Justin Dade – Sports Information
OSWEGO, New York (Blugolds.com) – The No. 4 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey team defeated Curry College 4-3 on Saturday night at the Marano Campus Center in their final game of the 2017 Pathfinder Tournament.
After falling just short against No. 5 Oswego State the night before, the Blugolds defeated the Colonels 4-3 in a back-and-forth affair.
UW-Eau Claire struck first in this one late in the first period on a goal from Tyler Hart (So. - Woodbury, MN) assisted by David Henry (Sr. - Foster City, CA) and Todd Koritzinsky (Jr. - Verona, WI) to make it 1-0.
Despite a strong first period, the Blugolds would surrender a late first period goal as Jordan Williamson tied things up 1-1 for the Colonels with just 31 seconds left.
Curry would take the lead very early in the second period on a goal from Lionel Mauron just over a minute into the middle frame to make it 2-1.
UW-Eau Claire would respond with a goal of their own with 9:40 left in the second period on a goal from Mac Jansen (Jr. - White Bear Lake, MN) who netted his 11th goal of the season to make it 2-2. Captain Jake Hopfner (Jr. - Eastpointe, MI) was credited with the lone assist on the goal.
Kyle Lee (Jr. - Wausau, WI) would give the Blugolds the lead back on the power play on Lee's fifth goal of the season about five minutes later with assists from Henry and Patrick Moore (Sr. - Grand Rapids, MN) to make it 3-2.
Curry would answer one more time with 9:10 left in the third period on a power-play goal from Mack Heisinger that made it 3-3.
UW-Eau Claire got the game-winning goal from Colton Wolter (Jr. - Fairbanks, AK) assisted by Adam Knochenmus (Sr. - Roseau, MN) with just 3:01 left the play in the game. The goal was Wolter's seventh of the season in what has been a great year for the junior forward as he now sits third on the team with 17 points.
The Blugolds would hang on for the final three minutes to win 4-3.
Jay Deo (Sr. - Langley, British Columbia) was solid in goal in this one saving 23 of the 26 shots on goal to earn the win in his 16th-straight start to improve to 11-2-3.
UW-Eau Claire (11-2-3) now enters the meat of their 2016-17 season schedule. The Blugolds have a huge homestand next weekend with games first against No. 12 Augsburg on Jan. 13 and then No. 15 St. Thomas the following night, both at Hobbs Ice Arena. The puck will drop at 7 p.m. both nights.
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