GREEN BAY, Wis. - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team faced a tough task in top-ranked St. Norbert College tonight, but kept it within a goal before the Green Knights made it 3-0 in the third.

Eau Claire drops to 3-5 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) and 7-12 overall. The Green Knights improve to 7-0-1 against NCHA teams and 17-1-1 in all games, the best start in school history. Eau Claire has not beaten St. Norbert since 1995.

The Blugolds actually outshot St. Norbert in the opening period, but the Green Knights got the score with a 13:48 evenhanded shot by Steven Sleep.

After a tough middle period that saw just three shots from Eau Claire, St. Norbert made the lead two goals at 5:04 in the third thanks to Marc Belanger. At 9:42, Jason Nopper put in the second evensided goal of the period to make for the final score.

St. Norbert outshot Eau Claire 32-to-23 to create 29 Tyler Brigl (So.-Eagan, MN) saves. The Green Knights had one more penalty than the Blugolds at 10, but matched them in power plays by going 0-for-4.

The Blugolds head to Illinois tomorrow to face Lake Forest College.

Eau Claire-St. Norbert Box Score

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