Men’s hockey sweeps Superior

Pushes winning streak to four

Story by Austin Mai, Staff Writer

The UW-Eau Claire Blugolds defeated UW-Superior 3-0 at Hobbs Ice Arena on Friday night.

The game was a defensive battle. Both teams struggled to score until 14:50 of the first period when Blugold senior forward Jon Waggoner found the back of the net for the 10th time this season. Senior forwards Brian Nehring and Jared Williams were credited with the assists.

In the second, 10 minutes passed without either team scoring. However, at 10:10, junior defenseman Jack Callahan scored off his own rebound for his fourth goal on the year. Freshman forwards David Henry and Adam Knochenmus got the assists.

Shortly after, Eau Claire scored again, this time off of the rebounded shot of junior forward Ross Andersen. Freshman forward Patrick Moore was able to put away the rebound to put the Blugolds up 3-0. Andersen and senior forward Niko Kapetanovic picked up assists on the play.

Despite Waggoner receiving a 5-minute major for cross checking, the Yellowjackets couldn’t score and Eau Claire finished the night at an improved 15-4-1.

Saturday

The UW- Eau Claire men’s hockey team took on UW-Superior at home for the second night in a row Saturday. Eau Claire prevailed 6-2, improving to 16-4-1 overall, 5-2-1 conference.

The first period began similarly to the night before, as both teams were physical.

At 7:29 of the first period, the Yellowjackets were able to score and found their only lead of the two game series. The rest of the period included no scoring and only one penalty.

The Blugolds had a successful second period as the team scored three times. At 1:21, Andersen took a shot that passed by the UW-Superior goalie and sat on the goal line. Senior forward Niko Kapetanovic quickly came in and knocked the puck over the line tying the game at 1-1.

Eau Claire took the lead as junior defenseman Chris Heineman found the back of the net at 10:45 with senior forward Brian Nehring for the assist.

Andersen got another chance to shoot and this time it went past the goalie to put his team up 3-1.

Into the third, the Yellowjackets (7-13-3, 2-6-2) found a way to score, helping to cut the deficit to  3-2. However, it wouldn’t be enough as the Blugolds would come back and score three times courtesy of junior forward Joe Krause (8:21), Nehring (9:14) and freshman forward Adam Knochenmus (13:38).

This weekend the Blugolds go to UW-Stevens Point to try and continue their four-game win streak. Game time is set for Friday at 7 p.m.