MENOMONIE (November 23, 2024) - In the first meeting between the Blugolds, the Blue Devils was the team to score first, but Eau Claire scored four unanswered goals to take the win by the score of 4-1.
In the first 10 minutes of the game, UW-Stout (4-3-0, 1-1-0 WIAC) went on two power plays, but ultimately could not get on the scoreboard as both penalties were killed off.
At 13:12 of the first period, UW-Eau Claire (2-3-1, 1-1-0 WIAC) went on their first power play opportunity, but the Blue Devils killed the penalty and the game remained 0-0.
As both teams were fighting for the chance to get the first goal of the game, it was Stout who found the back of the net first.
Nicolas Pigeon scored his seventh goal of the season with assists from
Hayden Stocks and
Jake McAlpine. Time of the goal was at 16:18 and the Blue Devils led 1-0.
Stout found their third power play opportunity at 19:19 of the first period and would have 1:19 left starting the second period.
Shots in the first period were tied 4-4.
To start the second period, Stout couldn't find the back of the net to get it to 2-0, but Eau Claire killed off the penalty.
After the penalty kill, the Blugolds got on the scoreboard when Dayne Hoyord scored at 1:38 of the period with an assist from Kyler Grundy to make the game 1-1.
At 7:44 of the period, Stout went on another power play. But during the power play, the Blue Devils took a penalty and the game saw four on four hockey for 1:18. After 1:18, Eau Claire went on a power play for 42 seconds, but ultimately was killed by Stout.
At 18:10 of the period, Eau Claire went on a power play. As time was winding down in the period, the Blugolds scored with less than a second left on the scoreboard to take the lead. The goal was scored by Trenton Heyde with assists from Colin Stein and Kade Peterson. and went into intermission with a 2-1 lead.
In the third period, Eau Claire scored their third goal at 1:52 of the period to make the game a two goal game. The goal was scored by Hoyard with the assist coming from Connor Szmul for a 3-1 lead for the Blugolds.
Stout had another chance to score when they went on a power play at 7:46 of the period, but could not get it to a one goal game.
As time was winding down in the game and the Blue Devils were trying to make a comeback, Masternak came out of the net and Stout skated six on five with 2:30 left in the game.
But with 1:03 left in the game, the Blugold's Jordan Randall scored the empty net goal to make the final 4-1.
Tyler Masternak started in goal for the Blue Devils and stopped 18 shots. Blugold's Max Gutjahr received the win and stopped 13 shots.
Up next for the Blue Devils is an away WIAC matchup with UW-Stevens Point on December 6. The next night on December 7, the Blue Devils will face UW-Superior in Superior.
