EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team fell tonight to sixth-ranked UW-River Falls by a score of 5-1 at the Hobbs Ice Center.

The loss drops the Blugolds to 2-13-3 overall and 0-6-1 in conference play. The win the gives the Falcons an overall record of 12-3-3 and a conference record of 4-2-1. This was the Falcons third victory against the Blugolds this season.

The Falcons struck first, six minutes into the first period as Mike Salmela scored to put River Falls up 1-0. Then with less than eight minutes left in the first period the Falcons extended their lead to 2-0 following a power-play goal by Chris Nathe.

The Blugolds would get their only goal of the game two minutes later when freshman Ben Bosworth (Fr.-Hudson, WI) scored his third goal of the season to make it 2-1 in favor of the Falcons. Brooks Lockwood (Jr.-Hudson, WI) picked up his sixth assist of the season on the goal.

The Falcons, however, would respond early in the second period with a goal from Jim Henkemeyer to make the score 3-1. Chris Nathe would then score his second goal of the game for the Falcons about halfway through the second period to extend the Falcon-lead to 4-1.

The Falcons would cap the game off with a power-play goal from Derek Hansberry at the end of the game to make the final score 5-1.

The Blugolds out-shot the Falcons in the game 35-29 including out-shooting the Falcons in the third period 16-8. Blugolds goalie Steffan Braunlich (Sr.-Los Angeles, CA/Loyola) had 24 saves on the night in the loss.

Next, the Blugolds will host rival and 15th-ranked UW-Stout tomorrow night at the Hobbs Ice Center. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

Eau Claire-River Falls Box Score

- JR -