From the Gazette-Telegraph 10/31
http://usa.net/gazette/today/spt050.html
 
Tigers complete sweep by short-circuiting Sioux
 
By Steve Page
 
It was just one rush up the ice, but it spoke volumes of the way third-ranked
Colorado College was playing against North Dakota on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers' best defenseman, senior Kent Fearns, was slowly picking himself up
after a crunching hit at the far end of the ice late in the second period. While
he struggled back to the bench, his teammates skated short-handed into the
Sioux' zone, where Jason Christopherson took passes from Chad Hartnell and Tim
Sweezo and scored on a 15-foot wrist shot.
"I didn't know they scored," said Fearns, whose injury amounted to a sore
shoulder. "I went back to the bench, and I thought, `What's going on?'  "
North Dakota had the same question after the Tigers completed the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association season-opening sweep with a 6-0 victory before
1,736 fans at Cadet Ice Arena. CC won Saturday, 8-2.
What happened was this: Fourth-line wing Ryan Reynard scored two goals and set
up a third, freshman third-line wing Jason Gudmundson scored his first two goals
as a Tiger, sophomore goaltender Judd Lambert blanked the Sioux with 24 saves
and senior center R.J. Enga assisted on the second goal to notch his 100th CC
career point.
Sunday's game was played at a much more deliberate pace than Saturday's, but
Reynard said that didn't bother the Tigers, 3-1 overall.
"We knew they were going to come out harder than yesterday," said Reynard, a
senior who has four goals and two assists in four games.
"We wanted to weather the storm and play our game.
"We wanted to come out and get the lead right away, get the confidence going."
Reynard took care of that aspect himself, scoring the first goal with a power-
play slap shot through a crowd from the left point at 16:12 of the first period.
He also scored CC's third goal -- its first of the second period -- by
converting Colin Schmidt's centering pass from behind the UND net at 13:12.
Chad Hartnell added a goal and an assist, and Peter Geronazzo assisted twice.
"The team defense was unbelievable," said Lambert, who recorded CC's last
shutout by beating Michigan Tech 3-0 in the second game of the WCHA playoffs
last March.
"We played a lot better in our own end this week. It's tough to come back
against us."
First-year UND coach Dean Blais said that wasn't the game plan.
"We had some chances early, but we didn't bury them," said Blais, whose team
has yet to take a lead in any of its first four games. "We played a lot better,
but we just can't get any breaks.
"They (the Tigers) are a real solid hockey team -- from the goaltenders on out."
 
(end of article)
 
Karen Heasley
Colorado College '95
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