The No. 6 UW-River Falls Falcons have historically had great battles with the No. 5 Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties and tonight was no different as the Falcons fell in a tightly contested 3-2 game.
UWRF went on the first power play of the game with 13:57 left in the first period. The Falcons kept it in the Gusties zone most of the power play and ripped seven shots in on goalie Lindsey Hibbard during it but could not get one past. Hibbard was a big factor all game recording 27 saves.
With 4:25 left in the first period
Dani Sibley went on a breakaway after a beautiful long pass across the ice. She put a move on Hibbard and shot the puck off the pipe where
Carly Moran tipped it in for her eighth goal of the season on the wild play. Originally the refs said no goal but after some discussion gave the point to the Falcons.
The Falcons again went on another power play with 2:17 left to go in the first period. UWRF was not so dominate on their second power play chance putting no shots on goal. After getting back on even strength GAC went on a breakaway and scored with just three seconds left in the period to make 1-1 going into intermission. UWRF dominated the period overall with 16 shots on goal and no penalties while the Gusties had just six shots on target and two penalties.
The first power play of the second period came with 13:54 left to go after a hooking call on GAC. UWRF wasted no time scoring on their third power play chance when
Paige Johnson passed it from the left side face off circle over to
Sam Greeley who hit
Dani Kocina in front of the net where she scored her sixth goal of the season on the wrister.
The Gusties went on their first power play with 11:49 left in the second period. UWRF killed the penalty while only giving up one shot in the two minute stretch of hockey. Almost as soon as the two teams were back on full strength the Falcons went on their fourth power play of the game with 9:25 left in the period. The Falcons had one scoring chance early in the period when Sibley almost tipped it in right in front of the net but Hibbard made a nice save.
The penalties continued to pour in when GAC went on another power play with 6:10 left in the period but once again the Falcons penalty kill unit played strong only giving up one shot which was saved nicely by
Angie Hall. With 3:44 left in the period the Gusties would get yet another power play chance but could not muster a shot on a goal. The () and final penalty of the period came with 32 seconds left in the period putting UWRF on their fifth power play of the game.
The second period ended with UWRF putting seven shots on goal with GAC putting nine on net. The Falcons had three power play chances converting on one while the Gusties also had three with UWRF killing them all off.
Special teams proved to make an impact in the game as GAC scored a short handed goal just seconds into the third period on a breakaway to make it a 2-2 game. The penalties continued to come in the third with GAC going on the power play with 15:12 left in the period but UWRF killed it off. A fifth Falcon penalty was called with 11:59 to go in the third and a sixth with 10:56 left to give GAC 5-3 on hockey for 58 seconds but UWRF killed them both.
With 7:13 to go GAC score when Hall could not control the puck after originally coming up with the save and the Gusties scored on the rebound to take their first lead of the game. With 3:57 left to go Hall made a big save on a breakaway to keep the Falcons within one.
With under two minutes left in the game Moran had a slot opportunity shot hit the pipe for the Falcons closest chance to tie the game. The Falcons had six third period shots while giving up seven to the Gusties.
UWRF finished with 29 shots on goal while Hall stopped 19 of GAC's 22 shots and went 1-5 on power play chances while killing all five power play opportunities the Gusties had.
UWRF will have over a month long break before hosting Concordia-Moorhead College on Friday, January 9, with the drop of the puck set for 7:05 p.m.
Box Score
