UW-Eau Claire’s men’s hockey team was
focused on getting back on track after facing their first loss of the season. They pulled through the weekend with one win and one loss, after a tough battle against UW-River Falls.

On Friday’s game at River Falls, the Blugolds won 5-1 against the Falcons even though the first two period were a bit of a battle between the two teams.

The Blugolds started off the scoring the first goal of the night in the first period.

The Blugolds and Falcons had a relatively even battle through the second period. Eau Claire’s Chris Heineman, a sophomore defenseman scored the second goal of the evening, and River Falls
answered about five minutes later.

Head coach Matt Loen said it was a good
game overall.

“We generated a lot of chances on the power play and (the Falcons’) goalie came up big with some big saves, and we just took it to a whole ‘nother level in the third period,” Loen said.

But in the third, the Blugolds netted three goals, the first of which was scored by senior
forward Andrew McCabe, and the second 24
seconds later by senior forward Isaiah Bennis.

Junior forward Brian Nehring swept away the game with the last goal of the night at less than three minutes left on the clock.

Senior goalie Brandon Stephenson said River Falls is a better team than their record shows and they kept him on his toes.

“It was actually really close in those first and second periods, a lot closer than the score would say,” he said. “As a goalie, it’s great because it keeps you in the game, I felt like we fought really well, and then just took it away in the third.”

Stephenson said the team has been working to improve their defense the past couple weeks.

“At the beginning of the year, it was definitely not strong, we weren’t doing the small things it takes to win a hockey game,” he said. “As a goalie it’s always great to have guys helping out around the net.”

He said the team has been working on developing more of a team defense rather than just placing it all on the defensemen.

Saturday night, however, the Blugolds fell 2-1.

Loen said he thought the men lost sight of the game.

“We were kind of lax,” he said. “I don’t know if we were satisfied with our Friday win and just came out and thought that we could kind of take a night off and still win. I think that’s something we need to discuss in the second half (of the season).”

The Falcons scored the first goal of the night in the first period. The Blugolds struggled to find the back of the net until 6:57 in the second period, taking advantage of a power play.

The Falcons broke the tie at 7 minutes into the third period, securing their win for the night.

Loen said the team is looking forward to taking a couple of weeks off for finals and
winter break before heading back out onto the ice for
practice on Dec. 27.