Yellowjackets drop season finale

Wes Judnick

Box Score

Eau Claire 4, Yellowjackets 1
Box Score

The season finale against UW-Eau Claire was a microcosm of the second half of the 2012-13 season. The Yellowjackets had their chances, but failed to convert and settled for one goal scored in the game. At the other end, the Blugolds took advantage of their chances, and, with a little bit of luck, took care of the Yellowjackets to close the season.

UW-Eau Claire scored a pair of third period goals to pull away from the Yellowjackets and hand them a 4-1 loss at Wessman Arena.

With the loss, the Yellowjackets lost a golden opportunity to jump back into fourth place in the NCHA and host a home playoff series. Instead they will now be forced to hit the road, where they will play the first round at St. Scholastica.

In the opening period both teams had difficulty generating offense, combining for just seven shots on goal. With the game scoreless in the final minute, the Blugolds broke through when scoring leader Jordan Singer snapped a wrist shot from the right circle over the shoulder of Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) to make it 1-0. The power play goal came with 13.6 seconds left in the first period.

Eau Claire stretched the lead to 2-0 at 7:56 of the second, and again it was Singer. This time Dan Olszewski had the puck on the left wall and sent a pass across the slot, where Singer was left uncovered at the right post. He tapped the puck in for his second of the game at 18th of the season.

The Yellowjackets broke through in the waning minutes of the second. Following a scramble in front of the goal, the puck kicked to the right circle and Wes Judnick (Virginia, Minn./Virginia) blasted a shot past Eau Claire goaltender Brandon Stephenson to make it 2-1. It was the first career goal for Judnick. Tanner Dion (Hardisty, Alberta/Central Sedgewick) and Josh Kesler (Naperville, Ill./Northville) assisted.

With a little bit of momentum the Yellowjackets charged out of the gate in the third period, but an early mistake in the defensive zone proved costly. The Yellowjackets tried to clear the puck up the right side, but the Blugolds held the zone and Derek Knetter sent a pass to the front of the net where Andrew Wilcox was wide open, and he slid a backhand under Strandberg to make it 3-1 just 3:52 into the period.

Eau Claire closed out the scoring with a little bit of luck at 16:27 of the third when Ethan Nauman took a shot from the right circle that caromed off a Yellowjacket defender and past Strandberg to make the final score 4-1.

Once again the Yellowjackets were able to outshoot their opponent, and hold them to under 20 shots in the game, as they had a 28-16 edge. Strandberg finished with just 12 saves while Stephenson made 27 stops.

The Yellowjackets took seven penalties for 14 minutes and Eau Claire took five for ten minutes. On the power play the Yellowjackets went 0-for-3 while the Blugolds went 1-for-5.

The Yellowjackets (11-12-2, 6-10-2 NCHA) will hit the road for a first round playoff series at Mars-Lakeview Arena against St. Scholastica. Game time on Friday, February 15 is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in on the web through the iFan Sports Network. Jon Garver will be on the call.

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