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Fontaine's 4 goals give Bulldogs 8-1 revenge with Tech
By John Gilbert Last Updated: Monday, November 23rd, 2009 02:06:35 PM In one weekend, Justin Fontaine and his Minnesota-Duluth hockey teammates experienced the low of complete frustration, followed by a soaring high 24 hours later -- courtesy of Fontaine's hot hand. Fontaine had four of UMD's 50 shots in the first game against Michigan Tech, but a freshman goaltender named Kevin Genoe made 48 saves and Tech ambushed the Bulldogs with two third-period goals, winning 3-2 despite being outshot 50-19 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. Jack Connolly and Mike Seidel got the UMD goals, but it was a game that will be remembered for UMD's missed chances, rather than the two power-play goals that got through. It also was Tech's first victory at Duluth in four seasons. In the rematch, Fontaine traded in his no-goals-on-4-shots ledger for one that read 4 goals and one assist on 8 shots, as the Bulldogs overpowered the Huskies 8-1. Not that it started out that way. After one period, only Brady Lamb's slapshot from the top of the left circle got by Genoe for UMD's third power-play goal of the weekend and a slim 1-0 lead. In the second period, Fontaine got untracked, scoring at 2:43 to make it 2-0. Lamb scored again on a partially-screened shot inside the left point, and Tech coach Jamie Russell, perhaps unused to seeing as many as three get past Genoe, pulled the freshman for Josh Robinson. It didn't lessen UMD's intensity, as the Bulldogs outshot Tech 20-3 in the middle period, and Fontaine notched his second of the game on a power play. We got the bounces we needed, Fontaine said afterward. It was harder last night than tonight. Knowing the good feeling of burying a few, we also knew we had to keep going. Those first two were both good goals, although they were the kind of goals that almost any player might have scored. The same cannot be said for what happened after that, except that Fontaine kept rolling with two more goals, both the sort that only the top WCHA snipers could hope to score. His second goal was at 14:28, during a major power play, and he came right back at 17:53 of the second. This time, Fontaine grabbed the puck and pulled it free near the left corner, then skated across the slot, 15 feet out front, where he met the usual resistance. He held possession as he was hooked and hassled, finally toppling to the ice as he lunged toward the right circle. As he went down, Fontaine snapped off a shot back across his body and across the goal, beating the surprised Robinson to snare the net just inside the left post. That was one of the season's neatest goals, and it made the score a comfortable 5-0. Fontaine added an assist on Mike Connelly's power-play goal in the first minute of the third period, and at the 11:12 mark, Fontaine again got the puck, this time from Rob Bordson, and again cut left-to-right across the slot. Again he lost his footing, with assistance, of course, and again he threw the puck back, hard, as he sprawled. Amazingly, and almost like an instant replay, the puck again found the far left edge of the net. I just kind of pushed it ahead and shot it back, said Fontaine, a junior from Bonnyville, Alberta, when asked about scoring one of his goals. He was then asked if he was describing his second or third goals of the night, because they were about identical. He laughed, because he hadn't thought about how similar they were. The four-goal splurge made it 7-0, and Tech finally broke Brady Hjelle's shutout in the closing minutes, after it had gotten to 8-0. They also gave Fontaine 11 goals for the season best in the country and puts him in perfect position for UMD invasion of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena. Yes, it would have been nice to use one or two of those goals the previous night, but goal-scorers score when the opportunity presents itself, and sometimes they have a night when everything seems to go in. I've never scored four goals in a game before, he said. Not even at the junior level. When I got the first one, I said we had to keep it going. Then I got the power-play goal on a back-door play. We definitely didn't give them as much [in the second game,] and we kept it on them.
When MacGregor Sharp had a career senior season and led Minnesota-Duluth to a late surge that included a WCHA Final Five championship last season, a run that ended one game shy of the Frozen Four, the big question was, who would score for the Bulldogs this season? Sophomore Jack Connolly and Fontaine were first to accept the challenge, and they stood 1-2 in NCAA scoring going into the Tech series. Jack Connolly's seventh goal erased a 1-0 Tech lead in the first game, and he had two assists in the second game. But Fontaine's five-point outburst pushed him up even with his teammate, ahead of the best of the rest of the country. UMD coach Scott Sandelin, who said his team played with great intensity in the first game, but only for 50 minutes before a lapse allowed Tech to steal the victory with two goals, switched goaltenders, going with Brady Hjelle Saturday. It was nice to get the early lead, Sandelin said of the second game. We started slow, but Mr. Fontaine got going, and even after it got to 5-0, we did a lot of good things. Fontaine has 11 goals and 7 assists for 18 points, tying Jack Connolly (7-11--18) for the team and NCAA scoring lead, while and Mike Connolly, who assisted on the first three goals and scored the sixth for a five-point weekend, stands at 8-917. Rob Bordson's four-assist second game pushed him up to 3-1417. The question of who would lift their scoring touch to replace MacGregor Sharp seems to have been answered by a team effort, but that team is led by Fontain, so far. I would say, Sandelin said, after UMD outshot Tech 98-37 for the weekend, these were two of our better games in a row all year. But Sandelin had to cut short his conversation. He knows that with Minnesota next up, bigger and better things could be on the horizon. Besides, he was headed out to go deer-hunting. Sandelin, being from Hibbing, is quite the outdoorsman. But he had less luck out in the North Woods than his team had Saturday night. Maybe Sandelin should have invited Justin Fontaine along. Never hurts to have a sharpshooter in the party. |
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