Box Score The 10th nationally ranked UW-River Falls men's hockey team defeated the UW-Superior Yellowjackets, 2-1, on Friday evening in Superior, Wis. thanks in large part to
Scott Lewan's 38 saves.
Lewan's 38 saves are a season-high, and each save proved more important than the last. He picked the perfect evening to play his best hockey of the season as his Falcons were outshot 39-20. While a shutout would have been nice, Lewan (8-3) will undoubtedly take the road win.
Falcons senior captain defenseman
Jon Schreiner opened the scoring 16:52 into the first period on the power play with a snap shot from the point that beat Yellowjackets senior goaltender Drew Strandberg (4-6-2). Schreiner's third goal of the season had eyes as the puck made its way through traffic and into the back of the net. Schreiner now has six career goals; his three goals this season are a career high. The power play tally was assisted by freshman forward
Ryan Doner and leading scorer
Willie Hess. Doner upped his assist total to nine, giving him a tie for the team lead with
Jeff Burke and
Christian George. Hess, meanwhile, now has five assists and 15 points.
The shots after the first period were 11-8, in favor of UW-River Falls. Lewan was not overly busy in the first, but his workload got heavier by the minute in the second and third periods.
The Yellowjackets opened the second period with an 8-1 shot advantage. Lewan was single-handedly keeping the Falcons in the contest.
Falcons freshman forward
Mitch Kontny made the Yellowjackets pay for not capitalizing on their early second period opportunities. Nine seconds following a UW-Superior power play, Kontny stole an errant pass and sniped a shot past a sliding Strandberg, pushing the Falcon lead to 2-0. The time of the goal was 7:32 of the second period. Kontny's unassisted goal was his sixth of the season, good for third on the team and most among freshman.
After the 2-0 goal the Yellowjackets stepped it up a notch as, again, they outshot UW-River Falls 8-1 over the next six minutes, but Lewan stood extremely tall. Every time the Yellowjackets began to make progress Lewan made a game-breaking stop.
The second period ended with a 17-5 UW-Superior shot advantage, giving the Yellowjackets a 25-16 shot edge.
The Yellowjackets finally beat Lewan on shot number 35 as UW-Superior senior forward Michael Rey cut the lead in half at the 12:09 mark of the third period. It was a shorthanded goal, assisted by senior forward Pat Dalbec and senior defenseman Jeff Forsythe. The goal seemed to wake up the Falcons, who were on their heels for the majority of the second and third periods, as they began to play stronger down the stretch. In the end, Lewan was too strong for the Yellowjackets forwards.
The Yellowjackets dominated most of the third period, much like the second. Shots on goal in the third period were 14-4, in favor of UW-Superior.
Zach Schrotenboer and Burke led the Falcons with three shots each. All but three skaters registered a shot on goal for UW-Superior. The Falcons have struggled on Friday night games as of late, so it was encouraging to sneak a road win after getting outshot by 19.
The Falcons power play finished 1-4, while UW-Superior went 0-6. Special teams have been an achilles heal for UW-River Falls this season, and they played a mammoth role tonight's win.
UW-River Falls improved to 12-5-2 overall, 5-2 in the WIAC and 8-3 on the road. UW-Superior fell to 6-11-3 overall, 1-4-2 in the WIAC and 2-5-1 at home. The Falcons have won two straight, having only allowed one goal in each contest.
The Falcons are now 2-0 against UW-Superior this season; Hess and
Blake Huppert carried the Falcons to a 5-1 victory on Dec. 6.
The Falcons and Yellowjackets square off tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at Wessman Arena in Superior, Wis.
Box Score
