MENOMONIE (January 28, 2022) - The Blugolds of UW-Eau Claire (8-11-0, 4-6-0 WIAC) scored two empty net goals in the final 1:04 to take the second game of the I-94 rivalry. UW-Stout (7-12-0, 5-5-0 WIAC) took the first game earlier this year in November.
In the first period, both teams went back and forth dishing shots out, but were unsuccessful at getting on the board first.
At 8:22 of the period, Stout went on the first power play of the game. The Blue Devils were putting shots on net, but Blugold's Ouellete saved the penalty kill. Until Blue Devil's
Matt Dahlseide found the back of the net scoring the first goal of the game. The power play goal was assisted by
Peyton Hart and
Alex Nagel and Stout led 1-0.
But the Blugolds found the back of the net after Stout's Cloutier got screened. The goal was scored at 12:43 of the period by Jarrad Vroman and assisted by Peter Jacobs.
The Blue Devils saw one more power play opportunity with 4:51 left in the period, but Eau Claire killed off the penalty.
After one period, the score remained 1-1 with shots in favor of the Blue Devils, 10-6.
In the second period, Eau Claire went on their first power play at 2:20 of the period. During the power play, Blugold's, Ty Readman found the back of the net and Eau Claire now led 2-1. On the power play, Jon Richards and Jarrad Vroman assisted on the goal.
Eau Claire had two power play opportunities at 6:45 and 11:03 of the period, but this time, Stout killed off both penalties.
Nearing the end of the second period, Stout found themselves on a power play with 1:57 left to go in the period. During that time, Stout did not score and would have three seconds left on the power play to start the third period.
At the start of the period, Eau Claire killed off the penalty. At 1:03 of the period, the Blugolds went on a power play themselves, but the Blue Devils killed off the penalty. At 3:31 of the period, Eau Claire went on another power play and Stout killed off another penalty.
At 10:27 of the period, Stout went on a power play. The Blue Devils had chances to score, but Eau Claire killed off the penalty.
With only 1:45 left in the game, Stout pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker. But the Blugold's Peter Jacobs shot it from half ice and scored an empty net goal with 1:04 left in the game. With 42 seconds left, Eau Claire's Ryan Green scored another empty net goal to make the final 4-1.
Blue Devil's
Zack Cloutier ended the game with 33 saves, while Blugold's Ryan Oullette got the win, saving 17 shots.
Up next for the Blue Devils is a rematch with Eau Claire on Saturday, January 29 at home, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m.
