STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Coming off a 6-1 loss to fourth-ranked UW-Stevens Point last night, the third-ranked UW-Eau Claire men's hockey team looked to turn things around tonight. But an overtime goal by the Pointers handed the Blugolds a 2-1 loss, giving Stevens Point a sweep of the Blugolds this season.
Stevens Point got on the board first with a goal at 9:15 in the opening period and held a 1-0 lead for more than 25 minutes.
But at 14:34 in the second period, Daniel Olszewski (Sr.-Janesville, Wis./Craig) scored on a power-play to tie the game up at 1-1. Mark Pustin (Sr.-Northridge, Calif./Granada Hills) and David Donnellan (Sr.-Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) assisted on the goal. The Blugolds spent a large portion of the second period in the Pointers' zone, outshooting Stevens Point 16-6.
In the third period, Stevens Point led the shot chart 7-4 and the teams combined for just three penalties, only one of which created a power-play opportunity.
In overtime, Stevens Point took just one shot and it hit the back of the net at 2:34. Garrett Ladd scored the winning goal, unassisted.
Tyler Green (So.-Noblesville, Ind.) made 24 saves while the Blugolds outshot the Pointers 31-26. He played in-goal all but 16 seconds.
Eau Claire is now 16-6-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the WIAC while Stevens Point improves to 18-3-2 on the season and 6-3-1 in conference play. The Blugolds are now in third place in the WIAC with 11 points while Stevens Point is in second with 13. UW-River Falls, which defeated UW-Stout 3-2 in overtime tonight, now leads the WIAC with 14 points.
The Blugolds have two games left to play in the regular season. They will host UW-Stout Thursday night and will be at UW-River Falls Saturday. Both games will start at 7 p.m.
-KM-