ASHLAND, Wis. – The start to the season was a difficult one for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team. The 'Jackets dropped their first four games, and five of their first six, to start the season. Things weren't going right, but of late, it looks like the Yellowjackets might have turned the corner.
 
For the first time this season, the Yellowjackets are on a winning streak, following a 4-1 win at the Bay Area Civic Center Friday.

The Yellowjackets have won three games in a row, and are now 4-5-0 overall, with a chance to pull their record to the .500 mark with a win Saturday. More importantly, the Yellowjackets improved to 2-1-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), and Friday pulled into a tie with UW-Eau Claire for second place.
 
In the first period Friday, the Yellowjackets took it to Northland, outshooting the LumberJacks 21-7 in the opening period, but it wasn't until there was less than five minutes to play that the 'Jackets got on the board.

And what a goal it was.
 
With 4:20 to go in the first, Palmer Sinclair (Irma, Alberta/Irma School) pounced on a rebound to the left of the Northland goal and put it home to make it 1-0. The Yellowjacket bench erupted in celebration when the junior scored his first collegiate goal.
 
Sinclair wasn't done.
 
A few minutes later he fed Collin Pederson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna Senior) in the slot who had his shot stopped, but Gavin Rasmussen (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet Senior) got the rebound and netted his third of the year to give the Yellowjackets a 2-0 lead 2:26 to play in the first.
 
In the final minute of the period Boone Mathison (Tomah, Wis./Tomah) was hit from behind, resulting in a five-minute Yellowjacket power play, and they capitalized twice to blow the game open.
 
Just 24 seconds into the second period Jordan Guiney (Victoria, British Columbia/Belmont Secondary School) scored his first goal of the year, getting a rebound in the right circle and scoring the power play goal to make it a 3-0 game. Blake Holmes (Apple Valley, Minn./St. Thomas Academy) and Daniel Rozsival (Chicago, Ill./North Shore Country Day) assisted.
 
Just over a minute later the Yellowjackets extended the lead. Dusty Bergstrom (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) passed to Justin Dauphinais (Val Caron, Ontario/École Secondaire Catholique Horizon) in the left circle, and his shot beat Northland goaltender Viktor Wennberg high on the stick side to push the lead to 4-0. Terry Ryder (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) also assisted. For Dauphinais, it was his third goal of the year, and the freshman has now scored goals in three-straight games.
 
The Yellowjackets continued to press in the second, but they weren't able to increase the lead any further.
 
It stayed a 4-0 game in the third, but Northland seized the momentum and pushed the Yellowjackets. The LumberJacks finally broke through with under two minutes to play, scoring a power play goal to make the final score 4-1.
 
Northland outshot the Yellowjackets 12-8 in the third period, but the Yellowjackets had the edge for the game, 49-26.

Jack Boschert (Florissant, Mo./Duchesne) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets Friday and earned the win, improving to 3-0-0 on the year. He stopped 25-of-26 shots. His goals against average dropped to 1.33, and his save percentage improved to .956.
 
The Yellowjackets and Northland will play their second game of the weekend series Saturday. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Bay Area Civic Center in Ashland.