STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The UW-River Falls men's hockey team opened its weekend WIAC road series with a 3-2 win over No. 10-ranked UW-Stevens Point Friday evening.
The Falcons improve to 11-8-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the conference standings while moving to 2-0 against the Pointers, including a 5-1 win over UWSP back in November at Hunt Arena.
UWRF scored three even strength goals while UWSP held slim 33-32 edge in shots on goal. The line of
Dylan Smith,
Jonny Meiers, and
Max Collette produced a pair of goals while
Reid Lune scored the eventual game-winner in the third period.
After a scoreless first, Collette opened the scoring seven minutes into the second period, batting the puck out of mid air to put UWRF up 1-0. UWSP scored late in the period to knot the score at one apiece heading into the final 20 minutes.
Near the midway point of the third period, the Falcons scored twice in 16 seconds. At 9:52, Smith behind the goal banked the puck off of Pointer goaltender Alex Proctor to regain the lead, and soon after,
Reid Lune scored off a centering pass from
Alex Atwill to put UWRF up 3-1.
The Pointers scored under seven minutes later to trim the Falcon lead to 3-2, but UWRF held on for the rest of regulation to earn the three points in the WIAC standings.
Brennan Boynton made 31 saves in net for the win, his 11th of the season. Smith and Collette both finished with two-point nights off a goal and an assist each while Meiers had two assists.
The Falcons go for the series sweep tomorrow night at UW-Stevens Point.
