MENOMONIE (November 8, 2019) - With the game on the line and being down two goals with less than a minute to play, UW-Stout (0-2-1) came back in timely fashion and tied the game to force a five minute overtime with St. Thomas (1-1-1).
Evan Butcher scored with 45 seconds left in regulation and freshma
Noah Carson tied the game with just 15 seconds left. In overtime, both teams left it all out on the ice. But no one would come up with the goal and the score would remain 4-4 at the end of the contest.
Right out of the gate, Stout was flying on the ice and had opportunities to score, but came up short. In the first four minutes into the game, the Blue Devils had four shots to the Tommies one shot on net. But St. Thomas turned on the jets and with 12 minutes left to play in the first, the Tommies were leading the shot total at 5-4.
At 11:48 in the period, the Blue Devils committed their first penalty of the night for too many men on the ice. St. Thomas capitalized on the power play quickly as they scored only 10 seconds into the power play. At 11:38 of the game, St. Thomas' John Peterson scored his first goal of the year and the Tommies were up 1-0. Shayne Monahan and Luke Radetic had assists on the power play goal.
With just a minute to play in the first period, Stout had a couple close goals, but it was St. Thomas that capitalized on a Blue Devil turnover. With only 13 seconds left to play in the period, Tommies' Sam Huff beat Kitchen on a shot. Justin Kelley and Derek Olmschenk assisted on the play.
St. Thomas went into the first intermission up 2-0 and were leading in shots, 13-7.
Only 25 seconds into the second period, Stout had a chance to score as they went on a power play. But the Tommies flexed their muscles and stopped the power play attack. At 13:34 of the period, another penalty was forced. This time, the Tommies went on a power play, but like St. Thomas, the Blue Devils killed off the penalty. The first eight minutes of play into the contest, the game saw nine shots on net. Seven minutes into the second period, the game only saw one shot.
With 12 minutes left to play in the second period, Kitchens faced a 2-0, but made an incredible save to keep the score 2-0. With 8:52 left in the period, the Blue Devils found themselves on another power play, but could not capitalize.
At 14:10 of the second period, Stout got on the board to cut the Tommies' lead to one. Stout's
Adam Kresl scored his first goal of the season on an even strength goal.
Noah Carson and
Lucas Carroll had assists on the goal.
But the Tommies wouldn't back down as they scored with four minutes left in the period to go up 3-1 as Broydon Stufko scored. The second intermission saw shots even at 16, but St. Thomas was up 3-1.
The third period saw plenty of action as four goals were scored. The first goal was scored by
Adam Kresl, his second of the night, at 4:26 of the period. The scoreboard saw 3-2 and Stout was looking for the tying goal.
At 13:23 of the third period, Stout had a power play chance to try and make the score even. But the Tommies killed off the penalty.
The score remained 3-2 with only 1:27 left to play in the game and Stout called a timeout in the St. Thomas zone. With not many chances to score, the Tommies threw the puck down the ice and scored on an empty net goal to make it 4-2 with only 56 seconds left to play.
But the Blue Devils wouldn't back down. Down two goals and just 12 seconds after the empty net goal, Stout's
Evan Butcher threw a puck at the net and got it past Burggrabe to cut the lead to one. Skating with an extra attacker, Stout had chances to score and with only 15 seconds left in the game,
Noah Carson shot the puck from the point and blew one past Burggrabe to tie up the game.
In the last minute, there were three goals and the game was headed to overtime. Stout out shot St. Thomas 28-27 in regular time.
Both teams had their shot at a dog pile, but neither team could capitalize in the overtime period. St. Thomas ended up out shooting the Blue Devils 31-29.
Stout's
Brennan Kitchen made 28 saves, while St. Thomas' Camden Burggrabe made 25 saves.
Up next for the Blue Devils is a matchup with Gustavus Aldophis tomorrow night, November 9 with a 7:00 start time.
