Eau Claire dumps Yellowjacket men 3-1, losing skid hits four

Josh Kesler

Box Score
Eau Claire 3, Yellowjackets 1
Box Score

The 2011-12 season for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team started off with a lot of promise. Picked to finish second in the league by a vote of NCHA coaches, the Yellowjackets got off to a fast start and found themselves leading the pack for much of the 2011 portion of the schedule. Unfortunately, the ship has lost its course of late, and the team now finds itself drifting into rough waters as the season winds down.

On Friday night, the Yellowjackets started strong but weren't able to keep the momentum rolling and ultimately fell to UW-Eau Claire 3-1 at Wessman Arena.

With the loss, the Yellowjackets have now dropped four-straight games overall, and six straight in conference play. The offensive challenges also continue, as they have scored just 16 goals over their last nine games. In that stretch they have scored two-or-fewer goals six times.

The first period was the best period of the night for the Yellowjackets, as they forechecked hard and held a territorial advantage in the period, outshooting the Blugolds 13-7. It was Eau Claire, however, that would get the only goal. Jared Williams let a long shot go from the right wing that fooled Yellowjacket goaltender Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I), beating him high on the stick side to make it 1-0 at 15:19.

After killing off a power play that carried over from the first period, the Yellowjackets again ran a strong forecheck to start the second period. But again it was the Blugolds that got the only goal. Andrew McCabe took a shot from the left circle that was blocked, but the carome came right to Kurt Weston who pulled the puck around the pile and beat Strandberg to make it 2-0 at 10:42. From there, the second period, and the game for that matter, took a bad turn for the Yellowjackets. The remainder of the period was all Blugolds, as the Yellowjackets barely made their way into the offensive zone.

In the third, both teams appeared flat and did little offensively. The Blugolds were given a golden opportunity to salt the game away when Tanner Dion (Hardisty, Alberta/Central Sedgewick) was called for checking-from-behind, resulting in a five-minute Eau Claire power play. The penalty killers were brilliant, barely giving the Blugolds anything in the way of a scoring chance, and ultimately got the Yellowjackets on the board. An errant pass came into the neutral zone and Josh Kesler (Naperville, Ill./Northville) split the defense, roaring in all alone and wristing a shot high over the glove of Eau Claire goaltender Brandon Stephenson to make it 2-1 with 3:19 to play. The unassisted goal was Kesler's second of the year, and the seventh shorthanded tally for the Yellowjackets. Seconds later the Blugolds would take a penalty, as Weston was called for elbowing, but again the Yellowjacket power play was shut down. The Blugolds closed out the scoring with 6.6 seconds to play as Weston scored his second of the game into the empty net, sealing the victory.

Strandberg took the loss again for the Yellowjackets, finishing the game with 16 saves. Stephenson at the other end was sharp, particularly in the first period, finishing with 24 stops.

The Yellowjackets took six penalties for 23 minutes, while Eau Claire took seven for 14 minutes. The Blugolds were 0-4 on the power play, while the Yellowjackets went 0-6. They are now scoreless in their last 17 man-advantage chances.

The Yellowjackets (8-8-2, 3-6-2 NCHA) will look to snap their losing streaks in game two of the weekend series, on Saturday (Jan. 21) at Wessman Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. You can listen live online at www.ifan.tv. The game can also be viewed pay-per-view through UW-Superior's online partner AmericaOne. Jon Garver will have the call.

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