ASHLAND, Wis.: Don't lose two in a row. It's a message the Yellowjacket men's hockey team has been voicing throughout the young 2019-20 season, and following last Saturday's defeat at UW-Stout, it was being put to the test for just the second time.
 
And for the second time this season, the Yellowjackets passed the test.
 
Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) scored a pair of goals in the third period, the difference in a 4-2 win over Northland College at the Bay Area Civic Center Friday night.
 
Lopez scored the eventual game-winning goal at early in the third, then gave the Yellowjackets (7-2-0 overall, 3-2-0 WIAC) some breathing room with another marker a few minutes later.
 
The Yellowjackets threw everything at the Lumberjacks in the opening period, outshooting them 20-7, but time and again Northland goaltender Gennaro Anzevino was up to the task. It was a scoreless game until the 17:31 of the frame when the power play came through. Troy York (Plano, Texas/West) had his shot from the left circle blocked, but the carom went right to Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy), and the sophomore defenseman made no mistake, finding the back of the net for the first time since opening night to give the Yellowjackets the 1-0 lead.
 
At the end of the period the Yellowjackets lost a skater, as Coltyn Bates (Brandon, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) was assessed a major for spearing, which also carries with it a game misconduct. Northland also took a penalty on the play, meaning the teams would start the period with two minutes of four-on-four play.
 
That suited the Lumberjacks, who got the tying goal just 1:11 in when Jackson Barrett beat Yellowjacket goaltender Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) with a shot from the right circle.
 
A few minutes later the Yellowjackets would regain the lead. Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) started the play on the rush, carrying into the Northland zone and dishing to York whose shot was stopped, but the rebound came right to Levi Cudmore (Park River, N.D./Park River) who scored his third of the year at 8:52.
 
Northland would tie the game before the period ended. On a shorthanded rush, Kurt Sonne's shot from the right circle hit the post, but Cameron Coutre followed the play and was able to eventually poke the rebound in, tying the game 2-2 with 6:10 left in the second.
 
At 5:10 of the third period the Yellowjackets took the lead for good when Lopez finished off a dominant shift in the offensive zone, slipping a rebound past Anzevino to make it 3-2. Later, at 10:20, Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary) used some slick stickhandling to evade a pair of Northland defenders before sliding a perfect pass to Lopez at the right of the net, who buried his second of the period and fifth of the year to make the final score 4-2.
 
Lopez, York, and Lawson McDonald (Rosetown, Manitoba/Northlands Parkway Collegiate) all had multi-point nights for the Yellowjackets.
 
Hektor improved to 2-0-0 on the year in goal for the Yellowjackets, finishing the contest with 26 stops. The Yellowjackets outshot Northland 54-28 on the night.