Allen's Power-Play Goal Lifts St. Norbert Past UW-Eau Claire

From Sports Information Director, January 23, 2009 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

EAU CLAIRE - Tyler Allen's power-play goal with 13 minutes left in the game was the difference as St. Norbert College ground out a hard-fought 2-1 win over UW-Eau Claire in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Hobbs Ice Arena.

The Green Knights moved into sole possession of second place in the NCHA with the win, two points behind front-running UW-Superior. St. Norbert, ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com Poll, is 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the NCHA. The Blugolds fell to 12-6-2, 2-5-1.

Following a scoreless first period, Eau Claire's Bryan Plaszcz put the Blugolds on the board with a goal 8 minutes 20 seconds into the second period. St. Norbert would not get the equalizer until 3:45 left int he sceond on Alain Joanette's sixth goals of the season off assists from Jon Skook and Brad Herman.

St. Norbert killed off three consecutive penalties at the end of the second period and in the early stages of the the third to stay tied. at the 6:46 mark of the third period, Eau Claire's Dustin Trail was whistled for obstruction. Fourteen seconds later, Allen scored his eighth goal of the season off assists from Nick Tabisz and Matt Boyd for the eventual game-winning goal.

Adam Hammerbeck was called for crosschecking at 8:22 of the third, but St. Norbert again killed off the penalty. Eau Claire took four penalties in the last 9 minutes of the game, hindering its chances to tie the game. The Blugolds had an empty net for the last 1:24, but with the attacker it was still 5-on-5 action due to an Eau Claire penalty.

Blake Bashor made 26 saves for St. Norbert, including 23 in the last two periods. Tyler Brigl made 22 stops for the Blugolds, which outshot St. Norbert 27-24.

St. Norbert was 1-for-8 on the power play, while Eau Claire was 0-for-6.