLS champions required a bit of goalkeeper fire on a chilly, windy day. Temperature at game time was 41 degrees and seemed to drop steadily. The alternative band Everclear played at halftime, and frankly, the only way to keep warm probably would have been to sip some Everclear, not listen to it.

“When you saw the flurries at the beginning of overtime, it was kind of like, ‘What are we doing here?’ ” Hartman said.

That wasn’t the only flurry in overtime. The Galaxy had to survive one final heart-stopping attack in the 95th minute as defender Eric Denton’s shot looked as if it were heading into the goal. Hartman said he got a piece of it, noting Denton had “acres of space out there.”

But Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas was positioned correctly -- in the right spot at the right time -- and cleared it off the goal line.

Lalas smiled when asked about the play.

“I just figured it was about time one of us helped Kevin out, considering he was playing alone for about three-quarters of the game, and saving our butts on a consistent basis,” Lalas said. “Breakaways, and point-blank shots.”

Hartman’s play worked to get the Crew second-guessing itself, and what could have been a blowout stayed within reach until Ruiz’s goal. His goal came on a miscue by midfielder Brian Maisonneuve, who was trying to clear the ball out deep on the right wing but instead sent it through the middle to the other side. Ruiz seized on the opportunity and put away a header inside the right post.

“That was no one person’s fault,” goalkeeper Jon Busch said. “We had plenty of chances to clear the ball before that play happened. It was one of those things that happen sometimes.”

The game also featured the MLS debut of the Galaxy’s Hong Myung-Bo of South Korea, who played a solid game as a defensive midfielder much to the delight of a small band of his cheering countrymen. Through an interpreter, he gave himself an eight when asked to assess his play on a scale of one to 10.

There was a scary moment at the end involving the man in the middle of nearly everything, Ruiz. He was clipped by an elbow and remained down for several minutes. He suffered a bruise on the left side of his jaw, a scrape and a loose tooth. A review of the in-house video showed that the elbow from forward Brian McBride appeared inadvertent.

So call it tying ugly for the road warriors, as the Galaxy played the first of eight road games to start the season.

“We’re going to have to go on the road and win ugly sometimes,” Hartman said.