River Falls, Wis.  (uwrfsports.com) – The UW-River Falls Men's hockey hosted conference rival UW-Eau Claire on Thursday night at Hunt Arena.  Two 3^rd period goals by the Blugolds were too much for the Falcons to overcome, and they dropped a hard fought game 2-1.
  
THE RUNDOWN
Final Score:  UW-Eau Claire 2 , UW-River Falls 1
Location:  Hunt Arena, River Falls, Wisconsin
Records:  UW-River Falls (6-11-2, 0-3-0 WIAC), UW-Eau Claire (12-7-0, 2-1-0 WIAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 

• The Falcons and Blugolds played a scoreless first period with Blugolds outshooting the Falcons 10-3.
• Both teams had one Power Play chance in the period, but neither side was unable to get a shot on net.
• Both teams played a very physical first period with multiple hard hits shaking the Hunt Arena boards and glass.
• The 2^nd period saw 6 penalties called between the two teams. Neither team was really able to do much on the two Power Plays they each had. 
• UW-Eau Claire continued to out shoot the Falcons with a 9-6 advantage, but Zach Quinn remained sharp in net.
• The 3^rd period saw the Blugolds get on the board first when Logan Von Ruden's shot from the point made it through heavy traffic in front to give UW-Eau Claire a 1-0 lead.
• The play remained tight the next few minutes until a shot by Austin Redders found a way through Zach Quinn for a 2-0 lead late in the period.
• With just under 2:30 to play in the game the Falcons showed their resiliancy, and it paid off as Joe Drapluk scored his 7^th of the season to make it contest at 2-1 with 1:53 to go.
• The Falcons pulled Zach Quinn for the last 56 seconds, but were unable to get the tying goal.
• Zach Quinn made 30 saves in the contest.

 THE OPPOSITION

• Zach Dyment made 18 saves for the Blugolds
• Colton Walter and Jake Hopfner were both 8-14 on faceoffs.

 
LOOKING AHEAD
The UW-River Falls Men's hockey team returns to the ice this Saturday when they travel to take on UW-Stevens Point, the puck drops at 7pm.