Falcons edge Yellowjackets

Michael Rey scored the only goal of the night for the Yellowjackets on Friday night in a 2-1 loss to River Falls at Wessman Arena.

Box Score

River Falls 2, Yellowjackets 1

There are some nights when you play an awful game and you win. There are other nights when you play great and you come up short. For the Yellowjacket men's hockey team, Friday's game was the latter.

The Yellowjackets outshot River Falls 31-9 over the final two periods of Friday's game, but goaltender Scott Lewan was up to the task, finishing the game with 38 saves and helping the Falcons edge the Yellowjackets 2-1 at Wessman Arena on the first night of Parents Weekend.

It almost didn't end that way, however. The Yellowjackets drew a power play with 2.6 seconds to play in regulation and, with the face-off to Lewan's right, won the draw to Cody Hotckin in the left circle. Hotchkin's shot beat Lewan high on the short side, but hit the iron and caromed away, and with it, the Yellowjackets' hope for a victory.

River Falls opened the scoring late in the first period. With David Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) and Jeff Forsythe (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline Secondary) both in the penalty box, Jon Schreiner blasted a shot from the right circle that beat Yellowjacket goaltender Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) to make it 1-0 Falcons at 16:52.

In the second River Falls stretched the lead to 2-0. The Yellowjackets were carrying the play, and had a heavy territorial advantage when they went on the power play. River Falls killed off the penalty, and as it expired blocked a Derek Stauber (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) shot at the blue line. The puck bounced off a River Falls player, up in the air out to center ice where Mitch Kontny, who had just come off the bench when the penalized player came out of the box, picked it up and went in on a breakaway. His shot beat Strandberg and at 7:32 of the second the Falcons led 2-0.

As the third period unfolded the Yellowjackets continued to carry the play, but time and again they were turned away by Lewan. That changed when the Yellowjackets converted while shorthanded. With Connor Faupel (Rochester, Minn./Century) in the box, Jeff Forsythe (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline Secondary) picked up the puck in his own zone and moved it ahead to Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) on the left win. Dalbec sent a cross-ice pass to Michael Rey (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Garden City Collegiate) on the right wing and he streaked into the Falcon zone, letting a shot go from the right circle that beat Lewan low to cut the lead to 2-1.

Later in the period Dalbec had a pair of point-blank chances, only to be turned away by Lewan. In the end the Falcon netminder, along with a lucky bounce, was enough to give River Falls the conference win and keep them atop the WIAC standings.

Strandberg took the loss for the Yellowjackets, finishing the game with 18 saves. He is now 4-6-2 on the season.

River Falls took six penalties for 12 minutes, while the Yellowjackets took four penalties for eight minutes. On the power play River Falls was 1-for-4, while the Yellowjackets were 0-for-5.

The two teams will meet in game two of their weekend series on Saturday night at Wessman Arena. Game time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning with the pre-game show following Yellowjacket basketball. If you are outside the local listening area you can listen online through the iFan Sports Network or the KUWS web site. You can also watch the game live via UW-Superior's online content provider, AmericaOne Sports. Jon Garver will have the call.

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