MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team finished its weekend undefeated after beating the Augsburg College Auggies 4-2 tonight at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

With their third straight win tonight, the Blugolds move to 12-5-0 on the year and 6-2-0 on the road. UW-Eau Claire remains in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association with UW-Stevens Point and UW-River Falls. All the teams have 2-4-0 records in conference play.

In the first period, the Blugolds allowed the first goal of the night at 5:30 to Augsburg's Mario Mjelleli to give the Auggies the 1-0 lead. Sam Bauler (Sr.-Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) notched the first even-strength goal for the Blugolds at 9:35 with assists from Brant Marple (Jr.-Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) and Greg Petersen (Sr.-Maple Grove, Minn./Totino-Grace) to tie the game 1-1. The Auggies responded with yet another goal at 12:58 from Joel Sauer to give them a one-goal lead. Less than a minute later, however, DJ Clark (Sr.-Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) received assists from Nicholas Kuqali (Jr.-Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) and Bauler to score Eau Claire's second even-strength goal, which tied the game up at 2-2.

The second period proved to be a long one as both teams prevented any scoring for quite some time. The Blugolds' Clark finally snapped the defensive stand with a power-play goal at 17:58 with assists from Joe Bluhm (Jr.-Red Wing, Minn.) and Petersen to give him his second goal on the night and the Blugolds the 3-2 lead.

The third period proved to be yet another defensive battle as the Blugolds fought to keep their lead and the Auggies fought to tie the game up at 3-3. Augsburg pulled their goalie in hopes of scoring one more goal in the last minute, but fell short as Eau Claire's Bluhm scored an empty net goal at 19:14 with assists from Andrew Johnson (Sr.-Andover, Minn./Anoka) and Jesse Vesel (Sr.-Hibbing, Minn.) to give Eau Claire the 4-2 win.

The Blugolds outshot the Auggies on the night 30-21. Eau Claire goalkeeper Tyler Brigl (Jr.-Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) recorded 19 saves tonight to move to 10-4-0 on the season for the Blugolds. The Augsburg goalkeeper Andrew Kent recorded 26 saves on the night after playing 59:47.

Eau Claire will have a week-long break from the ice until it comes back to Eau Claire to take on conference rival UW-Stevens Point on January 17. The puck is set to hit center ice at 7 p.m. at Hobbs Ice Center.

Eau Claire/Augsburg Stats

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