River Falls, Wis. (uwrfsports.com) – In front of a packed house on the annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater" night at Hunt Arena, the UW-River Falls men's hockey team shut out visiting Finlandia University, 3-0, to move to 6-4-2 on the season. The Falcons jumped out to an early first period lead over the Lions and never looked back.  

Just under three minutes into the game, Finlandia's James Devlin was sent to the penalty box for tripping, putting UWRF on their first power play of the evening. The Falcons wasted no time in taking advantage of the 5-on-4 opportunity, as just 21 seconds into the power play, senior forward Alex Murphy found the back of the net to put UWRF ahead 1-0. Junior defenseman Jeff Bergh assisted on the goal.

The Falcons and Lions found themselves in a similar scene near the end of the first period when Finlandia's Francois Cote was called for tripping, sending River Falls on yet another power play. Sophomore defenseman Terry Leabo was the second Falcon to find the net Friday night as his shot slipped its way past Finlandia goaltender Walker Enstad to put the Falcons up 2-0 at the 17:41 mark. Leabo was assisted by Kyle Gattelaro and Ryan Doner on the power play goal.

UW-River Falls took control of the puck again the second period, peppering Enstad throughout the 20 minute stanza, but they couldn't manage to find the back of the net. Enstad made a number of acrobatic saves to keep the Falcons off the board, notching 22 saves in the period.

The Falcons started the third period one man down. River Falls managed to kill the Lion power play, thanks in large part to the goalie play of sophomore Alex Okicki. Gattelaro added an insurance goal for UWRF at the 8:28 mark, off an assist by Christian George and Bergh, making the score 3-0 as the Falcons never looked back on their way to the shutout victory.

Okicki stopped 11 shots in the contest as he picked up his first career win in goal. Enstad stopped a whopping 48 shots as the Falcons outshot the Lions 51-11. UW-River Falls also held a 28-23 edge on faceoffs.

UWRF will be back in action tomorrow night, Saturday, December 12, as they square off against Finlandia in game two of the weekend doubleheader. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. 

Video highlights courtesy of Kelsey Tyznik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi0zexXeY9g