Rulevicius' Late Overtime Goal Lifts St. Norbert Past UW-River Falls

From Sports Information Director, January 10, 2014 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIVER FALLS - Freshman forward Pijus Rulevicius scored with 2.7 seconds remaining in overtime to give St. Norbert College a pulsating 3-2 win over UW-River Falls in a non-conference game at Hunt Arena.

The Green Knights (12-2), ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, improved to 36-6-2 in their last 44 meetings with the Falcons. River Falls, ranked 13th by USCHO, fell to 9-3-1 and suffered its second overtime loss in four days.

Rulevicius scored his fifth goal of the season with his overtime game-winner, officially timed at 4:57, and was assisted by Michael Hill and Marian Fiala. Rulevicius banged home a rebound off a Hill shot to close out the win. The Green Knights outshot the Falcons 4-3 in the overtime session.

River Falls jumped out to the early lead when Willie Hess scored 4:27 into the game. The Green Knights answered later in the first period when Brandon Hoogenboom scored unassisted while shorthanded at 13:21. Hess then took a holding penalty at 14:01, and Chris Rial pumped in a power-play goal 36 seconds later for a 2-1 advantage.

That goal held up until the Falcons' Blake Huppert scored 1:59 into the second period, with the 2-2 score standing until the game's waning seconds.

St. Norbert outshot River Falls 11-3 in the third period but couldn't put home the game-winning score. The Green Knights held a 33-20 shots-on-goal advantage. The Green Knights were 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Falcons were 0-for-4. Both teams committed four minor penalties.

David Jacobson made 18 saves for the Green Knights, while Scott Lewan turned away 30 shots for the Falcons.