From Gazette Telegraph (1/8/95)
Battling Bulldogs bamboozle Tigers
Duluth's third-period comeback clobbers CC
By Steve Page
Chris Sittlow's game-winning goal typified the way the University of Minnesota-
Duluth battled back Saturday - and the way Colorado College didn't.
Sittlow took a pass from Marc Christian and sped up the right side of the ice,
where he encountered defenseman David Paxton at the CC blue line.
Paxton extended a hip in an attempt at a check, but Sittlow raced around him
and wristed the puck past goalie Judd Lambert from a tough angle on the right
side.
The score capped a comeback from a four-goal deficit by the last-place Bulldogs
and lifted them to a 6-5 victory over the Western Collegiate Hockey Association
leaders before 2,121 fans at Cadet Ice Arena.
"The first thing I wanted to do was beat that defenseman," said Sittlow of his
game-winner that snapped a 5-5 tie with 2:42 remaining. "Fortunately, I got
around him. I didn't have much room, but I had to take the shot."
Sittlow, a senior from Cottage Grove, Minn., said a magazine advertisement he
read on the flight to Colorado Springs provided his inspiration.
"It was a picture of a basketball court, with just the net. It said, `100
percent of the shots you miss are the ones you don't take.'"
That left the second-ranked Tigers to rue the opportunity they didn't take to
wrap up a one-sided contest and at least maintain their five-point lead over
Wisconsin, which played at the University of Alaska Anchorage late Saturday
night. Instead, the Tigers fell to 12-4 in the WCHA and 17-5 overall.
"You could see it coming," said CC coach Don Lucia. "I didn't think we were
playing well, even with the four-goal lead. We weren't moving our feet."
The Tigers appeared to have enough of a cushion, building the 4-0 lead on a
15-foot slap shot by Chad Remackel at 6:52 of the first period, Tim Sweezo's
quick slap of Jason Christopherson's pass at 2:51 of the second period,
Stewart Bodtker's conversion of Jay McNeill's pass at the end of a two-man
rush 18 seconds later, and Colin Schmidt's rebound at 18:08 of the second
stanza.
"Give Duluth credit, but it's tough when you're up 4-0 with one minute to go
in the second period," Lucia said. "It was a collective effort. Our team
sometimes drives you crazy. They have such confidence in scoring, they don't
take care of the puck in our end of the ice."
Ken Dzikowski launched the comeback with a point-blank shot 56 seconds before
the second intermission. Adam Roy took advantage of two quick CC penalties
at the start of the third period to trim the deficit at 3:16, deflecting Laird
Lidster's long slap shot. Schmidt seemed to right the Tigers by converting
Peter Geronazzo's lead pass for a 5-2 lead at 4:54, but UMD's Joe Ciccarello
converted Brad Federenko's steal and pass 40 seconds later.
Ciccarello netted a short rebound against the suddenly defenseless Tigers at
12:14, and Federenko tied the score with an unmolested rebound at 14:24,
recovering his first short shot and shooting again without distraction from
the defense. The Tigers attempted to regain their scoring edge, but junior
goaltender Taras Lendzyk made several key stops in the waning seconds, including
a stick-handle deflection of McNeill's 25 foot slap shot with 22 seconds
remaining.
Lendzyk finished with 35 saves, five more than CC sophomore Judd Lambert, who
was left to fend for himself much of the third period. Duluth improved to
4-11-2 in the WCHA and 7-12-2 overall.
(end of article)
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~ Karen Heasley ~ "Sometimes I think the surest sign ~
~ Colorado College '95 ~ that intelligent life exists else- ~
~ Colorado Springs, CO ~ where in the universe is that none ~
~ [log in to unmask] ~ of it has tried to contact us." ~
~ [log in to unmask] ~ - Calvin, Calvin & Hobbes 11/9/94 ~
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