Green Knights Tumble at Stout

From Sports Information Director, December 5, 2008 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

MENOMONIE - St. Norbert College could not recover from an early deficit and lost to host UW-Stout 5-2 in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Dunn County Ice Arena.

The Green Knights fell to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in the NCHA, while Stout improved to 8-4 and 3-2.

Stout's Joel Gaulrapp set the tone for the game with a goal 28 seconds into the contest. The Blue Devils' Paul Henderson scored at the 6:58 mark of the first period for a 2-0 lead after one period.

Stout pushed its advantage out to 4-0 with a pair of goals in the first half of the second period. Scott Motz scored at 2:31 of the period, then Danny Ryan scored a backbreaking shorthanded goal at 8:27. The Green Knights were able to pull within 4-2 at the end of the second period thanks to A.J. Gale's goal at 10:21 and Jason Nopper's marker just two seconds before time expired. Gale's goal was his 10th of the year.

Gaulrapp scored his second goal of the night for the third period's lone score.

St. Norbert outshot Stout 35-32 but came up empty on the power play, going 0-for-6. Blake Bashor made nine saves in working the first 22 minutes 31 seconds of the game, while B.J. O'Brien finished up and made 18 saves.

Matt Koenig made 33 saves for the Blue Devils, who were 0-for-4 on the power play.