EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Blugolds earned a 4-0 shutout victory over MSOE Saturday night at Hobbs Ice Arena, marking the 300th career win for head coach
Matt Loen. Loen became the 36th coach in NCAA Division III hockey history to reach the milestone.
Mason Joseph turned aside all 29 shots he faced to record the shutout. MSOE outshot the Blugolds 29-26, but Joseph helped preserve the 4-0 victory over the Raiders.
UW-Eau Claire generated the first stretch of chances, with
Noah Ziskie,
Trey Gnetz and
Nick Madsen recording early shots before MSOE began to push back through the middle of the first period. Joseph made saves during that MSOE stretch, and after the media timeout
Logan Ganz scored at 12:35 with an assist from
Dayne Hoyord to give the Blugolds a 1-0 lead. MSOE generated several late attempts, including saves by Joseph and blocks by
Gavin O'Hara and
Niko Laus, while UWEC added chances from Gnetz, Ganz and
Matthew Volkman before taking the 1-0 score into intermission.
MSOE applied pressure early in the second period, but Joseph came up with several saves to keep the Raiders off the board. At 13:42,
Kade Peterson found the back of the net off an assist from Volkman to extend the Blugolds' lead to 2-0. After Ziskie was called for slashing at 11:46, UWEC killed the MSOE power play with blocked shots from Gnetz and
Connor Thompson before returning to full strength at 9:46. Hoyord added an unassisted even-strength goal at 7:09, pushing the lead to 3-0 and prompting an MSOE timeout. The Raiders generated chances late in the period, but Joseph and the Blugold defense kept the shutout intact heading into the third.
The Blugolds maintained its defensive pressure in the third period, with Joseph turning aside an early MSOE opportunity and Gnetz blocking another attempt.
Connor DeTurris added to the Blugolds' lead at 13:33, scoring off assists from Laus and
Henry Bartle to make it 4-0. After Ganz was called for holding at 9:38, the Blugolds killed the MSOE power play with Joseph making a save and
Easton Inglis blocking a shot. A five-minute penalty on Dryden Tomkow at 6:23 gave UWEC a late power play. Although Tommy O'Donnell stopped several chances, Joseph made two saves in the final minute as the Blugolds secured the 4-0 victory.
Joseph finished with 29 saves to earn the shutout. Ganz scored the game-winning goal and put five shots on goal. Hoyord tallied a goal and an assist for two points with a plus-2 rating, while DeTurris scored on four shots and added three blocked shots.
UWEC moves to 1-0-1 overall while MSOE falls to 0-1-1 overall.
Up next, UW-Eau Claire travels to Minneapolis, Minn., to face Augsburg University on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. at Augsburg Ice Arena.
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