MENOMONIE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The 15
th ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey team began their final Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) series of the regular season on Friday during their second matchup of the year with UW-Stout. The "War on 94" series took an unfamiliar turn as the Blugolds surrendered two goals in the second period and couldn't eliminate their deficit, falling 2-1 to the Blue Devils.
After a scoreless first period, UW-Eau Claire found themselves down early in the second as Stout opened the middle frame with a backdoor tap in goal for a 1-0 lead. Less than four minutes later, the Blue Devils increased UW-Eau Claire's deficit to 2-0 with their second backdoor goal of the evening. Despite surrendering the first two goals of the game, UWEC out shot Stout 28-11 during the first two periods of play.
Special teams' opportunities found both teams during the evening matchup as the two teams combined for ten penalties during the game.
Connor Szmul (Sr. – Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) capitalized on the Blugolds third power play of the night after receiving a pass from
Leo Bacallao (So. – Madison, Wis./Vel Phillips Memorial) on the strong side and cut the Stout lead to 2-1. Bacallao and
Aaron Swanson (Sr. – Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie East) earned assists on Szmul's seventh goal of the season.
Eau Claire held five power play opportunities throughout the evening, but Szmul's tally in the second was their only capitalization.
The Blugolds kept the pressure high in the third period as they were down a goal but could not fin the back of the net as they fell to UW-Stout, 2-1
Max Gutjahr (So. – Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in his seventh loss of the year. Gutjahr is now 14-7-2 on the season.
The Blugolds (15-7-2, WIAC 9-4-1) will play their final regular season game on Saturday, February 10
th against UW-Stout at the Fanetti Community Center in Menomonie, Wis. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
