Hockey Preview: Stout begins final conference push at Eau Claire Friday

at UW-Eau Claire: Friday:  Live Stats | Live Video  Saturday:  Live Stats | Live Audio |  Live Video              

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (7-9-1, 2-2-0 WIAC), winner of five of their last six games, turn their attention to conference play the rest of the way this season. Stout will play a weekend series at 12th ranked  UW-Eau Claire (11-4-2, 3-1-0 WIAC), Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31 at Hobbs Ice Arena. Both games are slated to begin at 7 p.m.

WEBCASTS: All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by Blue Devil Video. Brady Burzynski and Hayden Bowe will be on the call throughout the season. Live Stats will also be available for home games.

THE 2014-15 BLUE DEVILS (7-9-1, 2-2-0 WIAC): The Blue Devils have won five of their last six games, with their lone loss coming at St. John's University last week. And the Blue Devils tallied 12 total goals in a weekend sweep over Aurora University, Jan. 23-24 at the Dunn County Ice Arena. During the weekend, seven different players scored goals and 12 players tallied assists. Joe Haydock scored twice on opening night, and added another in the second day matinee game. Austin Nelson scored a hat trick on opening night. Karl Andersen scored two goals in the first game and Tate Rusk two goal in the second game. Tyler Cayemberg and Craig Lindegard each totaled three assists for the weekend. Justin Moody, leads the team in goals with eight and has six assists for 14 total points. Haydock and Jake Useldinger each have six goals and eight assists for 14 points. Cayemberg and Lindegard each have four goals. Jordan Tredinnick has eight assists, matching Haydock, Useldinger and Cayemberg.  Nelson and Rusk each scored their first goals of the season, bringing the number of goal scorers to 18. Twenty players have tallied at least one assist and 22 players have scored at least one point. . All three goalies on the roster have seen time between the pipes, but Spencer Viele have worked the majority of games. Viele has started 12 games and has a 3.44 GAA with a .903 saves percentage. Hollander has started five games and dropped his GAA fto a 3.76 with a saves percentage of .904. Gustav Griborn has seen limited action, with a GAA of 5.26. | Blue Devil Statistics

PENALTY FREE: When Jordan Tredinnick was whistled for tripping against Concordia University, Jan. 10,  it was the first time he was sent to the penalty box since Jan. 31, 2013 against UW-River Falls. That is 42 consecutive games without getting an inside view of the penalty box.

HAT TRICK:  Freshman Austin Nelson's hat trick on Jan. 23 against Aurora University was not only the first hat trick of the season for the Blue Devils, but Stout's first hat trick since the 2011-12 season when Branden Gay executed the feat Dec. 2, 2011 against St. Scholastica.

LENDING AN ASSIST: When Chase Hollander was awarded an assist for his pass as Danny Ray scored against UW-Superior, Jan. 17, he was not the first Stout goalie, and won't be the last, to get an assist. Since the Blue Devil hockey program returned to varsity play during the 1996-97 season, six goalies, including Hollander, have earned at least one assist. Corey Koop did it last year. Jeff Stone during the 2008-09 season, and Jake Schuman during the 2004-05 season each recorded an assist. Jeff Dotson did it in 2000-01 as a freshman, then did it again as a senior in 2003-04. Kelly Elde did it twice during the 1996-97 season.

SPECIAL TEAMS:  Even though they scored 12 goals last weekend, the Blue Devils were not able to take advantage of a limited number of power play opportunities. Two weeks ago, the Blue Devils were second in the WIAC in power play, but only added one against St. John's University and none during the series with Aurora. But Aurora took very few penalties, and Stout went 0-for-6 against the Spartans. The Blue Devils were 1-for-5 against the Johnnies, getting the lone power play goal of the week from Tyler Cayemberg. Stout and UW-Superior each have 14 power play goals, UW-Stevens Point has 15 and UW-Eau Claire 16. UW-River Falls has a league-high 20, but were held without a power play goal last week in their series against Eau Claire.  Stout has a power play percentage of 20.6, and a penalty kill of 81.5. Cayemberg and Craig Lindegard have three power play goals apiece, and Joey Haydock and Danny Ray each have two.  The Blue Devils are tied for the top spot in the league in shorthanded goals with four, along with Eau Claire and Stevens Point.  Jake Useldinger has three shorthanded goals, tied for tops in the WIAC with Eau Claire's Ross Andersen, and Jordan Stejskal has one. But conversely, the Blue Devils have given up six shorthanded goals. Superior has given up three shorthanded goals, while River Falls and Stevens Point have given up one. Eau Claire has yet to allow a shortie.

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT:  Austin Nelson recorded a hat trick and Stout downed Aurora University, 7-2, Jan. 23, then produced the sweep with a 5-1 win over the Spartans, Jan. 24. Aurora got on the board first in the second game, but Jake Useldinger scored a shorthanded goal in the first to tie the game. Joey Haydock scored the next two goals for the Blue Devils and Tate Rusk finished off the game with two third period goals. | Aurora Game One Story and Box Score | Aurora Game Two Story and Box Score


SCOUTING UW-EAU CLAIRE:  The Blugolds are ranked 12th in the latest USCHO.com Division III Men's Poll, and have been bouncing around between the ninth and 14th spot in the poll througout the season. The Blugolds are currently in second place in the WIAC after pushing UW-River Falls aside. Ethan Nauman leads the WIAC in goals with 14, while Jack Callahan(15), Patrick Moore (14) and Brandon Wahlin (13) one first, second and third, respectively, in assists. Nauman leads the league in points, scoring 14 goals and eight assists for 22 points. Tyler Green and Joey Deo are splitting time in the net. Green has started nine games and has a win-loss record of 6-2-1, with a GAA of 1.66 and saves percentage of .943, while Deo has a record of 5-2-1, with a GAA of 2.60 and a saves percentage of .914. The Blugolds have the league's best saves percentage at .929. | Blugolds Statistics

UW-EAU CLAIRE'S LAST TIME OUT: The Blugolds swept a pair of games from then third ranked UW-River Falls, 5-2, 4-3, at Hunt Arena over the weekend. | Game One Story and Statistics | Game Two Story and Statistics

LAST YEAR WHEN STOUT AND UW-EAU CLAIRE MET:  Each team won on the opponents ice, with the Blugolds taking 4-0, 3-1, wins at the Dunn County Ice Arena, Jan. 31, and Feb. 1. The Blue Devils got revenge Feb. 20 with a 3-2 win at Hobbs ice Arena. In the final meeting, Corey Koop stopped 51 shots. Jordan Tredinnnick scored in the second, but Eau Claire's Joe Krause knotted the scored a minute later. Stout's Kevin O'Donnell put the Blue Devils ahead in the third and Joey Haydock scored what would prove to be the game winning goal. Eau Claire Jack Callahan added a late goal.with an extra attacker on the ice.  |  Game One Story and Stats |  Game Two Story and Stats |  Game Three Story and Stats

THE SERIES: UW-Eau Claire holds a 34-32-3 lead in the series. Over the last five years, Eau Claire holds a 10-4-1.



USCHO.com TOP 15 DIVISION III POLL: UW-Stout ranked opponents include: UW-Stevens Point (5th); UW-Eau Claire (12th); UW-River Falls (6th); Lake Forest (15th) St. Thomas (14th). MSOE was receiving votes.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Captains for the 2014-15 season include Jordan Tredinnick, Jake Useldinger and Tate Rusk.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Chase Hollander was selected as the UW-Stout athlete of the week after sweeping UW-Superior Jan. 16 and Jan. 17...Spencer Viele was selected the WIAC player of the week Nov. 25 after recording wins over Finlandia (4-1) and Lawrence (2-1)...Jordan Tredinnick was a WIAC honorable mention choice in 2013-14.

THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (222-260-29) is in his 19th 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. Watkins reached 700 games as the head coach of a UW-Stout hockey team (varsity and club) when the Blue Devils played UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 7, 2013. UW-Eau Claire: Matt Loen (112-84-15) is in his eighth year as the head coach of the Blugolds. Loen, a three-time WIAC coach of the year and two-time NCHA coach of the year, led the 2012-13 team to the NCAA Division III title.

THE CONFERENCES: UW-Stout is 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. Even though Superior is leaving the conference is other sports after this year, the hockey programs will remain affiliated with the WIAC.

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 returned to the poll after a win over top-ranked St. Norbert, Jan. 18, garnering eight votes in the Jan. 21 poll, effectively ranking the Blue Devils 19th. | USCHO.com Division III poll

UP NEXT: The Blue Devils will host UW-Stevens Point, Friday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m., then will go to Stevens Point, Saturday, Feb. 7 for a 7 p.m. tilt.