EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team fell behind early and couldn't make a comeback as it lost to the seventh-ranked College of St. Scholastica Saints 2-1 at Hobbs Ice Center tonight.

The Saints scored two goals in the first period, one at 9:26 and another at 14:26 on a power-play to go up 2-0. Neither team would score any more goals until late in the game.

With less than two minutes to go in the contest, the Blugolds tried to mount a comeback with Joe Bluhm (Sr.-Red Wing, Minn.) picking up Eau Claire's lone goal of the night. Nicholas Kuqali (Sr.-Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) and Bryce Wilcox (Fr.-Roschester, Minn./Century) were credited with assists on the goal.

The Blugolds outshot the Saints 31-27, including 10-9 in the third period and 9-6 in the first.

Brandon Stephenson (Fr.-Saline, Mich.) played 59 minutes in the goal for Eau Claire and stopped 25 shots while Zach Kleiman made 30 saves for the Saints, playing all 60 minutes.

Eau Claire drops to 6-10-3 on the season and 2-7-3 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) while St. Scholastica improves to 13-3-3 overall and 7-2-3 in NCHA play. The Blugolds still hold the edge in the all-time series 39-21-6.

The Blugolds will be back at home next Friday to face UW-Stevens Point at 7 p.m. On Saturday they will travel to De Pere for a matchup against St. Norbert College.