By Justin Dade - Sports Information
WINONA, Minn. (Blugolds.com) - The No. 11 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey team defeated the Saint Mary's University Cardinals 5-4 on Saturday night at Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
After a tough loss to St. Thomas on Thursday, the Blugolds hung on to defeat the Cardinals to improve to 4-2 in a crazy third period that featured six total goals.
UW-Eau Claire got on the board first on Lucas Kohls' (Jr. – Forest Lake, MN) first goal of the season with 13:34 left in the first period with the lone assist going to Adam Parsells (Fr. – Wausau, WI).
In a theme that would be repeated many times throughout the night, the Cardinals had a quick answer. Jack Stang would put one past goaltender Camden Haugenoe (Fr. - Williston, ND) less than a minute later to tie it up 1-1.
The Blugolds would lead decidedly in shots on goal (14-4) and faceoff wins (18-4) after one period of play in the 1-1 tie.
Jake Bresser (So. – Eau Claire, WI) continued his hot start to the season tallying his fourth goal of the year on a breakaway to make it 2-1 with 7:28 left in the period.
Despite a relatively quiet second period, things would get a lot more dramatic in the final period. The Blugolds held an impressive 30-11 lead in shots on goal after 40 minutes of hockey.
After a five-minute major penalty carried over into the third period, the Cardinals would tie it up on a power-play goal scored by Chad Cesarz just under two minutes into the period.
The Blugolds would regain the lead on a power-play goal of their own scored by Nathan Dingmann (Fr. – Plymouth, MN) to make it 3-2 with 14:25 left in the game. Colton Wolter (Sr. – Fairbanks, AK) and Alex Strand (So. – Roseau, MN) would get the assists on Dingmann's second tally of the season.
The Cardinals would respond again less than two minutes later on a goal scored by Jared Johnson to make it 3-3.
Just as Saint Mary's looked to take the lead for the first time on a power play, Jesse Tredinnick (Sr. – Onalaska, WI) stole the puck and buried one past Nick Nast to make it 4-3 with 9:09 left to play with the shorthanded goal.
After the Cardinals tied it up one last time a few minutes later, the Blugolds finally got the deciding goal they were looking for coming again on the power play. Tredinnick got his second game winner of the season assisted by captain Jake Hopfner (Sr. – Eastpointe, MI) and Mac Jansen (Sr. – White Bear Lake, MN) to make it 5-4 with 5:28 left to play.
The Blugolds were able to hold off any further comeback opportunities to hang on to the 5-4 win.
Haugenoe made his sixth consecutive start in net for the Blugolds and will improve to 4-2 saving 17 of the 21 shots he faced. Through six games, the freshman maintains a 2.33 goals allowed average and a save percentage of .899.
The Blugolds (4-2-0) will return to home ice next weekend starting with a huge matchup with St. Norbert on November 17. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. at Hobbs Ice Center.
Follow all the action on Blugold Game Day.