By Justin Dade, UWEC Sports Information
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The No. 10 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey team held off the St. Olaf College Oles in a 4-3 win on Saturday night at Hobbs Ice Arena to reach double-digit wins on the season.
The Blugolds finished their first weekend of the new year strong winning both home games scoring a combined 13 goals while converting on six of their ten power plays.
Like the night before, the Blugolds wasted little time getting on the board as David Henry (Jr. - Foster City, CA) found the back of the net just 1:43 into the game with the assist coming from Joe Schmitz (Sr. - Lino Lakes, MN).
A UW-Eau Claire penalty would assist the Oles late in the period as they knotted the score 1-1 on a power-play goal from Nick Marsh.
The Blugolds were able to strike back with 2:21 left in the first frame on a huge power-play goal from Jesse Tredinnick (So. - Onalaska, WI) assisted by Todd Koritzinsky (So. - Verona, WI) and Preston Hodge (Jr. – Normal, IL) to take the 2-1 lead.
The Oles would continue to rally, however, as Peter Lindblad found the back of the net with just 51 seconds left in the period to tie the game up at 2-2.
After being out-shot in the first period, the Blugolds would turn it on in the second period out-shooting the Oles 18-9.
The only goal of the second period came from the Blugolds with just 1:44 left as Adam Knochenmus (Jr. – Roseau, MN) netted his 16th goal of the season assisted by Mac Jansen (So. - White Bear Lake, MN) and Patrick Moore (Jr. - Grand Rapids, MN).
The Blugolds would add another in the third period just 2:12 in to extend the lead to 4-2 on a goal from Derek Knetter (Sr. – Wausau, WI) with an assist again coming from Koritzinsky.
The Oles made things interesting once again on another goal from Marsh late in the period, but the Blugolds were able to hang on for the win.
Goaltender Jay Deo (Jr. – Langley, BC) was solid in his first start after the long break saving 27 of the 30 Oles' shots on goal to improve his season record to 4-1-1.
The Blugolds (10-3-2) will be back in action next weekend with two games in Minnesota. The first will be on Jan 15th at Augsburg and then the following evening at St. Thomas. The puck will drop at 7 p.m. both nights.
