Winless Lions tie Yellowjackets

Cody Hotchkin had a goal and an assist on Friday night against Finlandia.

Box Score
Yellowjackets 3, Finlandia 3, OT

Maybe it was bus legs, maybe it was Friday the 13th, or maybe it was something else. Regardless, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team came out flat on Friday night, and the flatness potentially cost them a victory. Finlandia scored twice early in the hockey game and the Yellowjackets dug themselves out of the hole, but they ultimately couldn't pull out the win as the teams skated to a 3-3 tie at the Houghton County Arena in Hancock, Mich.

Despite outshooting the Lions 42-19 the game ended in a draw and ensured the Yellowjackets will enter the break under .500.

Finlandia opened the scoring just 26 seconds into the game when Travis Armstrong banged home a rebound at the top of the goal crease to make it 1-0. It went to 2-0 at 3:52 when Thomas Kerr picked up a rebound in the left circle and sent it past Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I).

After the first five minutes the Yellowjackets began to get their legs underneath them and broke through on a power play midway through the period. Owen Stauber (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown) took a pass in the high slot and sent a one-timer past Finlandia goaltender Andrew Brownlee to cut the lead in half at 2-1. It was the first goal of his Yellowjacket career for Stauber, who got assists from Jordan Shockley (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) and Michael Rey (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Garden City Collegiate).

The Yellowjackets tied the game early in the second period with their first shorthanded goal of the season. Rey took a shot from the left circle that Brownlee got a piece of but it still found the back of the net to even the game 2-2. It was the fourth goal of the season for Rey.

Minutes later the Yellowjackets took their first lead. Stauber fed a pass from the blue line to David Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) in the right circle, who centered to Cody Hotchkin (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) and he pushed home the power play marker to make it a 3-2 game. Hotchkin's fifth of the season came at 8:46 of the second period.

In the third period the Lions regained their confidence and started again applying pressure. They tied the game at 9:29 when Kevin Smith threw the puck to the front of the net from a bad angle it went in off Strandberg to again tie the game.

As the period went on the Yellowjacket defense grew more ragged, but it held up and the teams went to overtime. The Yellowjackets outshot the Lions 4-0 in the extra session but couldn't get the game winner.

Strandberg finished the game with 16 saves in the game. His record now stands a 2-3-2. At the other end Brownlee made 39 stops.

The Yellowjackets went 2-for-9 on the power play, while Finlandia went 0-for-5.

The Yellowjackets (4-6-2, 0-1-1 WIAC) will play their final game of the 2013 calendar year on Saturday when they meet the Lions for game two of their weekend series. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Central time and can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning with the pre-game show at 2:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening are you can listen online through the iFan Sports Network or through the KUWS web stream. Jon Garver will be on the call.

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