RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The UW-River Falls men's hockey team fell 4-2 Friday night at Hunt Arena to Saint John's University.
The Falcons, now 3-2 overall, held a two-goal lead early and carried a tie game deep into the third period, but a late surge from the Johnnies led to a SJU goal with under a minute left in regulation, followed by an empty-net goal to seal the win for the visitors.
UWRF struck first with a pair off power play goals, capitalizing on early SJU penalties.
Alex Atwill opened the scoring at 18:02 of the first, burying his first of the season off a tough angle shot nearly on the goal line, with assists credited to
Keenan Ingram and
Ben Portner. Ingram then doubled the lead 90 seconds into the second period, finishing a crisp puck movement sequence on the man advantage with assists to
Gavin Middendorf and Atwill.
SJU responded with four unanswered goals. The Johnnies converted on their own power play at 6:47 of the second when Jack Wandmacher cut the deficit to 2–1. Just 52 seconds later, Seth Terhell scored at even strength to even the contest heading into the third period.
Both teams traded chances throughout a high-tempo third period until the final minute when the Johnnies scored with just 54 seconds remaining, deflecting a shot from the point through traffic and past UWRF goaltender Brennan Boynton, who totaled 33 saves on the night. The Falcons then pulled Boynton after the ensuing faceoff, but SJU scored an empty-net goal for the two-goal cushion.
SJU finished with a 37-30 edge in shots on goal while UWRF led 38-25 in faceoffs. The Falcons went 2-for-3 on the power play and SJU went 1-for-1.
UWRF remains at home tomorrow night to host Concordia College.
