SUPERIOR, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The 14th ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey concluded their weekend road trip on Saturday night with their series finale against UW-Superior. Despite giving up the first goal, UW-Eau Claire scored three unanswered goals to complete the weekend and regular season series over the Yellowjackets with a 3-1 win.
With both teams fighting for second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings, their final meeting of the regular season began with intensity and speed as UW-Superior found the opening goal of the game just under seven minutes into the first period. Special teams play would factor in early for UW-Eau Claire as they found themselves with a 5-on-3 powerplay later in the period.
Leo Bacallao (So. – Madison, Wis./Vel Phillips Memorial) blasted home his seventh goal of the season from the left circle to tie the game at 1-1. Bacallao's tally at 14:00 was assisted by
Quinn Green (Sr. – West Chicago, Ill/St. Charles East) and
Kyler Grundy (Jr. – Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Indian Trail Academy) as both teams hit the first intermission tied at 1-1.
The second period held more aggressive and physical play than the first as both teams found themselves with powerplay opportunities. UW-Eau Claire took advantage first on a five-minute major powerplay as
Connor Szmul (Sr. – Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) found a pass from
Quinn Green and buried the puck through the Superior goalie's legs to gain the first lead of the night for UWEC. Q. Green and
Trenten Heyde (So. – Atlanta, Ga./Grayson) earned assists on Szmul's second goal of the weekend and sixth of the season.
Later in the period, the Blugolds found themselves on the penalty kill three times but were able to keep the Yellowjackets off the scoresheet before the second intermission.
In the third period neither team found themselves with special teams' opportunities as the two teams played 5-on-5 for the final 20 minutes of play. Despite being outshot in the third, 7-9, the Blugolds added to their lead just after the halfway mark of the period as
Quinn Green found
Kyler Grundy alone out front and Grundy beat the goaltender on the blocker side for UWEC's third goal of the evening. Q. Green recorded his third assist of the night as the lone helper on Grundy's seventh goal of the evening.
UW-Eau Claire played shutdown defense for the final half of the third period as they hung on to the 3-1 scoreline to earn their fifth WIAC win and take sole position of second place in the conference standings.
Max Gutjahr (So. – Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced to earn his 11
th win of the season. Gutjahr is now 11-6-1 on the year.
The Blugolds (11-6-1, WIAC 5-3) will be back at home on Friday, January 26
th for a weekend series with Northland College at Hobbs Ice Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
