The UW-River Falls men's hockey team extended its winning streak to 11 games after defeated the visiting Hamline University Pipers 3-1 on Friday evening thanks to a 30-save effort from Falcons junior goaltender
Tanner Milliron.
The Falcons are now 11-0, which is the best start in program history. The 11-game winning streak also ties a program record set in the 1995-1996 season. Milliron saw his shutout streak, which lasted over 167 minutes, snapped in the second period. Three different Falcons scored goals in the winning effort.
"We're very proud of our start," said Head Coach
Steve Freeman. "It's the first time since I've been here that we've had an undefeated first half. We've had contributions from all four lines, defenseman and goalie."
The first UWRF shot on goal didn't come until nearly seven minutes into the first period on a slap shot from the left dot from freshman defenseman
Terry Leabo. Both teams were blocking a lot of shots. The Pipers opened the game with a 7-1 shot edge. A gorgeous toe-drag and centering pass by sophomore center
Mitch Kontny led to a slot chance from sophomore forward
Taylor Burden but Pipers 6'7" freshman goaltender Erick Majerle (1-1-1) kicked the puck away with his right pad.
Falcons sophomore center
Mike Fazio opened the scoring at 16:06 of the first period with his fifth goal of the season that beat Majerle under the left arm. The wrist shot from the left dot seemed to fool Majerle and the puck trickled into the back of the net. The five goals tie Fazio for second on the team. Sophomore forward
Danny Hamburg earned his first assist in a Falcons uniform.
Junior forward
Mike Williams doubled the lead to 2-0 at 18:31 of the first period with a wrist shot goal from the top of the left circle. Williams walked out of the left corner and wristed the puck through a plethora of players and the puck had eyes as it beat Majerle high glove. Freshman center
AJ Jarosz earned his third career assist on the goal, and the tally was Williams' second of the year.
After the Pipers held a 7-1 shot advantage in the first 11 minutes, UWRF ended up outshooting Hamline 11-9 in the first. Falcons freshman forward
Kyle Gattelaro and Williams both had two shots on goal in the period. The Falcons blocked 11 shots in the first period alone.
Falcons freshman forward
Russ Jordan scored his first career goal at 4:25 of the second period on a redirection off a brilliant Williams centering pass. Williams entered the zone down the right boards and fed a streaking Jordan who redirected the puck past the right pad of Pipers sophomore goaltender John Sellie-Hanson (3-2-1) who entered the game after the first period in relief of Majerle. Junior captain defenseman
Alex Murphy was credited with a secondary assist, his fourth of the season. Williams' assist was his second of the season. Jordan's first Falcons goal came in his third career game.
A turnover by the Falcons to the right of Milliron (11-0) led to a Hamline goal at 17:37 of the second period. Pipers senior forward Andrew Herbert scored the goal, his first of the season. Junior forward Cody Mason earned the lone assist, his first of the year. The goal snapped a shutout streak for Milliron that lasted 167 minutes and 30 seconds, one of the longest in the last 20 years.
Hamline played much better in the second period, outshooting UWRF 13-6. Gattelaro led UWRF with three shots on goal through two periods. Milliron was strong in the second period, despite allowing his first goal since Dec. 4 against UW-Stout. Both teams went 0-1 on the power play in the second.
Pipers junior forward Kevin Novakovich rang a wrist shot off the crossbar on a rare 4-on-1 rush just four minutes into the third period. The shot seemed destined to cut the Falcon lead in half but the iron was kind to UWRF this time around. Novakovich was obviously dissatisfied as he bent over and held his head in disbelief. The Pipers earned its second power play of the game following the scoring chance but failed to get any momentum with the extra man.
The third was a hard-fought, tight-checking period with loads of scoring chances, but both goalies played well. Final shots on goal were 31-22 in favor of Hamline. Jarosz led UWRF with four shots on goal. Majerle made nine saves in the loss and Sellie-Hanson made 10 saves in relief. Again, Milliron stopped 30 shots in the victory. Both teams finished 0-2 on the power play.
"We played hard tonight but had too many turnovers," Freeman said. "We got the two-goal lead and then it looked like we relaxed, but in the end we took care of business."
UWRF improves to 6-0 at home. The Pipers fall to 4-4-3 overall and 1-2-2 on the road. UWRF is now 20-3-1 all-time against Hamline. The Falcons also defeated Hamline 5-2 on Nov. 8 in St. Paul, Minnesota, thanks to a three-point night from sophomore forward
Christian George who is currently injured.
The Falcons have three weeks off before its next game against the Aurora University Spartans at 7:05 p.m. on Jan. 2 at Hunt Arena. It is the inaugural meeting between the two programs.
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