RIVER FALLS, Wis. – For the Yellowjacket men's hockey team, youth is being served in the early stages of the 2022-23 season.
 
Entering play Friday, eight of the 17 goals the Yellowjackets had scored came off the sticks of freshmen. In addition, goaltender Dylan Meilun (Morden, Manitoba/Morden Collegiate Institute) became the first Yellowjacket goaltender in 13 years to start his career at UW-Superior 3-0-0.
 
Friday night was the third straight game away from home for the Yellowjackets, and they closed out the first road swing of 2022-23 in style, getting a pair of early goals from freshmen and 36 saves from Meilun on the way to a 3-0 win over UW-River Falls at W.H. Hunt Arena.
 
With the win the Yellowjackets (4-2-0, 1-0-0 WIAC) open their conference season with a victory, and stretch winning streak to three games.
 
The kid line consisting of Colton Friesen (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Dakota Collegiate), Collin Pederson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna Senior) and Tristan Therrien (Prévost, Québec/Newbridge Academy) got the scoring started early for the Yellowjackets, lighting the lamp twice in the first 12 minutes.
 
Pederson took a shot from the left circle that was stopped, and Friesen pounced on the rebound, banging home his fourth goal of the season to put the Yellowjackets in front. Therrien also got an assist on the eventual game-winning goal.
 
At the 12:00-minute mark of the period, the freshmen struck again. Friesen took a shot from the left side that deflected off Therrien and into the River Falls goal to make it 2-0. Therrien had numerous chances to score in Saturday's game against Saint Mary's, but came away empty handed. He used a little good luck and a fortunate bounce to pick up his first collegiate goal in this one.
 
The lead grew to 3-0 at 17:23 of the first when Zach Bannister (Grande Prairie, Alberta/St. Joseph Catholic) scored his first goal of the year, getting a rebound on a Reed Stark (Suffern, N.Y./Douglas County West) shot. MacGregor Sinclair (Irma, Alberta/Irma School) also assisted.
 
Things got interesting in the third period, as River Falls came out strong and outshot the Yellowjackets 20-7 in the frame, but Meilun was the best player on the ice, and he shut the door on the Falcons to earn his second shutout of the season. The Yellowjackets had a 24-16 advantage in shots on goal through two periods, but for the game the Falcons outshot the Yellowjackets 36-31.
 
The Yellowjackets will return home Saturday night when they play host to UW-Stout. The opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at Wessman Arena.