Box Score Freshman forward
Cory Lushanko picked the wrong night to score his first two career goals, as the UWRF men's hockey team lost a lopsided road game to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds, 8-3, on Friday evening.
Lushanko entered the game with one assist in 16 games, but exited with his first career multi-goal game. The Blugolds, however, entered the contest with five consecutive shutouts, an unheard of statistic, but traded the shutout with an eight. The most goals UWRF allowed all season was four entering Friday's action; that number was swiftly doubled by UW-Eau Claire.
A late second period Lushanko goal pulled the Falcons within two, but the Blugolds opened the third period with three goals just 63 seconds apart, dooming the road team's chances.
The Blugolds grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a Jon Waggoner wrist shot goal at 4:45 of the first period. Waggoner's eight goal of the season was assisted by senior forward Jared Williams and senior defenseman David Donnellan. UW-Eau Claire scored on their sixth shot of the game after starting the contest with a 6-0 shot edge.
Final shots on goal in the first period were 13-11, in favor of the Blugolds. Falcons sophomore goaltender
Tanner Milliron (4-2-2) was required to be sharp in the early going as UWRF slowly gained their legs. Falcons freshman forward
Ryan Doner led UWRF with two shots on goal in the first, while the Blugolds were led by junior forward Ross Andersen, who finished with three shots on target.
The Blugolds were all business to start the second period as they quickly upped their lead to 3-0. First, freshman forward Patrick Moore pushed the Blugolds' lead to 2-0 with his third goal of the season at the 5:29 mark of the second period. The goal was unassisted. Then, sophomore forward Charles Thauwald slipped a shot past Milliron 76 seconds later. Thauwald's nifty goal was his fourth of the season and was assisted by junior defenseman Jack Callahan and freshman forward Adam Knochenmus.
The Falcons followed the back-to-back goals with an interference penalty to make matters worse, but prevailed without allowing a shot on goal.
The Falcons were unable to capitalize on their two second period power play opportunities, but eventually found the back of the net thanks to a Lushanko goal in traffic that beat Blugolds sophomore goaltender Tyler Green (7-3). Sophomore defenseman
Cody Kohn fed Lushanko for his first career goal, cutting the Blugolds' lead to 3-1. Kohn's assist total increased to five on the goal, which occurred at 14:58 of the second period. The goal ended UW-Eau Claire's five game shutout streak, dating back to Dec. 13.
The Falcons outshot the Blugolds 17-10 in the second period, despite being outscored 2-1. Falcons sophomore forward
Zach Schrotenboer entered the third period of play with six shots on goal. Green had a huge role in the second period, stopping 16 of 17 shots thrown his way.
The Blugolds stretched their two goal lead to five with three goals, 63 seconds apart, early in the third. Senior forward Niko Kapetanovic, Andersen and Moore scored the back-to-back-to-back goals at 4:13, 5:06 and 5:16 of the third. Kapetanovic's second tally of the season was assisted by senior defenseman Alex Olson. Andersen's fourth marker of the year was unassisted, and Moore's second goal of the evening was assisted by Donnellan and Andersen. The Falcons stuck with Milliron in net for the duration of the contest, despite the 6-1 deficit.
Lushanko notched his second career goal with an unassisted shorthanded marker at 9:55 of the third period, but the goal was quickly followed by another Blugolds tally. Donnellan netted his seventh of the season on the power play with an assist to Williams, upping the lead to 7-2. The time of the goal was 12:44 of the third period.
Doner cut the deficit to 7-3 with 61 seconds left in the game. His fourth goal of the season was a power play tally from the slot, assisted by senior forward
Blake Huppert. Huppert upped his point total to 13, tying him for the team lead with
Willie Hess. But, the Blugolds had an answer. Andersen buried his second of the evening just 25 seconds later, beating Milliron for the eighth UW-Eau Claire goal. The lone assist went to Donnellan.
Final shots on goal were 38-38. UW-Eau Claire outshot the Falcons 15-10 in the third, while outscoring them 5-2. The Falcons went 1-4 on the power play, while the Blugolds finished 1-5. Schrotenboer led the Falcons with six shots on goal, while UW-Eau Claire's Andersen fired eight.
UW-Eau Claire has scored at least six goals in four games this season; eight is their season high.
UWRF still leads the all-time series 90-36-4.
The Falcons fell to 10-5-2 overall, 3-2 in conference play and 6-3 on the road. The Blugolds are now 12-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the WIAC.
The Falcons take on the Blugolds tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. in Eau Claire, Wis.
Box Score
