EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team gave up two late third period goals to break a 3-3 tie as I-94 rival and 15th-ranked UW-Stout defeated the Blugolds 5-3 tonight at the Hobbs Ice Center.

The loss drops the Blugolds to 2-14-3 overall and 0-7-1 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) action. The victory gives the Blue Devils a 12-7-0 record overall and a 5-3-0 NCHA record.

The Blugolds struck early against the Blue Devils as Brooks Lockwood (Jr.-Hudson, WI) scored his seventh goal of the season just 1:58 into the contest to put the Blugolds up 1-0. Ben Bosworth (Fr.-Hudson, WI) assisted on the goal. Stout, however, would respond as Mike Elm scored to tie the game up at 1-1 with 14 minutes to play in the first period.

The Blue Devils would score again just a minute and 20 seconds later when Jack Wolgemuth scored to put the Devils up 2-1. Wolgemuth would score his second of the game just under seven minutes into the second period on power-play goal to put Stout up 3-1.

The Blugolds would then answer with a power-play goal by leading goal-scorer Chip Dunleavy (Sr.-Littleton, CO/Columbine) to cut the Stout lead to 3-2. Brad Wiechmann (Fr.-Austin, MN) and Tyler Burzynski (Fr.-Eau Claire, WI/Memorial) assisted on the goal.

The Blugolds would then tie it up with 4:17 remaining in the second period on a Mike Schneider (Fr.-Owatonna, MN) goal. Peter Bracker (Fr.-Albert Lea, MN) was credited with the assist. The 3-3 tie would hold up until with just under five minutes to play in the third period when the Blue Devils Matt Mlynarczyk would put Stout up on a power-play goal. Mlynarczyk would then score on an empty net goal with 52 seconds left to give the Blue Devils a 5-3 victory.

The Blugolds once again out-shot their opponents, this time 35-28. Blugold goalie Steffan Braunlich (Sr.-Los Angeles, CA/Loyola) had 23 saves on the night.

Up next the Blugolds will travel to face UW-Superior next Friday night. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.

Eau Claire-Stout Box Score

- JR -