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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Jeff Forsythe
Jed Carlson-Superior Telegram

Men's Hockey

Yellowjackets close regular season with OT loss

Jeff Forsythe
Box Score

River Falls 5, Yellowjackets 4
Box Score

The Yellowjacket men's hockey team needed a win on Saturday night, despite the fact that the game had zero effect on where they would finish in the NCHA standings.  The need comes from the fact that the Yellowjackets have won just twice since the calendar flipped to 2012, and the fact that they'd tied their last three games heading into the season finale at W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls.

The Falcons, on the other hand, were playing for the conference standing.  By way of Friday's shutout loss to St. Scholastica, the Falcons fell into a tie for second place, but based on their tie-breaker with the Saints, needed a win and some help in order to jump back into the conference runner-up position.

Saturday was a wildly entertaining game, argubly the most entertaining game of the second half, but in the end the Yellowjackets came up short, falling 5-4 in overtime to River Falls.

The loss means the Yellowjackets will enter the Peters Cup Playoffs on a four-game winless streak (0-1-3).

The first period was a wide-open, back-and-forth period that saw great skating as both teams pushed the pace.  The Yellowjackets would draw first blood at 8:05 of the first period when Kyle Leahy (Fort St. John, British Columbia/North Peace Secondary) won a face-off back to Jeff Forsythe (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline Secondary) who fired a wrist shot that beat Falcon goaltender Scott Lewan up high to make it 1-0.  The lead went to 2-0 in the final minute of the period as Derek Stauber (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) took a shot from the left point that hit the post, then caromed off the back of Lewan and into the goal with just 31 seconds to play.  Leahy and Cody Hotchkin (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) picked up the assists.

For everything that the first period was for the Yellowjackets, the second period was not.  Despite being an even 9-9 in shots on goal, the Falcons held a major territorial advantage and eventually would tie the game.  Just 46 seconds into the period Jason Yuel snapped a bad-angle shot from the right wing that beat Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) high to the glove side to make it 2-1.  The Yellowjackets answered shortly thereafter, just three minutes into the period and on the power play when Forsythe got the puck in the neutral zone, made a couple of defenders miss and wristed a shot past Lewan making it 3-1.  The second goal of the game was the eighth of the year for Forsythe.

The Falcons came roaring back, scoring twice in a span of 2:59 to tie it up.  Ben Beaudoin fired a quick shot from the left wing that snuck underneath Strandberg to make it 3-2.  Later, at 13:41, Alec Hagaman came down the right wing and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Strandberg, tying the game at 3-3 on the power play.

Early in the third period the Yellowjackets would again break the tie.  Casey Dion (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sand Creek) would pick up a rebound in the slot and sneak the puck past Lewan just 1:23 into the period to make it 4-3.  The unassisted goal was the first of the year for Dion.

The Falcons again would come back, and tie the game thanks to a little luck on their home ice.  Strandberg came out of the net and, from behind the cage, sent the puck around the left wing boards.  The puck hit a seam in the glass and kicked directly out front, right onto the stick of Blake Huppert who fired it home before Strandberg could get back in the goal, again evening the game at 4-4.

The game headed to overtime and just past the midpoint the Falcons got the game-winner.  Hagaman fired a long shot from the right that Strandberg kicked out, but Adam Cardwell got the rebound in the slot and drove it home, sending the Yellowjackets home with a 5-4 loss.

Strandberg saw a lot of action on the night, turning aside 28 shots in the game.  Lewan made 22 saves in the victory for River Falls.

The Yellowjackets took six penalties for 12 minutes, while River Falls was whistled four times for eight minutes.  The Yellowjackets were 1-1 on the power play, while the Falcons went 1-3.

The overtime game was the tenth of the season for the Yellowjackets, tying a school record set in 2007-08.  They are now 0-3-7 on the year when the game goes to an extra session.

The Yellowjackets (9-9-7, 4-7-7 NCHA) will open the Peters Cup Playoffs on the road, with a two-game (plus a mini-game if necessary) series at UW-Stevens Point.  Game time on Friday, February 17 from K.B. Willett Arena will be 7 p.m.  The game can be heard live locally on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.  You can listen live on the Internet at www.ifan.tv.  Jon Garver will have the call.
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