EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - For the first time in 2021, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team found itself facing a team besides Northland College. The 'Jackets took four games from the Lumberjacks over the past two weeks, winning two exhibition contests followed by a pair of regular season wins. The latter two victories put the 'Jackets in sole possession of first place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference heading into play Wednesday.

The unbeaten start was going to face an extremely difficult test, however, as the Yellowjackets hit the road to take on UW-Eau Claire, a team that had its 2019-20 season ended before it could play an NCAA tournament game a year ago. The Blugolds opened the season with a split against UW-Stevens Point last week.

Wednesday was a tough-sledding kind of night for the Yellowjackets. Opportunities were tough to come by, yet midway through the through third period the Yellowjackets scored to make it a one-goal game. From there Eau Claire took off, getting three goals late to take this one, 5-1 at the Hobbs Ice Center.

With the results of Wednesday's contests, there is now a four-way tie for the top spot in the WIAC, as Superior, Stout, Stevens Point and Eau Claire all sit at 2-1-0 for four points in the standings.

The first period featured back-and-forth play with each team coming away a couple of good scoring opportunities, but the defenses held and it was scoreless after 20 minutes. It stayed that way until 16:28 of the second period when Adam Parsells took a shot from the left boards that got through Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) to give Eau Claire the 1-0 lead. The Blugolds increased the lead at 18:24, with Jon Richards getting a rebound in the slot and pushing it past Svensson to make it 2-0.

In the third the Yellowjackets pulled to within on at 2-1 when Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everest Academy) scored his second of the season, taking a shot from the left point that eluded Eau Claire goaltender Riley McVeigh at 9:56. Will Blake(Champlin, Minn./Breck School) and Jordan Martin (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) assisted.

Eau Claire answered at 13:14 when Cole Paskus finished off a 2-on-1 to reinstate the two-goal lead. Nathan Dingmann scored less than a minute later to make it a three-goal game, and Derek Hammer closed out the scoring at 16:41, poking home a goal mouth rebound to make the final score 5-1.

Svensson was the busier of the two goaltenders Wednesday, making 29 saves on 34 shots. At the other end McVeigh made 15 saves.

The same two teams will play the second game of their series this week Friday night at Wessman Arena in Superior. The opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

UW-Superior and Yellowjacket Athletics will follow the COVID-19 safety guidelines and protocols recommended by the Douglas County Health Department. To conduct our events in the safest manner possible, spectators will not be permitted at UW-Superior home athletic events. Fans can follow the Yellowjackets through our online content provider, the iFan Sports Network. Fans can also listen to contests live on the radio home of Yellowjacket sports, 91.3 KUWS.