RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Thank God It's Friday.
 
That could be the mantra for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team so far in 2024-25. Entering play Friday, the Yellowjackets were a perfect 4-0-0 in games played on Fridays. For games played on any other day, well, that's a story for a different time.
 
The 'Jackets were going to need a big effort on this night, as they took on UW-River Falls. The Falcons came into the game sporting a 6-1-0 record, sitting atop the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings and ranked No. 10 in the nation.
 
And a big effort is what the Yellowjackets got.
 
Reed Stark (Suffern, N.Y./Douglas County West) scored at 2:50 of overtime to lift the Yellowjackets to a 3-2 win over UW-River Falls at W.H. Hunt Arena.
 
Stark got the puck in the slot and wired a shot past River Falls goaltender Brennan Boynton on the glove side to give the Yellowjackets (5-3-1, 2-1-0 WIAC) the victory. The Yellowjackets are now tied for third place in the WIAC, two points behind first-place River Falls.
 
Special teams played a heavy role in the game. Both UW-River Falls goals came on the power play, while the Yellowjackets scored once on the power play and once while shorthanded.
 
Kobe Grant (Vernon, British Columbia/South Kamloops Secondary) started in goal and turned in another strong performance, finishing with a career-high 39 saves to improve his record on the year to 2-1-1.
 
Game Notes

• River Falls outshot the Yellowjackets 41-36 in the game.
• The Falcons opened the scoring in the final minute of the first period when Tyler Lee got a rebound at the top of the goal crease and put it home to make it 1-0.
• The Yellowjackets drew even with a power play goal of their own. Dusty Bergstrom (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) got the puck in the left circle and fed a pass to Daniel Rozsival (Chicago, Ill./North Shore Country Day) in the slot, who slid a shot past Boynton for his third of the year at 4:55.
• Later in the period Justin Dauphinais (Val Caron, Ontario/École Secondaire Catholique Horizon) intercepted a River Falls pass and went in on a shorthanded break, beating Boynton with a shot to the stick side to make it 2-1 at 14:39 of the second.
• River Falls scored its second power play goal of the game at 7:02 of the third period, getting a redirection from close range by Reid Lune, tying the game 2-2.
• Dauphinais got an assist on the winner for a two-point game.
• It was a penalty-filled game Friday, with River Falls taking eight penalties for 16 minutes, while the Yellowjackets took seven for 14 minutes.
• The Yellowjackets are now 5-0-0 on Friday.
• Dauphinais' goal was the second shorthanded goal of the year for the Yellowjackets.
• With the win the Yellowjackets snapped a five-game winless streak against River Falls.

The Yellowjackets are back home Saturday when they will take on UW-Stout at Wessman Arena. The opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
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