St. Olaf 3, Yellowjackets 2 (OT)
SUPERIOR, Wis.: If it wasn't for bad luck the Yellowjacket men's hockey team would have no luck at all.
Six games into the season the Yellowjackets have visited victory lane just once. But it's not because they haven't played well enough. Quite the contrary. For most of the first half dozen contests the Yellowjackets have outplayed the competition. Long stretches of territorial advantages, huge edges in shots on goal, everywhere but where it counts - goals.
And luck.
Saturday night bad luck visited the Yellowjackets again. The 'Jackets dominated St. Olaf Saturday, badly outshooting the Oles and playing seemingly the entire night in the offensive zone. But a couple of bad breaks ended up in their net and when all was said and done, it was another loss.
The Oles scored late in regulation and early in overtime to erase a one-goal deficit and defeat the Yellowjackets 3-2 Saturday night at Wessman Arena.
The Yellowjackets got on the board first at 11:48 of the first period when
Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas at Arlington) wristed shot from the left circle past St. Olaf goaltender Noah Parker to make it 1-0. The fourth goal of the year for Lopez came on the power play. An interesting side note is that Lopez has scored the first goal for the Yellowjackets in all four of their home games in 2018-19. The Yellowjackets outshot the Oles 22-6 in the first period, but only led 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes.
Momentum followed the Yellowjackets from the first period to the second, as they put 11 shots on goal in the first five minutes of the frame. After an extended period of forechecking the Yellowjackets added to their lead when
Andrew Durham (Richardson, Texas/Plano East) let a shot go from the left circle that beat Parker to make it 2-0. Durham's third of the year stretched his goal scoring streak to three games.
St. Olaf broke through at 14:55 of the second when Josh Radtke whirled and fired from in tight and beat
Cole Skinner (Lunenberg, Nova Scotia/Parkview Education Centre) up high to make it 2-1. When the dust settled at the end of the second the 'Jackets had a 43-11 edge in shots on goal, but still found themselves leading by just one.
Late in the third period the Yellowjackets were awarded a power play, and even if they didn't score during the two minutes it would leave the Oles only a few seconds to get the equalizer. The 'Jackets didn't score, but the Oles did. A neutral zone turnover gave the Oles and odd-man rush and Caleb Callaway scored from the left circle to tie the game with juts 2:07 to play.
With the scored tied after regulation the teams went to overtime and bad luck doomed the Yellowjackets.
Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) was whistled for hooking and the Oles made the 'Jackets pay as Kyle Rimbach scored on the power play at 2:13 to give St. Olaf the 3-2 win.
For the game the Yellowjackets outshot the Oles 53-20. Skinner took the loss in goal for the Yellowjackets after finishing with 17 saves. His record is now 1-2-0 on the year.
Up Next: The Yellowjackets (1-4-1, 0-0-0 W.I.A.C.) are on the road for their next three games. The first is Friday, November 16 when they travel to Ashland to take on Northland College. Game time from the Bay Area Civic Center is set for 7:00 p.m.
