UW-Stout 4, UW-River Falls 4
MENOMONIE (February 9, 2019) - UW-Stout had a substantial lead, but let UW-River Falls back into the game and the Blue Devils had to come back to claim a tie 4-4 with the Falcons in the final regular season game Saturday at the Fanetti Community Center.
The Blue Devils (13-10-2, 0-6-2 WIAC) got goals from
Raphael Gosselin and
Gavin Smith in the first period and made it 3-0 with a goal by
Alex Toscano nine minutes into the second period.
A goalie change by River Falls (10-9-5, 1-4-3 WIAC) after the third Stout goal may have done wonders for the Falcons, who went on to score the next four goals. The Falcons got two goals by Josh Arnold sandwiched around a goal by Ryan Cusin to tie the game at 3-all in the second period.
The Falcons took a 4-3 lead midway through the third period on a goal by Eddie Matsushima.
On Senior Night, Blue Devil senior
Joe Kleven notched the game-tying goal at 13:43 of period, with assists from freshman
Tomi Varjonen and junior
Adam Kresl. Neither team found any successful offense the rest of the way.
Tommi Ahlgren recorded 28 saves for the Blue Devils, while Zach Quinn came on in relief for 18 saves and to earn the tie, allowing one goal. Joe Marcouiller allowed three goals and had 1o saves in almost 30 minutes of playing time.
Both teams were 0 for 2 on the power play. Despite a few dust-ups between the two nearby foes, each time was whistled for only three penalities.
The Blue Devils are the Falcons will tangle again next weekend as Stout will travel to River Falls Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16 for the first round of the WIAC tournament.
