MENOMONIE, Wis. – The UW-Stout men's hockey team closed out a demanding weekend against the best of the neighboring MIAC in emphatic fashion Saturday night, defeating No. 14 St. Olaf College 6–3 in front of the home crowd on Alumni Night at Fanetti Community Center.
The night started at a blistering pace, with both teams scoring on their first shots of the game. St. Olaf struck just 44 seconds in, but the Blue Devils responded 20 seconds later when Kullan Daikawa found Will Sinclair with a perfectly timed drop pass at the top of the circle. Sinclair snapped a shot blocker side to quickly tie the contest.
UW-Stout took its first lead at 4:14 of the opening period when Daikawa again played distributor, firing a pass across the slot to Maksis Brimanis for a tap-in finish on a two-on-one. The Blue Devils pushed the advantage to 3–1 midway through the period as William Schofield capitalized on a St. Olaf turnover, patiently carrying across the crease before feeding Brendan Boyce at the top of the blue paint for the finish.
After St. Olaf pulled within one late in the first, UW-Stout seized momentum early in the second. Just 22 seconds into the period, Arhip Sidarovich found Nicolas Pigeon in the slot, and Pigeon buried a power-play goal to make it 4–2. The Blue Devils kept coming, extending the lead to 5–2 when Tyler Pfister ripped a shot from the point through traffic and past the goaltender.
Frustration mounted for the Oles as the game wore on, resulting in multiple penalties after the whistle. Late in the second period, St. Olaf was assessed a five-minute major for facemasking, giving UW-Stout a lengthy power-play opportunity to open the third.
The Blue Devils made it count late on the man advantage. On a crisp puck movement sequence, Sidarovich dropped the puck behind him to Pigeon, who zipped a cross-zone pass to a wide-open Daikawa on the far-side faceoff dot. Daikawa hammered home the one-timer at 4:19 of the third to cap the scoring and put the game out of reach.
UW-Stout's offensive depth was on full display, led by Daikawa's four-point night (1G, 3A). Hayden Stocks, who entered the weekend as the team's leading scorer, added an assist and now has 21 points on the season, while Daikawa moved to 18 points. Dawson Green earned the win in net, stopping 25 shots.
By the Numbers
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Final Score: UW-Stout 6, No. 14 St. Olaf 3
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Shots: UW-Stout 37, St. Olaf 28
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Power Play: UW-Stout 2-for-4 | St. Olaf 0-for-2
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Points Leaders:
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Attendance: 129 (Alumni Night)
Up Next
UW-Stout returns home to continue conference play, hosting UW-Stevens Point on Friday at 7 p.m. at Fanetti Community Center.
