MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team after defeating St. Mary's University (MN) 6-4 last night, jumped on the board early tonight scoring three goals in the first period. The Blugolds led 3-1 after the first, but were unable to hold off St. Thomas and lost 5-4 tonight in St. Paul.

Eau Claire got on the board 10:04 into the first period on a power play goal from Andrew Johnson (Jr- Andover, MN). Tyler Trudell (So.- Waukesha, WI/South) and DJ Clark (So.- Blaine, MN) had the assists on Johnson's third goal of the season. Trudell would get a power play goal of his own just 3:30 later. Jesse Vesel (Jr.- Hibbing, MN) and Johnson had the assist on Trudell's first goal of the season.

Joe Bluhm (So.- Red Wing, MN) would add to the Blugolds lead at the 15:57 mark in the first to make the score 3-0. Sean Garrity (Sr.- North St. Paul, MN/North) and Ross Janecyk (Fr.- Grand Rapids, MN) had the assists on Bluhm's first career goal as a Blugold. St. Thomas would answer at the 16:48 mark to make the score 3-1 going into the break.

St. Thomas would get the only goal of the second period on a power play. Nick Pernula scored his second goal of the season at the 12:50 mark to cut the Blugold lead to one goal.

Ryan Hoehn tied the game up 1:17 into the third period. Tyler Weigel (So.- Madison WI/Oregon) scored for the Blugolds to retake the lead at the 6:35 mark. Peter Bracker (Jr.- Albert Lee, MN) had the assist on Weigel's first goal of the season.

Rob Johnson would tie the game again with a goal at the 8:14 mark in the third to make the score 4-4. St. Thomas's Nick Nelson would add what would later be the game-winning goal at the 14:03 mark. The Blugolds pulled goalie Tyler Brigl (So.- Eagan, MN) for the final minute of play for the one man advantage but were unable to score.

Brigl had 25 saves for Eau Claire with 11 coming in the first, six in the second and eight in the third. Brigl allowed five goals on the night.

Tyler Chestnut started in the net for the Tommies, he played the first period and had six saves and allowed two goals. Cameron Voss went in for the final 4:23 of the first period and had one save and allowed one goal. Voss went on to have 11 saves in the second and six in the third for a total of 18 in the game.

The Tommies out-shot the Blugolds 30-28 in the game. The Blugolds were two for four on the power play and St. Thomas was one for four. Each team took five penalties for 10 minutes.

Eau Claire starts Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) conference play Friday when they host Lake Forest (IL) at Hobbs Ice Center for a 7:30 p.m. game. Saturday the Blugolds will travel to Green Bay to take on St. Norbert for another conference match-up. Eau Claire will be the home team in the game and the puck is set to drop at 5:05 p.m.

Eau Claire-St. Thomas Box Score

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