DE PERE - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team dropped the first game of a three-game series against first-ranked St. Norbert by a score of 6-3 here tonight in the first round of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.

The eighth-seeded Blugolds will battle the top-seeded Green Knights again tomorrow at 7:05 p.m., where they will be fighting for the season's life. Should the Blugolds knock off St. Norbert tomorrow night, the two teams would play a 20-minute game following the contest to decide who moves on in the playoffs.

The Blugolds fall to 8-14-4 on the year while the Green Knights improve to 21-2-3 with the win.

St. Norbert showed their dominance very early, scoring a pair of goals in the first 51 seconds of the contest. Both goals came in event strength situations. The Blugolds got on the board 3:34 into the first period, when Andy Klapperick (Jr.-Austin, MN) tallied an unassisted goal to make the score 2-1.

The Green Knights put the game away with four unanswered goals following the tally by Klapperick. Spencer Carbery scored two goals before the horn sounded the end of the first period to put Eau Claire in a 4-1 deficit. The Green Knights tallied the only goal of the second period and the first goal of the third period to make the score 6-1.

Rob Ouimette (Sr.-Iron Bridge, ONT/Leamington District) and Phil Cherneski (Sr.-Thompson, MAN/RDPC) each scored goals in the third period to finish the scoring at 6-3.

The Blugolds were doubled up in shots on goal as St. Norbert tallied 38 shots to Eau Claire's 19. Each team tallied five penalties for 10 minutes and was 1-for-4 in power play opportunities.

Eau Claire-St. Norbert Box Score

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