RIVER FALLS, Wis.: Coming off an invigorating win at home Thursday, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team hit the road Saturday to complete its weekend home-and-home series against UW-River Falls.
 
The trip started on a low note, with injury and illness sweeping through the Yellowjacket dressing room. As a result, Troy York (Plano, Texas/West), Dylan Johnson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet), Pavel Mikhasenok (Yekaterinburg, Russia/Everest Academy), and Colton Nelson (Grand Rapids, Mich./Edmond North), all key components in Thursday's win, stayed home. The depleted lineup took the ice looking for the sweep, but the 'Jackets were never able to find their collective footing.
 
River Falls jumped on the Yellowjackets early and was in control throughout, on the way to a 5-1 win Saturday night at Hunt Arena.
 
The win allowed River Falls to pull into a tie with the Yellowjackets (13-7-3, 6-7-0 WIAC) for third place in the WIAC, but the Yellowjackets own the tiebreaker based on winning the season series.
 
With Saturday's results, Eau Claire and Stevens Point assured themselves of byes in the first round of the WIAC playoffs. Northland College is locked in as the No. 6 seed and will travel to play the No. 3 seed. The Yellowjackets, River Falls and Stout are still jockeying for position, making next weekend's regular season final games of utmost importance. The Yellowjackets play Stout twice, while River Falls has a pair of games with Eau Claire.
 
River Falls opening the scoring just 1:40 into the contest when Chase Davidson got his shot from the right point through traffic to make it 1-0.

The Yellowjackets tied the game 1-1 when Ty Proffitt (Fairbanks, Alaska/Fairbanks BEST) scored his third goal of the year at 7:39 of the opening period. In the right corner, Proffitt threw the puck toward the goal from a sharp angle and it got through River Falls goaltender Zach Quinn. Will Blake (Champlin, Minn./Breck) had the only assist.

Early in the second period the 'Jackets nearly tied the game at 2-2, but Proffitt's rocket from the left circle hit the post.
 
River Falls scored the eventual game-winning goal from Charlie Singerhouse at 16:51 of the first period. Jackson Nauss scored a power play goal at 17:47 of the second period to make it 3-1. The Falcons then added a pair of goals late to put it out of reach. Gabe Wahl scored from the left circle at 13:23, before Jacob Skolnik closed out the scoring at 16:32 to make the final 5-1.

Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) made the start in goal for the Yellowjackets and took the loss, falling to 5-3-3 on the year. He made 23 saves. Quinn was steady at the other end, also finishing the night with 23 saves.