EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team fell 3-1 to seventh-ranked UW-Superior tonight at Hobbs Ice Center after allowing three Yellowjacket goals in the first period.

Eau Claire drops to 1-4-1 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) and 5-5-1 overall. Superior's only loss on the year came to top-ranked St. Norbert. The Yellowjackets are 3-1-0 in NCHA play and 9-1-0 overall.

Superior got on the board early and often in the first period. Just 23 seconds into the game Superior took a 1-0 lead on an evenhanded score. About four minutes later the Yellowjackets doubled the lead. With just over a minute to play in the period, Superior went up 3-0. All goals were even-sided and the Yellowjackets outshot the Blugolds 12-to-6 in the period.

After a scoreless middle period in which Eau Claire outshot Superior 10-to-7, the Blugolds matched shots with Superior 13-to-13 in the final period but could not come back as they managed only one goal. The powerplay strike came 9:27 into the period off of the stick of Kyle Garner (Sr.-Sun Prairie). Greg Petersen (So.-Maple Grove, MN/Totino-Grace) had the assist.

In the end Eau Claire was outshot 32-to-29 with Ryan Mensing (So.-Langley, BC/Walnut Grove SS) making 29 stops. The Blugolds held Superior to 0-for-10 on powerplay chances while going 1-of-8 themselves. Eau Claire had 12 penalties compared to the Yellowjacket nine.

Eau Claire will play a pair of non-conference games next weekend when they travel to face St. Thomas (MN) and UW-Stevens Point.

Eau Claire-Superior Box Score

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