Gustavus Adolphus 5, Yellowjackets 3

SUPERIOR, Wis.: Friday night was a night of opportunity for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team. They had the chance to get back in the win column on home ice. They had the chance to pull their record back up to the .500 mark. And they had the chance to get the bitter taste from last weekend's road sweep out of their mouths.

Friday's opponent, Gustavus Adolphus, had other ideas.

For the second game in a row the Yellowjackets surrendered three third period goals and fell 5-3 at Wessman Arena Friday.

Early in the first period freshman defenseman Alex Spencer (Duluth, Minn./East) was taken down behind his net. The result of the play was an injury to Spencer that ended his night, as well as a Yellowjacket power play. Despite good looks with the man advantage the Yellowjackets came up empty, and the Gusties used the momentum to strike first. Caleb Anderson beat Yellowjacket goaltender A.J. Smith (Keller, Texas/Southlake Carroll) over the left shoulder at 7:52 to make it 1-0.

Gustavus stretched the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 11:54 when what appeared to be an attempt to pass across the goal mouth by Toby Sengvongxay ended up getting past Smith.

The Yellowjackets broke through at 6:12 of the 2nd period when the Gustavus defense lost track of Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas at Arlington) in the slot, and the freshman used a slick backhand to forehand move to score his third goal of the year. Daniel Litchke (Superior, Wis./Superior) and Connor Hamonic (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) assisted.

Minutes later the Yellowjackets pulled even. A Gustavus turnover at the Yellowjacket blue line sent the puck back the other direction and the Yellowjackets on the offensive. Andrew Durham (Richardson, Texas/Plano East) corralled the loose puck and from the right circle beat Gustavus goaltender Robbie Goor between the pads to tie the game 2-2 with 7:54 left in the second. Levi Cudmore (Park River, N.D./Park River) and Lopez picked up the assists.

Early in the third period Ryan Carlson (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown) was whistled for roughing. Seconds into the power play Gustavus took a penalty to even things out, but less than a half minute later Cudmore was sent to the penalty box on a questionable interference call and the Gusties made the Yellowjackets pay. Will LeNeave scored on a seeing-eye shot from the blue line to push the Gusties ahead 3-2 at 6:38. They added a controversial goal at 9:32. Colton Schmidt took a rising shot from a sharp angle on the left wing that appeared to hit the cross bar. The goal light never came on but the referee signaled goal, and just like that the Gusties were up a pair.

Just over a minute after Gustavus opened up a 4-2 lead the Yellowjackets cut it in half when Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) found Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy) streaking down the slot and the freshman drove his first collegiate goal home to pull the Yellowjackets to within one, 4-3.

Gustavus put the final nail in the coffin at 18:09 when J.P. Eykyn scored into an empty net to make the final score 5-3.

Moor was the star of the night, turning aside 44 Yellowjacket shots in the winning effort. Smith took the loss, falling to 0-2-1. He made 28 saves in the game.

Up Next: The Yellowjackets (1-3-1, 0-0-0 W.I.A.C.) will host St. Olaf College Saturday night. Game time from Wessman Arena is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS following the broadcast of the Yellowjacket men's basketball game.