Men's Hockey 11/7/03 -- Wisconsin-River Falls 6, Augsburg 3 

BOXSCORE

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (11/7/03) -- Behind a goal and two assists from Tony Sikich (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.), the University of Wisconsin-River Falls claimed a 6-3 win over visiting Augsburg College in a nonconference men's hockey game Friday night at Hunt Arena.

Jim Murphy (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) had two goals, including an empty-netter in the closing seconds, for the Falcons, now 3-0 overall. It was the opening game of the season for the Auggies.

River Falls led 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 after two. Jaime Steinert (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.) opened the scoring in the first period with a goal from Josh Schlipp (Jr., Chisago Lakes, Minn.) and Murphy Dwyer (So., Burnsville, Minn.) at 8:08. Sikich netted the second goal of the period at 11:08, off assists from Jess Johnson (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.) and Aaron Degerness (So., Roseau, Minn.).

Augsburg cut the lead two minutes into the second period, as Chris Baldwin (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) scored his first collegiate goal, on an assist from Critter Nagurski (Fr., International Falls, Minn.). Baldwin took a pass from Nagurski, walked in front and put a wrist shot past the River Falls goalie.

But River Falls scored three straight goals to cap the game. Murphy scored at 17:32 of the second period with Sikich assisting. In the third period, Matt Elsen (Sr., Richfield, Minn.) netted the game-winner at 2:38 with Degerness assisting. With 21 seconds left on a four-minute power play, Degerness poured on another goal at 8:24 off assists from Sikich and Elsen.

Augsburg scored twice in the final six minutes of the game, as Brad Bjorgum (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS), one of only two seniors on the Auggie varsity roster, scored on a rebound in front of the goal at the 14:44 mark, off assists from Blake Dronen (Fr., Chaska, Minn.) and Cody Swanson (So., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS). With an extra skater, Augsburg scored on Greg May's (Fr., Burnsville, Minn.) first collegiate goal, on assists from Baldwin and Brady Fougner (So., International Falls, Minn.).

Murphy finished the scoring with an empty-netter at 19:34 from Elsen.

River Falls outshot Augsburg by a 30-23 margin. Falcon goalie Dan Meneghin (So., Surrey, B.C.) stopped 20 of the 23 shots he faced. Erik Young (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) made 24 saves for Augsburg.

Both teams are back in nonconference action on Saturday (11/8). River Falls travels to Concordia-Moorhead at 7 p.m., while Augsburg plays at Wisconsin-Stout at 7:30 p.m. in Menomonie, Wis.