UW-Eau Claire men’s hockey started and ended the final game against UW-River Falls on Saturday, March 8, with a goal in the first and third periods. This intense game rounded out Eau Claire’s WIAC victory with a goal sheet untouched by River Falls.

Hobbs Ice Arena in Eau Claire welcomed 1,189 attendees, stands packed and the crowd’s energy high. That energy translated onto the ice with Eau Claire scoring the first goal of the game at 8:47. Fourth-year Kyler Grundy landed a shot with an assist from fourth-year Kyle Oleksiuk that propelled UW-Eau Claire into the lead.

Colin Stein, a fourth-year defenseman, is the team captain of the Eau Claire men’s hockey team.

“Getting a first goal was huge. Starting off strong,” Stein said.

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Saturday’s game was the first in nine years that Eau Claire had not played UW-Stevens Point in the WIAC final round. The team avenged their 2015-2016 season semi-finals loss against the Pointers, bringing the game back home.

“The biggest thing was, we haven’t played at Hobbs in 11 years. It was a huge motivational factor,” Stein said.

Eau Claire advanced to the finals after beating UW-Stevens Point in a three-game series the previous weekend. The win against the long-time final-round opponent set the tone for the River Falls matchup.

“It gave us so much confidence going into tonight,” third-year goalie Max Gutjahr said. “We’ve come to the WIAC championship the last three plus years now. The last two years we haven’t won it.”

Neither team officially found the net in the second period, despite a River Falls power play at 10:34 after a minor penalty on first-year Max Dronen.

“I give them credit; River came at us hard. Fortunately, we were able to sustain it,” Head Coach Matt Loen said. “We had that mojo going tonight. Pretty tired, but the guys battled through it and came out victorious.”

Much of the second period was spent in the Eau Claire defensive zone with River Falls battling for a shot at the net. Gutjahr made 17 saves in just the second period.

“Obviously, Gutj was awesome in that,” Loen said. “We just made plays when we had to. Fortunately, we didn’t give up a goal.”

Eau Claire fought off River Falls’ advances, defending their zone against a second-period offensive-focused team.

“We did a very good job getting pucks out of our own end,” Stein said. “That started with our goalie then translated to our defense. Forwards did a good job of creating chances, so it was a whole team effort.”

Energy, both on and off the ice, rose again in the third period with Eau Claire still leading 1-0.

“[We] love when the crowd gets going,” Stein said. “We just get really excited when they do ‘cause it gives us a little extra motivation.”

Eau Claire pushed through the third period, logging 12 shots on goal in a high-stakes final stretch. They prolonged that intensity, maintaining focus all the way through the final shot.

“It starts with us on the bench,” Stein said. “Keeping guys positive, encouraging each other, complimenting each other. And then that translates onto the ice and what we do.”

UW-River Falls pulled their goalie at 18:11, leaving the net open for third-year Trenten Heyde to score the second goal of the night at 19:47. With just 13 seconds left of the game, this unassisted goal finalized the win for UW-Eau Claire.

“It’s amazing,” Stein said. “We’ve lost it two years in a row since we’ve been freshmen–we finally get that.”

Loen said as of March 8, the goal was to just get rest the next couple days while they awaited the matchup announcement. 

Next, UW-Eau Claire faces Aurora University at 1 p.m. on March 15th in the NCAA Tournament.

“We knew in the locker room there was no way we were going to lose tonight,” Gutjahr said, now a 2024-2025 WIAC champion.

Wollner can be reached at wollnedm7148@uwec.edu.