RIVER FALLS - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team lost 7-3 tonight against the UW-River Falls Falcons at Hunt Arena to go 0-5-2 on the year.

The opening period was quiet as neither team scored a goal. River Falls outshot the Blugolds 11-9 in the period and also had three power-play advantages.

The second period more than made up for the first, however. River Falls scored an even-handed goal 2:14 into second. T.J. Dahl then added a power-play goal 9:33 into the period. It was the first of three on the night for Dahl. Another even-sided score came shortly after at 10:09 to make it a 3-0 game. Dahl scored his second goal 16:50 into the second on another advantage. Seven seconds later the Falcons scored an evenhanded goal to make it a 5-0 score. The Blugolds got on the board 18:53 into the second on a Chip Dunleavy (Sr.-Littleton, CO/Columbine) power-play strike. Brad Wiechmann (Fr.-Austin, MN) and Evan Byers (Fr.-Eagan, MN) supplied the assists.

The Blugolds made it a three-goal game again 6:09 into the final period when Sean Clark (Sr.-Royal Oak, MI/Brother Rice) scored a power-play goal. The assist came from Andy Klapperick (Sr.-Austin, MN). River Falls struck back 10:04 into the period on an evenhanded score and then again at 11:36 on Dahl's third of the night. This one was on another Falcon advantage. Steve Dus (Jr.-Onalaska) scored the third Blugold goal of the night 12:48 into the closing period. It was even-sided and unassisted.

Chris Nelson (Sr.-Madison/Memorial) made 28 saves and allowed seven goals, making for 35 Falcon shots on goal. His counterpart met 26 Blugold shots on goal, saved 23 of them and allowed three to get by.

Each team had seven advantages. River Falls made three goals on those advantages while Eau Claire made two.

The Blugolds are now 0-5-2 overall, and 0-2-0 in the WIAC and the NCHA. River Falls is now 5-1-2 on the year and 2-0-0 in the NCHA.

Next up for Eau Claire is the home opener versus St. Thomas on Wednesday. A 7:00 p.m. start time is scheduled.

Eau Claire-River Falls Box Score

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