The University of Wisconsin Superior will close out the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season on Friday night at Wessman Arena, but first the Yellowjackets stopped off in River Falls, Wisconsin on Thursday night as they skated to a 1-1 overtime tie against the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in WIAC action.
A trio of freshmen paired up to give UW-Superior (7-15-2, 1-5-1 WIAC) an early lead, as
Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary) netted his fourth of the year at 4:26 of the first period, assisted by
Tanner Skaja (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech H.S.) and
Liam Blais (Uxbridge, Ont./Uxbridge Secondary). UW-River Falls (12-10-2, 3-3-1 WIAC)Â would out-shoot the Yellowjackets 37-22 on the night, but UWS played a strong defensive game, keeping the Falcons off the board until midway through the third period. Mike Dietrich knotted the game for UWRF at 12:19 of the period, assisted by Mike Fazio. The two teams really played shutdown defense in the third and overtime periods, when the Falcons out-shot the Yellowjackets just 5-2 in the third and 2-1 in the extra session. Junior
Kyle Miller (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake H.S.) played admirably between the pipes, making 36 saves for UW-Superior. Zach Quinn had 21 stops for UW-River Falls. Skaja had a team-high six shots to lead the Yellowjackets.
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UW-Superior will host the No. 7-ranked University of Wisconsin Eau Claire on Friday night at Wessman Arena in the regular season finale. The game will also be the annual pink game promoting breast cancer awareness. The puck will drop between the Yellowjackets and Blugolds at 7:05 p.m.