Stout downed at home against Aurora University

Aurora University 5, UW-Stout 2 | Game Video

MENOMONIE (October 27, 2018) - Aurora University (1-1-0, 0-0-0) came into town having played last night and won the contest against UW-Stout (1-1-0, 0-0-0) with a score of 5-2. 

The first action of the night came at 3:18 of the first period when both teams came up with a penalty. Aurora and Stout skated four on four, but no goals were accounted for. The first nine minutes of the game was dominated by the Spartans as they outshot Stout 6-0, but could not find the back of the net. 

At the 10:14 mark of the first period, Aurora's Anthony Tzveyn scored a goal to open the scoring. Shawn O'Malley and Jacob Holmers had the assists on the play to make the game 1-0. 

Aurora controlled the puck for the majority of the period and out shot the Blue Devils 14-5 in the first period.

As both teams took the ice in the second period, the Spartans scored a quick goal by Jason Recchia to make the game 2-0 in favor of Aurora. 

Only 1:30 later in the period, Aurora made the score of 3-0 as Chris Nowacki found the back of the net from the goal line. 

Down by three goals, Stout got their legs going and controlled the play in the period. With plenty of opportunities, the Blue Devils finally got on the scoreboard on a power play as Arturas Laukaitis shot the puck from the slot and scored his first career goal as a Blue Devil. The goal was assisted by Joe Klevin and Austin Jackson. 

Shots in the period were in favor of Stout as they out shot the Spartans 15-6. 

With back and forth action in the third period, Stout's Gavin Smith was awarded a penalty shot as he was tripped in front of the net on a breakaway with 12:39 left to play. Coming down the ice, Smith tried to shoot five hole, but Aurora's Josh Boyko made the pad save to keep the game at 3-1. 

Less than two minutes from the penalty shot, the Blue Devil's Mathias Ahman found the back of the net on a back door goal from Hunter Anderson and Conner Valesano. 

Trailing 3-2, Stout found themselves on a power play with seven minutes left to play in the game to try to make the score even. During the power play, the Blue Devils were assessed a two minute minor to skate four on four. 

With just under five minutes left in the game, the Spartan's Tim Faulkner took a shot from the point and scored a power play goal to make the game 4-2. 

Stout pulled their goalie with 27 seconds left and Aurora's Dylan Rauh scored an empty net goal to make the final score 5-2 in favor of Aurora. 

Stout's Ridge Gerads made his first career start as a Blue Devil and made 14 saves in the contest. Brady Meyers relieved him and made seven saves of his own. 

Aurora's Josh Boyko came out with the win and made 24 saves. 

The Blue Devils travel to Minnesota next weekend as they take on two non-conference games against Concordia College on November 2nd and Saint John's University on November 3rd.