Coming off of a series where the UW-Eau Claire men’s hockey team got swept by #2 ranked St. Norbert College, the Blugolds had two WIAC battles against Northland College and UW-River Falls on Dec 6-7.
After losing 2-1 against St. Norbert in tight fashion in the second game of the series, the Blugolds got off to a quick start against Northland College Friday night. First-year forward Nolan Grier got on the board for the Blugolds at the 6:51 stamp with a powerplay score.
Continuing the scoring trend for the Blugolds in the first period was first-year defender Carter Bradley with 8:58 left in the period. Bradley’s goal was the first of his collegiate career.
The Blugolds held their 2-0 lead, which they took into the third period after neither team scored in the second. The Blugolds dominated the total shots with 22 to Northland’s 10.
After eight minutes into the third period, the Blugolds got the board moving again with a Jordan Randall goal. This goal increased his season total to four, which is tied for the most on the team.
Randall, who’s been a dynamic piece for this Blugolds squad according to his teammates, has the highest shot percentage on the team at .308, and the second most blocks. Randall said he need to focus on his mental toughness to hold Northland scoreless through two periods and to get back in the scoring margin.
“Just keep going, we knew we were outshooting them,” Randall said. “Keep the mindset going [and] keep going forward, and eventually we will get more goals.”
The Blugolds would proceed to do just that, scoring three more goals before the end of the game. All goals came off of power plays with third-year forward Leo Bacallao, third-year forward Cade Lemmer and second-year forward Tyler Herzberg all scoring.
The Blugolds thrived on power plays, spending 14:11 minutes in power play time which resulted in 17 shots and four goals. Northland had nine minutes in power play, but came up with just 4 shots.
Head Coach Matt Loen said he liked what he saw from the team in power play.
“I think the power play was good, we haven’t gotten a lot of opportunities this year,” Loen said. “That’s hard to get kind of in a rhythm in power play.”
Entering the game Friday, the Blugolds had just six goals in power play.
Loen said the team had to go into their next matchup against UW-River Falls with a lot of energy.
“Obviously, we gotta come out swinging [and] keep building on what we’re building here,” Loen said.
The following day, the Blugolds had a tough task in facing 10th-ranked in Division III UW-River Falls. River Falls entered the game with the highest save percentage and scoring margin in the WIAC.
Things were in a deadlock at the end of the first period. While no score came out of it, the Blugolds were able to put pressure on River Falls’ defense with 10 shots. The Blugolds capitalized in the second period courtesy of a Herzberg goal late in the period.
Herzberg’s second goal in two days propelled the Blugolds to a lead they never let go of. The team shut out River Falls in the third period and added two goals of their own on their way to a 3-0 victory.
Max Gutjahr, the third-year goalie, fended off a late River Falls push that consisted of 14 shots in the third period. The Blugolds led the shots margin a second game in a row with 34.
“We have the intensity to win every game, but obviously, WIAC time, we’re gonna have to go through the WIAC to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Randall said. “I’d say we turn up a little bit for every WIAC game.”
The two victories give the Blugolds a 3-1 conference record. As they look to improve that record against #15 ranked UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13 on the road in Stevens Point.
Benes can be reached at [email protected].
