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UW-Stout (8-5-2, 3-5-0 NCHA, 1-5-0 WIAC) and
UW-River Falls (8-5-2, 1-5-2 NCHA, 1-2-2 WIAC) enter this weekend's contests with identical overall record, but slightly different conference records. The Blue Devils are two points up on River Falls in the NCHA and River Falls is two points up on Stout in the WIAC. The teams will meet at the Dunn County Ice Arena, Friday, Jan. 11 and Saturday, Jan. 12, with both games set to get underway at 7:30 p.m. Friday's game is the first time the Falcons have played away from Hunt Arena since Nov. 17, 2012, when the closed out a six game road stand.
WEBCASTS: All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by
Blue Devil Video.
Live Stats should also be available for most home games.
2012-13 BLUE DEVILS (8-5-2): The Blue Devils got back on the winning track with a 5-1 win over Bethel University and a 5-4 overtime win over Hamline University over the weekend to stay perfect at the Dunn County Ice Arena in seven home games. Stout is 1-5-2 away from Menomonie. Stout is outscoring their opponents, 48-46, but are being outshot, 530-396. Stout has converted on .234 (11-47) of their power plays, and have been effective on the penalty kill at a .829 (12-70) rate. Through 11 games, 17 players have scored goals for the Blue Devils and 20 have recorded at least one point.
Kevin O'Donnell leads the team in scoring with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.
Zach Vierling is right behind with seven goals and six assists for 13 points.
Garrett Grimstad and
Joe Beaudette lead the team in assists with nine. Grimstad has four goals and Beaudette, two, both coming against Hamline last weekend.
Sam Carr and
Jordan Tredinnick each have seven assists, with Carr puncing in five goals - matching his season high from 2010-11 - and Tredinnick, four.
Jason Cohen has four goals and six assists. Cohen leads the team with a plus/minus of +16.
Nick Hopper extended his record to 7-1-2 overall and has a goals against average of 2.47 and a saves percentage of .926. Hopper has played in 608 of the total 920 minutes of action. |
2012-13 Statistics
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: While it's never been labeled one of the nicest or prettiest venues in sports, the Dunn County Ice Arena has been a comfortable place for the Blue Devils this season. They are a perfect 7-0 at home this season, including wins over their only two ranked opponents. Further validating their home ice advantage is their 1-5-2 record away from the Dunn Co. Since the 2006-07 season, UW-Stout is 56-23-5 at the Dunn County Ice Arena.
STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils hosted a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) schools last weekend that were on opposite ends of the MIAC standings. Even though Stout came away with two wins, judging by the results, one would not know which team was in first and which was in last. The Blue Devils had little trouble with first place Bethel University, Jan. 4, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before winning the contest, 5-1, as
Kevin O'Donnell racked up two goals and an assist. |
Bethel Complete Game Story | But it was last place and winless Hamline that gave the Blue Devils trouble the following night. Hamline took a 1-0 lead before
Joe Beaudette scored his first two goals of the season to put the Blue Devils in front. Stout carried a 3-1 lead into the third period when the Pipers jumped on the Stout defense for three goals to go ahead, 4-3.
Sam Carr knotted the score with a goal with six minutes remaining in regulation and O'Donnell won the game in overtime with a goal with 33 seconds remaining. |
Hamline Complete Game Story
SCOUTING UW-RIVER FALLS (8-5-2): After starting off the season at 4-0, the Falcons fell into a well for the next seven games, going 0-5-2 in the stretch. But since beating third ranked UW-Eau Claire, 2-1, on Dec. 8, they have not lost, carrying a four game winning streak into the Dunn County Ice Arena. The Falcons so far this year have outscored their opponents, 43-43, and, like Stout, have been outshot, 442-385. The Falcons are posting a power play mark of .125 (6-48), and a penalty kill of .827 (11-60). Adam Cardwell and Zach Schrotenboer each have six goals to lead River Falls. Cardwell has a team-high nine assists and a team-high 15 points. George Mallliaras has eight assists, while Jake Calleja and Jeff Burke each have seven assists. Scott Lewan has been seemingly between the pipes forever and the junior has played in all but three games since joining the Falcons. This year, Lewan has played in all 15 games and has played in all but eight of the Falcons' 910 minutes. Lewan has a GAA of 2.79 with a saves percentage of .904, |
2012-13 Statistics
UW-RIVER FALLS' LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons gave long-time coach Steve Freeman his 300th win with a 3-1 decision over St. John's University, Jan. 5. Scott Lewan recorded 41 saves and the Falcons broke a 1-1 tie with two goals in the second period. Lewan turned away 18 shots in the second period and 14 in the third. Alec Hagaman scored at the six minute mark in the second and Adam Cardwell added the final marker of the night at 12 minutes of the second. |
St. John's Complete Game Story | Jake Calleja and Alec Hagaman combined for five assists in the 5-3 win over Concordia-Moorhead, Jan. 4. |
Concordia Complete Game Story |
THE SERIES: There is no team Stout has tangled with more than UW-River Falls, with the series dating back to 1969. The Falcons own a 63-20-1 record in the series. Last season, the Falcons took two out of three games, with one goal making the difference in each game. The teams split in River Falls, with the Falcons winning the first, 4-3, but Stout bounced back the next night for a 2-1 decision. River Falls won the single game in Menomonie, 7-6 in overtime. Since the 2008-09 season, Stout holds an 8-5 edge in the series.
LAST TIME WHEN THEY MET (Feb. 4, 2012): Stout and River Falls combined for seven second period goals - six in the final 3-minutes, 24-seconds of the period - but ultimately it was the eighth-ranked Falcons that prevailed 7-6 in overtime Feb. 4 at the Dunn County Ice Arena. The Falcons led 3-1 after one period, but Stout's
Garrett Grimstad pulled the Blue Devils to within one goal, 3-2, with a shorthanded goal at 3:56 of the period. The next 12 minutes or so were fairly quiet, but then the fireworks started. The Falcons Justin Brossman scored at 16:36. Grimstad answered back at 17:08 with his second goal of the night. But only 13 seconds later, the Falcons' Jake Calleja scored. Not to be outdone,
Branden Gay pulled Stout to within 5-4 at 17:42. At 18:11, the Falcons' Adam Cardwell made it 6-4. Stout's
Mike Hartviksen cut the lead to one, 6-5, with 19 seconds remaining in the period. After a collective catching of the breath by both teams and the fans in attendance, Stout tied the game at 5:49 of the third period when Gay notched his second goal of the night. And then, another quiet period and the game headed to overtime. The Falcons' Alec Hagaman scored the game winner at 1:42 over the overtime period. |
Story and Stats
RECORDS AND MILESTONES: .
Sam Carr needs to duplicate his assist total (from last season in order to pass Joel Gaulrapp and current head coach
Terry Watkins for fourth all time in assists. He currently has seven assists, and 10 more would put him at 55 for his career. Also, Carr needs to match his jersey number, 24, in games played this season in order to hit the 100-game milestone for his career. The last player to do so was his brother, Robert Carr, along with two others in the 2010-11 season. Coincidentally, Robert played in 27 games his final season, which matched his jersey number as well...
Charles Lachance has previously spent 163 minutes watching from the penalty box in his Blue Devil career. Lachance moved into fifth place earlier this season and could grab the fourth spot with 25 more. He needs 35 minutes to move into elite company, as the 200-minute club is currently occupied by just three Blue Devils.
AWARDS AND HONORS: Kevin O'Donnell was named the WIAC player of the week, Jan. 8, after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against Hamline University and scoring two goals the day before against Bethel University...
Zach Vierling was named the NCHA player of the week, Dec. 3, after scoring two game-winning goals against St. Scholastica. Vierling scored his first collegiate game winner in overtime, then the following day scored a pair of goals in a 5-2 win, including the unassisted game winner. Vierling was also named the UW-Stout athlete of the week...
Nick Hopper was named the NCHA player of the week, Nov. 19, after posting a pair of wins over nationally ranked St. Thomas and UW-Superior. Hopper was also named the UW-Stout athlete of the week.
THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (205-223-28) is in his 17th season as the head coach of the Blue Devils' varsity program. Watkins spent eight years coaching the club team (104-102-16) as Stout prepared to return to varsity status in 1997. Watkins was the 2006-07 NCHA coach of the year when Stout finished in a three-way tie for first. Watkins had a Hall of Fame career at Stout as a defenseman. Stout won a WIAC title in 2010-11, and an NCHA title during the 2006-07 season
. UW-River Falls: Steve Freeman (300-150-35) is in his 17th year as head coach of the Falcons. Freeman is the WIAC all-time leader in games won and has led the Falcons to the WIAC Championship in nine of the past 12 seasons. He is the winningest coach in UW-River Falls hockey history and that was accomplished in just six seasons, the shortest period of time of any UWRF coach.
THE CONFERENCES: Stout is a member of the seven-team Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). They are also a member of the five team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The WIAC is made up of Stout, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior and UW-River Falls. The NCHA includes the five WIAC schools as well as St. Norbert and St. Scholastica. This is the final year of the existence of the NCHA.
STOUT'S RANKED HISTORY: Stout finished the 2008-09 season as the second ranked team in the USCHO.com poll. With the exception of the Nov. 17, 2008, USCHO.com poll, Stout had been ranked in the top 15 since the Nov. 13, 2006, poll. Stout made their first appearance in the poll on Nov. 27, 2000, when they received one vote, then moved up to 10th the following week. The 2008-09 season ending poll matched Stout's previous high mark of second in the Jan. 29, 2007, poll. Stout opened the 2009-10 season ranked third, their highest-ever season-opening ranking, but fell out of the polls midway through the season and returned to the top 15, Nov. 22, 2010. Stout was in the 2011-12 USCHO.com poll early in the season, dropped out, returned again, but dropped out. Stout had been receiving votes since the Nov. 19, 2012, USCHO.com poll, but received no votes in the latest poll. |
USCHO.com Division III poll
UP NEXT: Stout will take to the road for a pair of conference games at St. Norbert College, Friday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 19 at 4 p.m.
