| No Rally This Time |
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It's becoming a season of repeat performances,
and not all in a good way. For the second time in as many
games, the 'Jackets fell behind 1-0 before half of the paying
customers were able to get in their seats. For the second time
in as many games it was Talon Berlando (Jr. Drumheller,
Alberta) who tied the game. For the second time in as
many games at home against UW-Stout, the 'Jackets trailed 4-1 after
two periods. For the second time in as many home games against
UW-Stout they scored twice in the third period and came close to
tying the game, but came up short. The 'Jackets fell behind
early and gave the Blue Devils a big first period, a hole they were
never able to crawl out of, losing 4-3 and falling further out of
the NCHA race.
The 'Jackets are now 2-6-1 in conference play and remain tied for
NCHA basement with Eau Claire. The question now is not whether
the 'Jackets can win the league, but rather can they climb back into
the top half of the league and play a playoff series at home; Truly
uncharted territory for a team that has always played at least one
playoff round at Wessman Arena. The 'Jackets have nine
conference games left to make up ground.
Another repeat performance came courtesy of Chris Wilson
(Sr. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan). For the third
straight game, Wilson put up three points and became the first
Yellowjacket this season to reach the 10-goal plateau.
Stout opened the scoring when Robert Carr took a wrist shot from the
high slot that beat Mike Rosett (Sr. Anchorage, Alaska)
on the stick side to make it 1-0 just 1:02 into the game. The
'Jackets came back and tied the game minutes later, when Berlando
scored his eighth of the year at 3:11. Wilson won a faceoff
back to Casey Dion (Fr. Colorado Springs, Colorado)
who took a shot from the right point that was stopped, but Berlando
got the rebound and scored to tie the game. The Blue Devils
regained the lead for good at 6:20 of the period when Derek Hanson
picked up a loose puck to the left of the Yellowjacket net and
scored his seventh of the season on a power play to make it 2-1.
It went to 3-1 when Joe Knoepke picked up his second of the year at
12:03 of the first period. Stout made it 4-1 at 9:06 of the
second period as Joel Gaulrapp picked up a puck in a scramble and
poked it home for his tenth of the year.
The 'Jackets started to climb back into the game in the third.
Wilson picked up a puck in the slot and let a shot go from the right
circle that beat Stout goaltender Nick Hopper to make it 4-2 at
9:42. Derek Stauber (Fr. Duluth, Minnesota)
and Logan Isley (Jr. Bonnyville, Alberta) got the
assists. Wilson had another opportunity minutes later on a
wraparound, but Hopper scrambled back into the net and made the
save. Later, Braden Desmet (Sr. Strathmore, Alberta)
had his best scoring chance in quite some time, but his point-blank
shot was also stopped by Hopper. After a timeout, the 'Jackets
pulled to within one when Thomas Erlacher (Fr. Brunico,
Italy) fed a beautiful pass across the slot to Wilson who
tapped home his second of the game and tenth of the season with 41
seconds to play in regulation. Justin Faryna (Fr.
Calgary, Alberta) also picked up an assist on the play.
From there, the 'Jackets couldn't mount any more of an attack, and
were forced to settle for another conference loss at home.
Each team took four penalties for eight minutes and each team went
1-4 on the power play. Rosett finished with 18 saves for the
'Jackets, while Hopper, in his first appearance since opening
weekend, made 32 saves for Stout.
The same two teams will meet again tonight in game two of the series
at Wessman Arena. Faceoff will be back to the normal 7:05 p.m.
time and the game can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM,
beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. If you are
outside the local listening area, you can tune in on the Internet at
www.ifan.tv. Jon Garver will
have the call. |
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