RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The No. 4 seeded UW-River Falls men's hockey opened the first round of the 2024 WIAC Tournament/Commissioner's Cup Friday evening at Hunt Arena with a 3-2 win against No. 5 seed. UW-Superior.
After UWS opened the game's scoring late in the first period, a trio of Falcon goals in the second period made the difference in the win.
The Falcons and Yellowjackets went scoreless for the majority of the first 20 minutes until UWS capitalized on its first power play chance of the night. CJ Walker's wrist shot through traffic snuck past
Dean Buchholz with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock to give the visitors a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
UWRF answered with a three-goal second period. Just a few minutes in,
Sam Anzai pounced on a rebound to score his third goal of the season and tie the game at 1-1. Five minutes later,
Dylan Smith found
Max Collette open in the slot and his one-timer gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead. Late in the second,
Noah Roofe tapped in a pass from
Arsenii Smekhnov off the rush to claim a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
UW-Superior outshot the Falcons 10-4 in the third period and cut the UWRF lead to 3-2 at the 11 minute mark. UWS then pulled its goaltender late but to no avail as the Falcons escaped with the victory.
UWRF went 0-for-2 on the power play while UWS was 1-for-2. The Falcons held a slim shot on goal advantage at 27-26.
Dean Buchholz received the start in net for the Falcons and made 24 saves to improve his record to 8-6-1 on the season.
