EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The Northland College Men's Hockey team fell 6-0 to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Friday night in Eau Claire, Wis. Of the six goals by UWEC four came on the power play.
The Blugolds tested sophomore goalie
Andrew Yocum early. UWEC liked the long shot early on and four minutes in had its best chance so far going off the pipe. Six minutes in, the Jacks committed their first penalty and one minute into the man-disadvantage the Blugolds struck first.
Evan Ilkos had the first shot for the Jacks right before the first media timeout. Right of the timeout Northland had two more shots from
Trey Taylor and
Andronique Stepanian. Soon after the Blugold take the puck down the ice and score their second.
Nolan Christy had a one-on-one with the UW-Eau Claire goalie but Josh Langford sent the puck wide. In the final two minutes, the Jacks were down a man for the second time in the period.
The Jacks killed the power play to open the second period.
Valerii Kneib sent a shot that almost past the line but Langford sprawled backwards to make the save. Northland was on the power play with 13 minutes remaining in the second period. The Jacks only totaled one shot on target with the extra skater coming from
Hunter Nelson, but 11 seconds later NC had the extra skater. Stepanian had a shot that just missed going off the pipe. After remaining out of the net Northland committed a penalty for the third in the span of five minutes from both teams. A five-minute major was called on the Blugold with three minutes in the second. The Jacks threw all they could at the net but still remained scoreless to end the period.
The power play continued into the third period. Northland was unable to get a shot on target with the extra skater. The Blugold added their third with 12 minutes left to play. A major penalty for Jacks had UWEC with the extra skater for five minutes. The Blugold took advantage of the power play scoring three goals to end the game up 6-0.
Northland totaled 10 shots in the game with
Hunter Nelson pacing the team with three. The remaining seven shots on target all came from different LumberJacks. The defense blocked 19 shots with Taylor and
Logan Gallagher leading the way with four. In the net, Yocum made 35 saves.
The Jacks will host No. 13 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point tomorrow (Saturday) at 7 p.m., at the Bay Area Civic Center.
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
