Superior, Wis.  (uwrfsports.com) – The UW-River Falls Men's hockey team traveled to take on UW-Superior on Thursday night. Junior captain Eddie Matsushima recorded his first career hat trick and the Falcons rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Yellowjackets. Thomas Clayton added a goal and an assist for the Falcons and Aussie Miller assisted on all three of Matsushima's goals.
  
THE RUNDOWN
Final Score:  UW-River Falls 4, UW-Superior 1
Location:  Superior, Wisconsin
Records:  UW-River Falls (7-15-2, 1-6-0 WIAC), UW-Superior (9-13-2, 2-4-1 WIAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED AGAINST UW-SUPERIOR

• The Falcons would get an early opportunity on the power play when the Yellowjackets were called for checking from behind just 1:38 into the first period. The Falcons would get a couple of shots through to the Yellowjacket goaltender but could not find the back of the net.
• The Yellowjackets jumped out to a 1-0 lead just under 5 minutes into the period when Ian Ecklund found the back of the net.
• The Falcon penalty killers would be called upon to keep them within 1 goal, when Charlie Singerhouse was called for tripping. The Falcons would not allow a single shot on goal during the Yellowjacket power play and in fact registered a couple of their own.
• UW-Superior would be called for two more penalties late in the period but the Falcons were unable to capitalize as the period ended with the Falcons trailing 1-0, but starting the second period with 1:31 left on the power play.
• The second period would begin with the Falcons getting a couple of scoring chances on the power play but could not tie the score up at 1.
• After a period of 4 on 4 hockey Eddie Matsushima scored his first goal of the game at the 5:48 mark of the period to tie the score up a 1. 
• Matsushima would strike again just over 2 minutes later at the 8:32 mark of the period to put the Falcons up 2-1. The goal was his 13th on the season and he was assisted on the goal by Aussie Miller and Terry Leabo.
• The Falcons went on another power play at the 10:32 mark of the period and created a couple of really good scoring chances including a shot from Christian Hausinger that hit the pipe, but the score remained 2-1.
• Just over a minute after the power play ended Thomas Clayton pushed the Falcon lead to 2 at 3-1, when he found the back of the net. The goal was his 6th of the season and he was assisted on the goal by Mitchell Vanderburg.
• The Falcon penalty killers and goalie Zach Quinn would fight off a Yellowjacket power play late in the period to keep the Falcons up 3-1 after 2 periods.
• Eddie Matsushima would strike early in the third period with a shot that went 5 hole through the Superior goalie to put the Falcons up 4-1. The goal was Matsushima's 14th on the season and resulted in his first career hat trick.
• The Falcon penalty killers and goalie Zach Quinn kill off 3 more Yellowjacket power plays in the period as the Falcons held on to take the 4-1 victory.
• Zach Quinn made 24 saves in net for the Falcons.

 
THE OPPOSITION

• Cole Skinner made 23 saves in net for the Yellowjackets.
• Ian Ecklund scored the lone goal for the Yellowjackets.

 
LOOKING AHEAD
The UW-River Falls Men's Hockey team returns home to host UW-Stout on Saturday night at Hunt Arena. The puck drops at 7 PM.