Box Score Stout 2, Yellowjackets 1 (OT)
Box Score

On Friday night, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team had a couple of first.  They won on a Friday for the first time in 2011-12, and they also avoided overtime for the first time, as their first three Friday games all needed an extra session to be decided.  On Saturday night, they again found their way to overtime, and for the second time in the season they came up on short end, falling to UW-Stout 2-1.

Goaltending and team defense were the order of the day.  Through two periods the game was scoreless, with neither team having any really good scoring chances.  Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) for the Yellowajackets and Nick Hopper from Stout were both perfect, making the saves and offering up few rebounds.

In the third period, the Blue Devils broke the stalemate early.  Zach Vierling fed a long, cross-ice pass to Kevin O'Donnell who had gotten away from Jeff Forsythe (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline Secondary), streaked into the Yellowjacket zone and let a shot go from the left circle that beat Strandberg on the stick side to make it 1-0 just 1:14 into the period.  Later in the period, Stout's Sam Carr found himself on the breakaway, but Strandberg stood tall to make the save.  The Yellowjackets had a good scoring chance of their own in the third, but the Brad Phenow (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) shot rang off the post.  The Yellowjackets used their timeout prior to a late power play, but were turned aside.  The Blue Devils would use their timeout with less than two minutes to play, and this time the Yellowjackets were able to break through.  Off the ensuing face-off, Alec Doig (New Prague, Minn./New Prague) took a shot from the right point that went wide of the goal.  Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) was parked to the left of the goal and he took the carom and slid it past a sprawling Hopper, tying the game with just 1:09 to play. 

The life gained by the goal, however, went away just 36 seconds later when Justin Faryna (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop McNally) was called for a tripping penalty.  The Stout power play carried over into overtime and they ended the game just 22 seconds into the extra session.  Garrett Grimstad had the puck in the right corner and tried a centering pass that went off the skate of Derek Stauber (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School), right onto the stick of Mike Hartviksen, who fired a low shot past Strandberg to end the game.

Strandberg finished the night with 23 saves, while Hopper at the other end was on his game, turning aside 34 shots. 

The Yellowjackets took four penalties for eight minutes, while Stout took five penalties for ten minutes.  The Yellowjackets were 0-4 on the power play and the Blue Devils were 1-3.

The Yellowjackets (4-2-2, 3-1-2 NCHA) will play a rare weeknight game on Wednesday, November 23 when they will travel to take on Concordia College.  Game time is 5:00 p.m. and can be heard live locally on 91.3 FM KUWS.  The game can also be heard online through the iFan Sports Network at www.ifan.tv.  Jon Garver will have the call.