EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Over the years, winning has been a difficult thing at UW-Eau Claire for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team. In fact, you have to go back to Feb. 22, 2019 to find the last time the Yellowjackets picked up a win in Eau Claire, and they needed a super-human effort from goaltender Oscar Svensson to make it happen.
Svensson made 51 saves in the game, giving the Yellowjackets a 2-0 victory in the first game of their WIAC semifinal playoff series.
There wasn't as much on the line for the Yellowjackets Friday night, but they did need another big effort in goal to secure the win.
The Yellowjackets got a career-high 41 saves from
Jack Boschert (Florissant, Mo./Duchesne) Friday on the way to a 4-1 win over UW-Eau Claire at the Hobbs Ice Arena. The win stretches the No. 11/13 Yellowjacket unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1). The win, coupled with a UW-Stevens Point loss Friday, helped the Yellowjackets open up a four-point lead in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings.
Of Boschert's 41 saves, 31 came in the final two periods, including 14 in the third when Eau Claire was pressing to close the gap. The Blugolds also had 12 shots on goal while they were on the power play. The only shot to get past Boschert was a redirection for a power play goal in the second period.
Offensively, the Yellowjackets (15-3-2, 8-1-1 WIAC) got two goals each from
Ikki Kogawa (Chiba, Japan/Collingwood Collegiate Institute) and
Justin Dauphinais (Val Caron, Ontario/École Secondaire Catholique Horizon). The power play, which has struggled for much of the season also came to the fore, scoring twice in four chances.
Game Notes
- Kogawa started the scoring at 5:01 of the first period when Kogawa's power play shot snuck through Eau Claire Ethan Roberts for his sixth goal of the season.
- Eau Claire got the equalizer on a power play just 1:23 into the second when Jordan Randall tipped a shot past Boschert.
- The Yellowjackets took the lead for good a few minutes later when Daniel Rozsival (Chicago, Ill./North Shore Country Day) passed from the slot to the right circle where Dauphinais one-timed the puck past Roberts. The goal was the 10h of the year for Dauphinais.
- Less than a minute later Kogawa scored his second, again converting on the power play. Kogawa's shot from the left circle beat Roberts to the glove side and went off the post and in.
- It stayed 3-1 until late in the third period when Dauphinais scored his second of the game, scoring into the empty net with 2:12 to go, icing the victory.
- Dauphinais' second goal was his 11th of the year, which gives him the team lead.
- Dauphinais now has four game-winning goals on the year. He and Reed Stark (Suffern, N.Y./Douglas County West) have combined for nine of the team's 15 game winners.
- Rozsival had two assists in the game.
- With his two goals, Kogawa has reached 20 points on the year with seven goals and 13 assists.
- The Yellowjackets scored a power play goal for just the seventh time in their 20 games.
- The 12-game unbeaten streak is tied for the fifth-longest streak in program history, tying the mark set between Feb. 2 and Mar. 16, 2002.
The Yellowjackets and Blugolds will play the second game of their weekend series Saturday at the Hobbs Ice Arena. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m.
