Posted on Jan 30, 2004

The Dutchmen made team history on Saturday, January 17th, as a
penalty shot was called against a Union opponent for the very first time
since the team moved to the Division I level. Colgate junior Dave Thomas
intercepted a pass in the neutral zone during the second period and
turned on the jets. He quickly advanced over the blue line heading
straight at Dutchmen goalie Kris Mayotte. Dutchmen junior Chris
DiStefano skated onto the play and hooked Thomas down before reaching
the Union net. By rule, for a penalty shot to be awarded, a skater must
have possession of the puck over the opponents blue line, and be
intentionally taken down on the play. Sure enough, Thomas' play more
than qualified at the 13:57 mark and the crowd went silent awaiting one
of the most exciting plays in sports. Thomas collected the puck at
center ice and went in alone on Mayotte. A right shoulder deke by Thomas
was not enough to throw off a calm and concentrated Mayotte, who stuck
with Thomas to make a left side pad save, the first in Union's D-I
history! The Dutchmen have attempted two penalty shots of their own as a
Division I team. On December 29, 1993 Troy Stevens missed a penalty shot
at Concordia; and more recently, on January 4, 2003, Glenn Sanders
scored on a penalty shot at then Achilles Rink against Harvard.