EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's hockey team began Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Friday as they hosted the Northland College Lumberjacks at Hobbs Ice Arena. Kyler Grundy (So. – Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Indian Trail Academy) was the hero of the evening as his second goal of the night won the game for Eau Claire with less than a minute remaining in overtime.
The Blugolds and Lumberjacks went back and forth all night as both teams looked for important points in the conference standings. A first period goal by Northland was answered minutes later as Kyler Grundy tied the game at 1-1 on a pass from Quinn Green (Jr. – West Chicago, Ill./St. Charles East) on the side boards to the slot and finished into the back of the net at 14:26. The Blugolds outshot the Lumberjacks 15-6 in the opening frame as each side lit the lamp once in the first 20 minutes of play.
The second period was opened by UW-Eau Claire as Coalson Wolford (Fr. – San Jose, Calif.) netted his third goal of the season for UWEC's first lead. Connor Szmul (Jr. – Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) followed suit two minutes later after beating the Lumberjack netminder to increase the Blugold lead to 3-1. Jordan Randall (So. – Maple Grove, Minn.) and Peter Jacobs (So. – Carlsbad, Calif./Lewis Palmer) received assists on Szmul's first goal of the evening. Northland closed their deficit to just one goal at the 9:48 mark with the game's lone powerplay goal.
Later in the second frame, the Lumberjacks tied the game at 3-3 as a shot from the point found it's way into the back of the net. Connor Szmul and the Eau Claire offense would respond three minutes later with a shot from the slot beating the Northland goalie to give the Blugolds a 4-3 lead heading into the second intermission. Quinn Green tallied his second assist of the night on Szmul's second goal of the evening, and Colin Stein (So. – Pewaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial) earned his second assist of the year on the go-ahead goal.
The third period held all the dramatics of a WIAC game as Northland pulled their goalie late and cleaned up a rebound in front of the Eau Claire net to tie the game at 4-4 with 39 seconds remaining in the game. Neither side found a last second tally in the third as extra hockey was awarded to the fans at Hobbs Ice Arena.
Despite being outshot 11-4 in the third, the Blugolds controlled most of the puck for most of the overtime period and outshot the Lumberjacks 3-2 during the extra frame. Kyler Grundy found the game winning goal on an odd man rush with Ty Readman (Sr. – Edmonton, Alberta/Vimy Ridge Academy) as his shot was too hard to handle and UWEC walked away with the 5-4 victory.
Max Gutjahr (Fr. – Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced to earn his third win of the year. Gutjahr is now 3-2-0 on the year.
The Blugolds (3-2-0 WIAC 1-0) will be back at home on Saturday, November 19th as they continue WIAC play as they face the UW-River Falls Falcons in a rematch of last year's WIAC Tournament semifinals. Puck drop is scheduled for 7PM at Hobbs Ice Arena.
Follow the Blugolds all season long at Blugold Game Day or on our app, UWEC Blugolds.
