Third period power play goal lifts Yellowjackets past River Falls

Brad Phenow scored the opening goal early in the first period of Friday's 2-1 win over UW-River Falls.

Box Score

Yellowjackets 2, River Falls 1

Outside of one period in early December, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team and UW-River Falls have played nearly identical hockey. In that first meeting the Falcons scored four times in the first period on their way to a 5-1 win. Since then the teams have met three times, and all three have ended with an identical final score.

On Friday night, the Yellowjackets netted the first two goals of the game and then withstood some late pressure from the Falcons on their way to the 2-1 win at Hunt Arena in River Falls to take a 1-0 lead in the WIAC semifinal series.

For the Yellowjackets, who haven't played a whole lot with the lead this season, Friday night marked a departure from the norm, as they took a lead just over two minutes into the game and never trailed.

And on this night, it was their fourth line that kickstarted things.

Jordan Shockley (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) had the puck on the right wing and sent it behind the net to Brad Phenow (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice). The senior captain made a strong move to the left of the goal and put his second shot, a backhand, past a sprawled out Scott Lewan to give the Yellowjackets the 1-0 lead. Phenow's third goal of the year came at 2:13 of the opening period.

It stayed that way until the early stages of the third period. River Falls' Alec Hagaman took liberties with Yellowjacket goaltender Dayn Belfour (Morden, Manitoba/Morden Collegiate), running him near the Yellowjacket goal after he came out to play the puck and was assessed a penalty for the play. And just 14 seconds into the power play the Yellowjackets increased the lead.

Team scoring leader Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) had the puck at the River Falls blue line and ripped a shot that got through the traffic in front and past Lewan to make it 2-0 at 4:20 of the third. Michael Rey (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Garden City Collegiate) had the only assist.

River Falls was finally able to break through at the midpoint of the period. The Yellowjackets, at the end of a long shift, failed to get the puck deep enough into River Falls territory and the Falcons quickly returned to the attack. Ryan Doner picked up a loose puck in the right circle and beat Belfour from there at 10:43 to pull to within a goal.

As the third period clock ticked down, the Falcons and Yellowjackets continued to apply pressure to the opponent in stretches. In the final minute Lewan was removed for an extra attacker, but the Yellowjacket defense kept the Falcons at bay and the visiting team earned the upset win.

Belfour was once again a rock in goal, finishing the game with 28 saves to improve his record to 6-6-1. Belfour has won his last four starts. At the other end Lewan was just as good, finishing with 26 stops.

Each team took four penalties for eight minutes. The Falcons were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Yellowjackets went 1-for-3.

The Yellowjackets (10-14-3) will look to close out the series and advance to the WIAC finals with a win or a tie on Saturday in game two of the series. The opening face-off from Hunt Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. 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 listen online through the iFan Sports Network or the KUWS web site. Jon Garver will have the call.

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