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Frozen Four Tournament Notes

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Jessica Wong's game-winning goal with 33.6 seconds left in the third overtime capped an epic 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Championship game, as Cornell dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore goaltender Amanda Mazzotta stopped an NCAA women's hockey championship game record 61 shots in taking the loss for the Big Red, whose dream season ends just one win shy of a national title. Senior forward Melanie Jue scored a pair of goals in her final contest in a Cornell uniform. Freshman Laura Fortino had a pair of assists, while classmate Lauriane Rougeau and junior Karlee Overguard each added one assist on the day.

For Minnesota-Duluth, which claimed its record fifth NCAA championship, Emmanuelle Blais and Jaime Rasmussen scored the goals in regulation, with Saara Tuominen chipping in a pair of assists. Rasmussen also had an assist, as did Audrey Courmoyer, Tara Gray and Mariia Posa. Netminder Jennifer Harss stopped 49 Cornell shots in claiming the victory in goal for the Bulldogs.

Cornell would go 1-for-6 on the power play for the game, with Minnesota-Duluth converting on two of its eight chances on the power play.

After a scoreless first period that saw both teams work out the championship game jitters early before settling in, Cornell got on the board first with Melanie Jue's eighth goal of the season. Cornell had a brief 5-on-3 power play after back-to-back cross-checking penalties on Wong and Jocelyne Larocque. After the penalty to Wong expired, Cornell's Rougeau fired a shot from the point that worked its way through traffic in front before being tipped past the shoulder of Harss, staking Cornell to the 1-0 lead, an advantage the Big Red would carry into the second intermission.

Straddling the second intermission was a checking penalty on Cornell's Kendice Ogilvie, and the Bulldogs needed just 18 seconds of the third period to get the tying goal. Tuominen had a shot on the rush that was blocked by a Cornell defenseman, but the puck landed directly on the stick of Blais, open in front of the Cornell goal. Blais' one-timer beat Mazzotta high and to the glove side as the Bulldogs drew even.

The game would remain tied through most of the third period until a power-play on a contact-to-the-head roughing penalty was called on senior Laura Danforth. The Bulldogs needed just 43 seconds of the power play to convert, as Tuominen found a wide-open Rasmussen in the slot, and her one-timer from the weak side beat the diving effort of Mazzotta, and left many in Ridder Arena thinking that would be the game-winner.

Except, of course, for those wearing red and white in the building. Cornell never gave up, and instead put even more pressure on Harss and the Bulldog defense. That pressure finally paid off with 3:30 to play as Jue, camped out in the slot, found a loose puck and chipped a shot past Harss, sparking a wild celebration from the Big Red players and fans. Jue's goal would send the game into overtime with the two teams deadlocked at two.

In the first overtime, Cornell skated with the Bulldogs, getting narrowly out-shot by a 12-11 margin. Up until that point, the Big Red held a slim lead in shots, out-shooting the Bulldogs in both of the first two periods. As the game wore on, the Big Red got fewer and fewer looks at the goal, but still withstood the pressure from the Bulldog offense.

And it wasn't just Mazzotta, who made spectacular save after spectacular save for most of the three overtime periods. Her defense in front of her blocked 32 shots on the game, including 18 in the three overtime periods alone. On one occasion early in the second overtime period, Mazzotta made the stop but the puck slipped behind her, trickling ever so close to the goal line before it was swept away from danger by the quick stickwork of senior co-captain Kelly McGinty.

In the third overtime period, fatigue appeared to set in among the Big Red players, with just 15 skaters dressed for the game. Wong broke into the Cornell end and, faced with a one-on-one against Mazzotta, lifted her shot high over the glove, only to be turned away by the crossbar.

With 2:40 to play in the third overtime, Rougeau was called for a trip, bringing down Cournoyer on a breakaway, earning the Bulldogs their eighth power-play of the night. Cornell's penalty killers, fatigued though they were, stood strong, successfully ending off the power play. As Rougeau came out of the box, streaking across the ice, she back-checked into the Cornell zone to try to stick-check Gray's slap shot from the point. Rougeau didn't get enough of the stick, as the shot fluttered into the slot where Wong was stationed, redirecting the puck into the net for the game-winning goal.

Despite the loss, Cornell proved it belonged on the national stage, taking the five-time champion Bulldogs to the longest championship game in tournament history. At 119:26, the game also marked the longest game in Cornell hockey history, surpassing the men's program's 1-0 loss to Wisconsin in the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional final in Green Bay, Wis., which lasted 113:26.

Cornell also recorded plenty of program firsts on the year, including the first ECAC Hockey regular-season championship, first playoff series win, first league tournament title, first NCAA tournament appearance and victory, first berth in the Frozen Four, and first berth in the national title game. In its run up to the national title game, the Big Red knocked off a pair of seeded teams in fourth-seeded Harvard and top-seeded Mercyhurst.

A trio of Cornell players earned a spot on the all-tournament team, with Mazzotta, Fortino and Rougeau making up the entire defensive unit of the team. They were joined by UMD's Blais, Wong and Laura Fridfinnson.

- NCAA Championship Records Set
* Most saves, Game - Amanda Mazzotta, 61 (previous: 41, Patricia Sautter, Minnesota-Duluth, 2003)
* Most saves, Tournament - Amanda Mazzotta, 123 (previous: 97, Jesse Vetter, Wisconsin, 2009)