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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Sweep of River Falls
Kathy M. Helgeson, UWRF University Communications

Men's Hockey

Yellowjackets sweep Falcons, advance to WIAC title game

Jordan Shockley (left) and Jeff Forsythe (middle) congratulate Dayn Belfour after the Yellowjackets shut out River Falls 4-0 in game two of their WIAC semifinal series.
Box Score

Yellowjackets 4, River Falls 0

For the Yellowjacket men's hockey team, the 2013-14 season has been a season of frustration. Inconsistent play had the team out of contention for the top seed in the WIAC tournament and out of consideration for the NCAA tournament by the middle of January.

That being said, the team has picked a great time to play its best hockey of the season, and is now just one win away from earning the 2014 WIAC championship.

On Saturday night the Yellowjackets, despite being outshot by UW-River Falls, beat standout goaltender Scott Lewan three times and added an empty net goal in the final minute to defeat the Falcons 4-0 and complete the sweep of their WIAC semifinal series.

The victory gave the Yellowjackets several firsts. It marked their first series sweep of the 2013-14 season, as well as their first playoff series sweep since 2010-11. It was also their third win in a row, marking the longest winning streak of the season.

Like the series opener on Friday night, the Yellowjackets got on the board early in the first period, forcing the Falcons to play from behind.

Andy Singerhouse (Hudson, Wis./Hill-Murray) drove the River Falls net and rang one off the cross bar. He stayed with the puck and moved it to Cody Hotchkin (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) in the left circle. Hotchkin quickly sent a pass to the right point where Connor Faupel (Rochester, Minn./Century) blasted a slap shot over the shoulder of Lewan to give the Yellowjackets the 1-0. Faupel's third goal of the year came at 7:51 of the first period.

In the second the Yellowjackets extended the lead, Michael Rey (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Garden City Collegiate) sent a pass from the right corner, behind the River Falls goal to Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior), who made a perfect set-up to Singerhouse in the slot. Singerhouse one-timed his second goal of the year underneath Lewan and the Yellowjackets were up 2-0.

It stayed that way until the first minute of the third period. Rey got a pass at the River Falls blue line, deked his way around a pair of Falcon defenders and lifted a backhand over Lewan's glove hand from the left circle just 47 seconds into the period, to make the score 3-0. Faupel assisted on the play.

When the period hit the midway point, it looked like the Yellowjackets added a fourth goal. After serving a penalty, Hotchkin came out of the penalty box and Alec Doig (New Prague, Minn./New Prague) sprung him on a breakaway. Hotchkin faked and lifted a backhand over Lewan to push the lead to 4-0. Or so everyone thought. After a lengthy debate the officials met with the goal judge, and then later ruled that the puck never went in and the goal was disallowed.

Following the waved-off goal, the Falcons again applied pressure, and again drew a penalty. While on the power play the Falcons fed a perfect pass to Alec Hagaman to the left of the goal, but his one-timer was stopped a point-blank range by Dayn Belfour (Morden, Manitoba/Morden Collegiate). The save of the game, which Belfour made moving from his left to his right, kept the score at 3-0.

During a later power play, River Falls pulled its goaltender for a two-man advantage, but the Yellowjackets killed it off and added an empty net goal. With 48 seconds left Rey fed Dalbec who went in alone on the empty net and scored his 12th of the season to make the final score 4-0.

The Yellowjackets took four penalties for eight minutes in the game, while the Falcons took two for four minutes. Both teams were scoreless on the power play, the Yellowjackets in two chances and the Falcons in four.

Belfour was spectacular in goal, finishing the game with 33 saves to earn his second shutout of the season. Belfour has now won five straight starts and pulled his record for the year above .500, 7-6-1. At the other end Lewan was tagged with the loss, finishing the game with 17 saves.

The Yellowjackets (11-14-3) will close out their season in the WIAC championship game on Saturday, March 8 when they take on UW-Eau Claire at the Hobbs Ice Center. The Blugolds advanced to the final game by winning Saturday's game (1-0) and the mini-game (2-1) at UW-Stevens Point. The WIAC championship game will begin at 7:00 p.m. and 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 Internet through the iFan Sports Network or the KUWS web site. Jon Garver will have the call.
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