NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team returned from a nearly month-long break with a 3-2 victory over ninth-ranked UW-Eau Claire on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

In its first game in 27 days, St. Olaf (6-6-2) improved to 4-1-1 at home this season by defeating UW-Eau Claire (8-5-1) for its first victory over a nationally-ranked team this season. The win was just the second for the Oles in the last 12 meetings in the series dating back to 2012 and was just the program's fourth win against a ranked foe in St. Olaf's last 23 attempts (4-19-0) since 2017.

First year Bjorn Lervick provided the game-winning goal with his first collegiate goal midway through the second period, as the Oles responded less than three minutes after the Blugolds tied the game at 2-2. Junior Sean Walsh and sophomore Jonathan Panisa also scored in the win, while junior Thomas Lalonde had 19 saves to pick up the victory.

UW-Eau Claire struck first on a power-play goal by Connor Szmul at the 12:12 mark of the first period, as Szmul tipped in a shot by Quinn Green just 25 seconds into the power play for the visitors. The Blugolds nearly doubled their lead with just under three minutes to go in the period when Leo Bacallo rang a shot off the crossbar. Inside the final minute of the period, St. Olaf tied the game on Walsh's first goal of the season, as Walsh intercepted an errant pass in the UW-Eau Claire defensive zone and sent a shot through the legs of Max Gutjahr.

Early in the second, the Oles generated five shots in the first two-plus minutes before drawing a pair of minor penalties 1:21 apart. UW-Eau Claire killed off the 39 seconds of 5-on-3 time but could not kill off the entire second penalty, as Panisa shoveled in a backhand in front off assists from junior Cody Sherman and senior Parker Casey at the 4:55 mark to give the Oles the lead. The goal was Panisa's second of the season.

The Blugolds found a tying goal of their own just over three minutes later, however, when Aaron Swanson bounced the puck over Lalonde after Cade Lemmer's centering pass hit a St. Olaf skater and caromed up into the air on a fortunate bounce for the visitors. St. Olaf benefited from a bounce on Lervick's game-winning goal just 2:44 later, as the first year blue liner put the puck home after Sherman's shot caromed in front off the back wall for the eventual game-winning goal.

St. Olaf killed off a minor penalty less than seven minutes into the third and Lalonde stopped all 10 shots on goal UW-Eau Claire mustered over the final period. The Blugolds got Gutjahr to the bench during a timeout with 1:17 to go but had to put him back on the ice with 49 seconds remaining after icing the puck. The visitors again got Gutjahr to the bench with just over 30 seconds remaining, but Lalonde made a pair of saves to preserve the victory.

St. Olaf wraps up its weekend at home by hosting Northland College for Senior Night on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 5 p.m.