EAU CLAIRE, Wis.: It's well known that when the Yellowjacket men's hockey team scores the first goal of the game, they're generally in pretty good shape. In 2019-20, the 'Jackets are 12-0-0 when they light the lamp first. When they don't, not so much. When giving up the first goal the Yellowjackets are 0-3-3.

With this in mind, things could not have unfolded worse for the Yellowjackets Friday night at Eau Claire. The Blugolds scored in the first minute of action and held on to defeat the Yellowjackets 4-2 at the Hobbs Ice Center.
 
The loss snapped the Yellowjacket (12-3-3, 5-3-0 WIAC) unbeaten streak at nine games, and also took away their stranglehold on the top spot in the WIAC standings. Following Friday's action, the Yellowjackets are now tied with Eau Claire, but are the No. 2 team in the standings based on Eau Claire's head-to-head wins over the Yellowjackets.
 
Just 58 seconds into the game Nathan Dingmann got a step on the Yellowjacket defense and while moving to his left, flipped a shot past goaltender Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) to give the Blugolds a 1-0 lead.
 
Eau Claire carried the bulk of the play in the opening period until a penalty stalled the momentum. The Yellowjackets took advantage of the power play and tied the game at 13:10. Great puck movement in the offensive zone saw all five players on the ice touch the puck before Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary) found Andrew Durham (Richardson, Texas/Plano East) between the circles, and his shot beat Eau Claire goaltender Zach Dyment low to the stick side to tie the game at 1-1. The goal snapped a four-game goal drought for Durham.
 
Midway through the second period Eau Claire regained the lead. Andrew McGlynn intercepted a clearing pass in the left circle and slid a backhand past Hektor at 10:20 to make it 2-1. Less than three minutes later Simon Sagissor took a stretch pass in the neutral zone and got a step on the Yellowjacket defense. He faked forehand and went backhand, sliding it past Hektor to push the lead to 3-1.
 
Early in the third period the Yellowjackets forced their own turnover and sawed the lead in half. Dylan Johnson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) intercepted a pass near the front of the Eau Claire net and put a backhand past Dyment just 3:31 in to cut the lead to 3-2. The goal was the eighth of the year for Johnson, who extended his point streak to seven games on the play.

That's as close as the Yellowjackets would get, and with less than a minute left Derek Hammer closed out the scoring, sending a shot from the right wing into the empty net to make the final score 4-2.
 
Hektor was busy in goal for the Yellowjackets, finishing the night with 30 saves. His record on the year falls to 4-1-3. At the other end Dyment was forced to make just 14 saves.