EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - After defeating St. Scholastica 5-3 in its season opener in Duluth, the UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team lost tonight in its non-conference home opener against Concordia College (MN) 2-1 at Hobbs Ice Center.

The Blugolds drop to 1-1-0 overall and the Cobbers in its season opener tonight move to 1-0-0.

The series record between Eau Claire and Concordia is now 6-1-2. The Blugolds have won the last four meetings between the two teams including last years 9-0 victory. The last time Eau Claire lost to Concordia was Nov. 16, 2002 by a score of 6-5.

The Cobbers got on the board first with a power play goal by Shawn Goos at the 10:16 mark in the first period. The assist on Goos's goal went to Brent Sands and Knut Bitustoeyl. At the end of the first period the Cobbers had the 1-0 lead.

Andrew Johnson (Jr.- Andover, MN/Anoka) got the Blugolds on the board 4:55 seconds into the second period. Greg Petersen (Jr.- Maple Grove, MN/Totino-Grace) and Sean Garrity (Sr.- North St. Paul, MN/North) had the assists on Johnson's second goal of the season.

At the 12:26 mark in the second period Concordia would add its second goal of the night to make the score 2-1. Kirby Markowsky got the power play goal with the assist going to Alec Holen. Markowsky's goal went on to be the game winner with the final score of 2-1.

The Blugolds outshot the Cobbers 32-19. Eau Claire had eight shots in the first, nine in the second, and 15 in the third. Concordia had five shots in the first, eight in the second, and six in the third.

Tyler Brigl (So.- Eagan, MN) was in-between the pipes for the Blugolds. Brigl had 17 saves and allowed two goals. Brigl had four saves in the first period, seven in the second, and six in the third. The Blugolds pulled the goalie and skated with an empty net for the final 1:30 of the third period.

Jeremy Boniface was in the net for Concordia. Boniface had 31 saves for the Cobbers, 15 of which came in the third period and eight in both the first and second.

Concordia scored both of its goals on power plays they were 2-9 on the night. Eau Claire was 1-5 on the power play scoring its only goal of the game on a power play. Eau Claire had 10 penalties forcing them to play short-handed for 20 minutes. Concordia had six penalties, playing short-handed for 12 minutes.

The Blugolds are in action tomorrow night in a non-conference game against St. John's University. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. at Hobbs Ice Center.

Eau Claire-Concordia Box Score

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