EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team tied second-ranked St. Norbert College 3-3 in overtime at Hobbs Ice Center tonight.
The overtime contest was just the sixth in the series against the Green Knights and Eau Claire has only won once while tying three times and losing twice. The last time the teams played an overtime game was February 2, 2007 and St. Norbert won 4-3.
Eau Claire made it exciting in the overtime period, outshooting St. Norbert 4-2. One opportunity came late in the extra session as the Blugolds broke away for a two-on-one. The shot was high, however, and the St. Norbert goalie grabbed the puck out of the air.
The Blugolds actually jumped out to a lead twice but St. Norbert quickly answered both times.
Kurt Weston (So.-Roseau, Minn.) opened the scoring for Eau Claire, scoring at 5:39 in the first period on an assist from Alex Olson (Fr.-Devils Lake, N.D.). But just over three minutes later, the Green Knights answered on a power-play to tie it up.
In the second period, Tyler Romasco (Jr.-Perry, Ohio) scored at 8:42 with assists from Jordan Singer (So.-Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) and Travis Peckskamp (So.-Sauk Rapids, Minn.), but again, St. Norbert answered. This time it took the Green Knights less than a minute to tie the game back up.
At 18:16 in the second period, St. Norbert went up 3-2 with another goal.
But the Blugolds didn't give up and Jon Waggoner (Fr.-Fairbanks, Alaska/Lathrop) scored at 7:12 in the third period to tie the game back up at 3-3. Eric OHearn (So.-Traverse City, Mich./Central) and Robbie Anderegg (Fr.-Urbandale, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) were credited with assists on the goal.
The Green Knights finished outshooting the Blugolds 37-24 and Brandon Stephenson (So.-Saline, Mich.) earned the tie by saving 34 shots.
Eau Claire is now 12-8-1 on the season and 6-7-1 in the NCHA. St. Norbert is 17-3-1 overall and 11-2-1 in the NCHA.
The Blugolds will wrap up their regular-season home schedule with three more games. The home stand will continue Thursday, February 3 when UW-Stout comes to town. Action will get underway at 7 p.m.
