EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Sophomore Tyler Cooper scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season for the St. Olaf College men's hockey team in a 3-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire on Friday night at Hobbs Municipal Ice Center.

In a matchup of teams receiving votes in the national rankings, UW-Eau Claire (8-5-0) scored once in each of the first two periods to build a 2-0 lead before Cooper got St. Olaf (9-4-1) on the board with a power-play goal at 14:18 of the third period. The Blugolds got an insurance goal just over three minutes later, however, to seal the victory. The game was the first for both teams since Dec. 10.

Cade Lemmer scored his first goal of the season at 5:25 of the opening period to give UW-Eau Claire a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. St. Olaf nearly managed a tying goal with two minutes remaining in the period, but senior Ashton Altmann's shot from the left side rang off the pipe after sophomore Connor Kalthoff got the puck to Altmann.

After killing off a penalty early in the second period, the Blugolds doubled their lead with a power-play goal from Dawson Klein at the 10:05 mark, as Klein fired a shot from outside the circles that made its way through traffic in front.

The Oles capitalized on their second opportunity on the man advantage in the third period to get within a goal on Cooper's eighth goal of the season. After getting the puck on the right side, Cooper toe-dragged the puck past a UW-Eau Claire skater, drove to the net, and fired the puck in off assists from sophomore Connor Kalthoff and junior Parker Casey.

UW-Eau Claire responded 3:04 after Cooper's goal with an insurance goal from Quinn Green on an odd-man rush to reclaim a two-goal advantage.

Sophomore Thomas Lalonde fell to 3-2-0 on the season with a 22-save night for St. Olaf, while Max Gutjahr improved to 8-5-0 by stopping 27-of-28 shots for UW-Eau Claire. The Oles outshot the Blugolds by a 28-25 margin in the game thanks to a 15-8 advantage over the final 20 minutes.

St. Olaf looks to bounce back on Saturday, Jan. 7 with a 3 p.m. puck drop against Northland College at Bay Area Civic Center in Ashland, Wis.