Posted: Jan 11, 2013
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) — The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team fell behind early and it proved to be too much to overcome in an NCHA matchup with Lake Forest (Ill.) as the Blugolds fell 7-1 at Hobbs Ice Center.
Coming off a 2-2 tie with St. Thomas (Minn.), the Blugolds (6-7-3, 5-4-2 NCHA) were looking to get back on the winning side in their first conference game since the break. But at 10:11 of the first period, the Foresters (6-2-4, 3-1-4 NCHA) got on the board to take a 1-0 lead.
Late in the first period, the Blugolds went on the power-play, looking to tie the game. But it was the Foresters that tallied a short-handed goal to take the 2-0 lead. But the Blugolds answered back on the same power-play as Sam Knutson (So.-North St. Paul, Minn./North St. Paul) sniped one past the Lake Forest goaltender from the left faceoff circle.
To start the second period, the Blugolds made a change in goal, as Paige Turner (Fr.-Iron River, Wis./Duluth East) relieved Mara Stormer (Sr.-Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee), who was making her third consecutive start in net.
The move appeared to pay off early on in the period, but the Foresters struck again late in the second period to take a 3-1 lead into the final intermission.
Lake Forest dominated the third period from the start and never gave the Blugolds a chance to climb back into the game. They struck at 2:20 to go up 4-1 it just got worse from there.
With 8:52 left, the Foresters scored a power-play goal to go up 5-1 and just 0:36 later, they tallied again to take a 6-1 lead. They would add one more before it was all said and done.
The Foresters outshot the Blugolds 37-27 and they were 1-for-2 on the power-play. Stormer took the loss, despite playing just one period and made eight saves, while Turner made 22 saves in her two periods of work.
Fortunately for the Blugolds, they will have another shot with Lake Forest Saturday night. The two teams will square off again at Hobbs Ice Center with game time set for 7 p.m.
-JM-
