Niagara vs. Colgate,
Syracuse Invitational

Niagara advances to SIT Final.

The Purple Eagles of Niagara used a three-goal third period effort to avenge
last year's overtime tournament final loss to Colgate in the first game of
the SIT, and defeated the Red Raiders 4-2 at the Onondaga County War Memorial
on Saturday.

With the score tied at one after two periods, Niagara regained a lead early
in the third. Forward Chris Sebastian forced a Colgate defenseman to turn
over the puck at his own blueline, then carried the puck through center ice
on a two-on-two rush with Shaun Burkart. Sebastian's shot eluded goaltender
Jason Lefevre, and found the back of the Colgate net at 2:20.

Niagara extended their lead to two goals two and a half minutes later.
Forward Nick Kormanyos used a great second effort to reach a rebound off his
initial shot, and sweep the puck around Lefevre and the Colgate player
defending against him to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Forwards Chris Welch and
Thomas Clayton were creditted with assists on the goal.

By the middle of the peroid, Colgate showed signs of coming back, thanks in
part to some Niagara penalties. Center Mike O'Malley dug the puck out of a
scramble in front of netminder Rob Bonk's crease, and lifted it over the
goaltender to close the Red Raiders' deficit to one at 15:03.

Colgate kept constant pressure on Niagara though the closing minutes of the
game, but could not crack Bonk's goaltending again. Niagara added an empty
net goal with ten seconds remaining, to give the Eagles the 4-2 win, despite
being outshot 27-32.


SCORING:
             1   2   3   T
-------------------------------
Niagara      1   0   3 - 4
Colgate      1   0   1 - 2
-------------------------------
First Period- 1, Niagara, Vincelli (Tallari, Harris) 6:57. 2, Colgate,
MacDonald (Morin, O'Malley) 16:27Penalties- Murphy, Colgate (holding) :55.
Bumbaco, Niagara (boarding) 7:32. Kormanyos, Niagara (obstruction holding)
14:21. Long, Colgate (cross-checking) 19:05.

Second Period- None. Penalties - Bozoain, Niagara (holding) 4:26. Sigrist,
Niagara (holding) 10:02. Makela, Niagara (obstruction tripping) 13:46.
MacDonald, Colgate (boarding) 15:11.

Third Period- 3, Niagara, Sebastian (Burkart, Bumbaco) 2:20. 4, Niagara,
Kormanyos (Welch, Clayton) 4:59 GWG. 5, Colgate, O'Malley (unassisted) 15:03
PPG. 6, Niagara, Welch (Kormanyos, Sebastian) 19:50 ENG. Penalties- Tallari,
Niagara (delay of game) 5:46. Vincelli, Niagara (tripping) 11:51. Bozoian,
Niagara (holding) 14:38.

Shots on Goal-Niagara 14-8-5--27; Colgate 16-6-10--32. Power Play
Opportunities- Niagara 0 of 4, Colgate 1 of 6. Goalies- Niagara-Bonk 32
shots, 30 saves. Colgate-Lefevre 27 shots, 23 saves. Referee- Dan Murphy.
Linesmen- Baker, Jones.

Todd Nielson
Crease Monkey Hockey WWW Site
http://members.aol.com/todnielson/creasemonkey.html