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Friday night at Mars-Lakeview Arena, two teams played the hockey version of this very same argument. Both teams seemed to know how to take the lead, neither, however, could find a way to hold the lead. Five lead changes, three of which belonged to the Yellowjackets, and 65 minutes of hockey weren't enough to decide the winner, and the 'Jackets and St. Scholastica skated to a 6-6 tie in front of a capacity crowd in the Saints home building. The 'Jackets blew a golden opportunity to move into third place in the NCHA standings with the tie. A win, coupled with a win by either River Falls or Stout would have given the 'Jackets third place. The tie, however, coupled with a River Falls win relegated the 'Jackets to fourth place. Because of the quirky tiebreaking system the NCHA employs, the 'Jackets will finish one slot behind Stout, even though they swept the season series from the Blue Devils, because the Blue Devils have one more win in NCHA play (7) than the 'Jackets do. The 'Jackets first-round playoff opponent is to be determined, pending the result of the Stevens Point at Eau Claire game Saturday night. The Pointers hold a two-point advantage in the standings, but a loss to the Blugolds, even though they would be tied in points, would give Eau Claire one more win in NCHA play than the Pointers and fifth place in the final league standings. It's a rarity to find a league where the head-to-head record is not the first criteria when it comes to breaking a tie in the standings. The Saints opened the scoring Friday night at the 7:30 mark of the first period when A.J. Tucker scored his 13th of the season to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later the 'Jackets tied it up when their line of sophomore offensive stars converted. Braden Desmet (So. Strathmore, Alberta) snapped a six-game goal drought with his third goal of the season at 8:19. Chris Berry (So. Calgary, Alberta) and Corey Stark (So. Chanhassen, Minnesota) assisted. Six minutes later the line connected again, and again it was Desmet getting the goal. Berry and Stark again assisted on the goal at 14:20. But just as the 'Jackets did earlier in the game, the Saints came storming back and immediately tied the game. Just 36 seconds later Matt Stengl scored his 4th goal of the season to make it 2-2 after one period. The 'Jackets took the lead for the second time in the game just 1:42 into the second period. Stark was the man this time, with Berry and Desmet assisting, to make it 3-2. The Saints again clawed their way back to tie the game, however. Jordan Chong scored his 10th of the year at 4:41 to make it 3-3. The 'Jackets took the lead again four minutes later when Jesse Junkermeier (Fr. Minnetonka, Minnesota) scored his second of the year at 8:20 to make it 4-3. The goal came on the power play and snapped a string of nine straight power plays without a conversion. Logan Isley (Fr. Bonnyville, Alberta) and Brian Bina (So. Grand Forks, North Dakota) assisted. Minutes later the 'Jackets took a two-goal lead when Kevin Huck (Jr. Rochester, Minnesota), with an assist from Isley, scored his team-leading 12th goal of the year at 11:53 to make it 5-3. The lead was short-lived however, as the Saints would add two goals before the close of the period to make it 5-5. Tucker scored his second of the game and 14th of the year at 14:01 to make it 5-4. Seconds after the fourth goal, Huck was whistled for not one, but two penalties on the same play, giving the Saints some extended power play time. They capitalized, as Rob Rodgers scored the power play goal at 15:43 to tie the game. The Saints took their second lead of the game, early in the third period when Shawn Bartlette scored his fourth goal of the season at 3:57 to make it 6-5. The Saints would then hold the lead for the longest stretch of game time for either team (11:24), but on this night it was not meant to last. The 'Jackets rallied and tied it up with 4:39 to play in regulation, as Bina scored his third of the season, unassisted, to make it 6-6. The 'Jackets took four penalties for eight minutes in the game, while the Saints took two for four minutes. The 'Jackets went 1-2 on the power play, while the Saints went 1-4. Chad Beiswenger (Jr. Moorhead, Minnesota), getting the start again in goal, played arguably his poorest game of the season. He did make 34 saves in the contest, but the six goals allowed were the most he's surrendered in any game as a Yellowjacket. Steve Bounds made 25 saves for the Saints. The 2007-08 Yellowjackets also skated into the record books with a couple of dubious marks. This year's edition now holds the school marks for most overtime games (10) and most tie games (8). The 'Jackets (12-5-8) will now play the waiting game to see who will come to Wessman Arena for the first round of the playoffs. Regardless of whether or not the opponent is Stevens Point or Eau Claire, the series will be played Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23. Game times will be 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM, with the pre-game show beginning at 6:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in via the Internet at www.kuws.fm. Kerry Rodd and Mike Sylvester will have the call. The video stream of the game will also be available at www.ifan.tv. |
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