North Dakota broke open a 1-1 tie in the second period with a pair of goals 42 seconds apart and junior netminder Andy Kollar made it stand up as the Fighting Sioux skated to a 4-2 victory over Maine.<\/p>\n
The win improved North Dakota’s record to 1-0-3 while Maine dropped to 0-1-1. <\/p>\n
Senior center Jeff Panzer scored twice in the pivotal second, including a power-play tally late that re-established a two-goal margin for North Dakota. <\/p>\n
Kollar made 43 stops en route to the Fighting Sioux’s first victory of the season. <\/p>\n
“I have to give credit to my defense,” Kollar said. “They cleared most of the rebounds quickly and kept their forwards tied up.” <\/p>\n
The critical point in the game came seven minutes into the second period with the game deadlocked, 1-1. In a battle behind the Maine net, Ryan Bayda collected the puck and quickly swept a pass into the slot. Panzer, skating through, one-timed the feed past a helpless Matt Yeats (26 saves), giving the Sioux a 2-1 lead. <\/p>\n
“That play was all Ryan,” said Panzer. “He did the work and put the puck on my tape. I just flipped it as soon as I could.” <\/p>\n
Less than a minute later, a couple of Sioux blueliners combined for the game-winning goal. Chad Mazurak corralled a Maine clearing attempt at the left point and fired on the Maine goal. Yeats stopped his slap shot, but Aaron Schneekloth batted in the rebound over Yeats shoulder for a two-goal lead. <\/p>\n
“Thats what you get when you don’t play good defense,” Maine forward Martin Kariya said. “We just didn’t play well defensively that whole period and it cost us.” <\/p>\n
The Black Bears responded midway through the second to cut the margin to one. With Maine on the power play, Lucas Lawson took a Peter Metcalf feed in the Maine defensive zone and made a spectacular rush down the left-wing boards. Lawson took a hard angle from the circle and Schneekloth fell down. Lawson stayed patient and buried a backhander, cutting the lead to 3-2.<\/p>\n
“They have some big forwards,” Kollar said. “When you see big, you usually think slow, but not these guys, they can fly.” <\/p>\n
Three minutes after Lawson’s goal, Black Bear defenseman Doug Janik was whistled for interference. The penalty created a 4-on-3 power play for the Sioux. Eleven seconds into the man advantage, North Dakota regained its two-goal lead and the momentum. <\/p>\n
“That was a great play by Travis (Roche),” Panzer said. “He kept that puck in the zone and got it to Bryan (Lundbohm). Bryan made a great pass.”<\/p>\n
Lundbohm skated down the slot and found Panzer on the left side of the net. Panzer swept the puck past Yeats to the short side to complete the evening’s scoring. <\/p>\n
“I had to stay with the guy in the slot,” Yeats said. “He made a quick pass and I just couldn’t get over in time.”<\/p>\n
Forward Tyler Palmiscno staked the Sioux to a 1-0 lead just over four mintues into the first, poking a loose puck by Yeats from a scramble in front. Kariya answered with an electrifying rush at the midway point of the period, beating the North Dakota defense and roofing a backhander over Kollar to the short side. <\/p>\n