The sixth nationally ranked UW-River Falls men's hockey team finished a sweep over the visiting UW-Superior Yellowjackets on Saturday evening with a convincing 4-1 victory thanks to terrific team effort by the Falcons.

After a tough weekend against UW-Eau Claire, Falcons junior goaltender Tanner Milliron (16-4-1) flexed his muscles this weekend, stopping 61 shots in the two meaningful WIAC wins, putting the Falcons in solid position heading into the WIAC stretch run. Not only did UWRF win both games this weekend, the Falcons finish the regular season with a 3-0 record against struggling Superior.

"Looks like we're back on track after getting the sweep this weekend," said Head Coach Steve Freeman. "I really liked our speed tonight--it helped us create opportunities in the offensive zone."

Milliron made a tremendous blocker save on a Anton Svensson breakaway with only four minutes gone in the first period. Quality tic-tac-toe passing led to the Svensson breakaway as the sophomore Yellowjacket forward from Sweden slipped in-between two Falcons defensemen. The Svensson breakaway was Superior's first shot on goal of the contest.

Falcons sophomore forward Mike Dietrich was stoned cold by Yellowjackets freshman goaltender Bryce Fink (1-4) on a one-timer in the slot with seven minutes gone in the first period. Dietrich pinched in from the top of the right circle and nearly slapped home his second career goal, but Fink's left pad sent the puck into the right corner. The Falcons earned its first power play of the game one minute later, but did not get a shot at Fink with the extra man.

Falcons sophomore forward Mike Fazio fired home his sixth goal of the season at 10:17 of the first period as he stole the puck from a Yellowjacket defenseman and wristed a shot from the left boards that redirected off a Yellowjacket and behind Fink. Fazio's eighth career goal was unassisted. Falcons freshman forward Kyle Gattelaro nearly doubled the lead only seconds later as he was robbed by Fink's sprawling right pad in the slot.

Milliron utterly robbed Yellowjackets senior captain forward Tanner Dion with six seconds left on a late first period Superior power play. A loose puck slid right on the stick of a wide open Dion in the right slot and Milliron did the splits and snagged the snap shot with his glove. The Falcons carried a 1-0 lead into the second period.

First period shots on goal were 10-10. Sophomore forward Christian George and sophomore forward Danny Hamburg led UWRF with two shots on goal in the first period; both players had substantial scoring opportunities in the period. Both teams were 0-1 on the power play in the first.

Falcons sophomore forward Taylor Burden wristed his third goal of the season past a sprawling Fink as UWRF leaped ahead 2-0 at 6:38 of the second period. A Yellowjackets turnover in its own zone led to the Burden tally as the puck pinballed around in front of the net before Burden swept in from behind the net and wristed the puck under the crossbar. Senior captain forward Blake Huppert and sophomore forward Mitch Kontny were credited with the assists. Both players bumped their respective assist totals to seven. Burden nearly scored yet again four minutes later on a 1-on-1 rush that Fink snuffed out with a good glove snag.

After one of the best shifts possibly of the season, Falcons sophomore forward Cory Lushanko slammed home his fifth goal of the season to put UWRF ahead 3-0 at 14:22 of the second period. Lushanko and linemates AJ Jarosz and Hamburg completely dominated the Yellowjackets for a good two minutes before Lushanko found a rebound and pounded it past Fink, who was attempting to cover the loose puck. Sophomore defenseman Matt Wurst took the initial shot that led to the Lushanko goal. Jarosz earned his fifth assist of the season on the goal, while Wurst was credited with his first assist, and first point, of the season. The Falcons carried a 3-0 lead into the final period.

Second period shots on goal were 10-9 in favor of UWRF. Superior went 0-2 on the power play in the second. George and Burden led UWRF with three shots each through two.

A bad UWRF turnover led to a 2-on-0 break and Yellowjackets senior captain forward Cody Hotchkin buried a wrist shot past Milliron's glove to cut the deficit to 3-1 with 15:10 left in the contest. Hotchkin and senior forward Tom Paine burst in on Milliron and he had no chance as Hotchkin's wrist shot was labeled for the top-right corner. Hotchkin's seventh goal of the season was assisted by Paine, who earned his team-leading 11th assist.

Gattelaro put the Falcons ahead 4-1 with a breakaway goal of his own as he was fired in behind the defense and was fed beautifully by sophomore forward Ryan Doner. Gattelaro deked and went five-hole on Fink at 10:48 of the third period. Gattelaro's team-leading 10th goal of the season was also assisted by George, who earned his sixth assist of the season; Doner's assist was his team-leading 10th. Superior had, for the first time of the contest, shown a little life following the Hotchkin goal, but Gattelaro put the nail in the coffin with his 10th of the season.

The third period became chippy as Superior attempted to find a silver lining in the loss. Milliron, meanwhile, kept this cool, making several nice saves to cap off an impressive weekend. Superior outshot UWRF 10-9 in the third period. Final shots on goal were 29-29. Milliron made 28 saves in his 16th win of the season, while Fink stopped 25 in the loss. Burden and George led UWRF with four shots on goal. Both teams went 0-3 on the power play. 

"We got solid goaltending from [Milliron] again," said Freeman. "We're very please with our all around play."

UWRF improves to 16-4-1 overall, 5-3 in the WIAC, 10-2-1 at home, and now has a two-game winning streak. Superior falls to 7-14 overall, 0-8 in the WIAC, 2-7 on the road, and has now lost seven straight games.

'"We got a bye next weekend, so we can take some time to sharpen up our zone some more," said Freeman.

The Falcons travel to Menomonie, Wisconsin, in two weeks to battle the UW-Stout Blue Devils for a two-game series on Friday, Feb. 13, and Saturday, Feb. 14. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both evenings. UWRF won the first matchup in River Falls 7-3.

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