Fit to be tied

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UW-River Falls freshman Ben Beaudoin (26) and sophomore Jamie Ruff (28) look for freshman Andrew Harrison after assisting on Harrison’s first period goal in the Falcons’ 4-4 season-opening tie against Marian University Friday night at Hunt Arena. It was the first collegiate point for all three Falcon newcomers. Ruff later scored his first goal as a Falcon with just under three minutes remaining to salvage the tie. Bob Burrows photo

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The UW-River Falls men’s hockey team let a 3-1 lead slip away and had to rally for a 4-4 tie in its season opener against Marian University Friday night at Hunt Arena in front of over 1,300 fans.

The Falcons needed a goal by sophomore Jamie Ruff with 2:26 remaining in the third period to avoid the loss.

UW-RF will look for its first win Friday night at Hamline.

Things started well for the Falcons against Marian when freshman Andrew Harrison scored his first collegiate goal 6:26 into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Freshman Ben Beaudoin and Ruff assisted on the play.

Marian tied the score at the 16:18 mark on a goal by Kyle Rasmussen, but UW-RF regained the lead less than a minute later with an unassisted goal by freshman Sean Roadhouse.

The Falcons extended their lead to 3-1 early in the second period on a goal by Tyler Czuba with Dustin Norman and Sean Pettinger assisting. But the Sabres cut the gap to 3-2 before the end of the period on a goal by Jason Ford, then scored twice in the third, the second a power-play goal by Adam Freeman with just under eight minutes remaining, to take a 4-3 lead. Lane Boswell scored the tying goal for Marian.

Ruff came up big for UW-RF with his first collegiate goal, assisted by Beaudoin and Harrison, with 2:26 remaining to salvage the tie.

Each team had three shots on goal in the five-minute, scoreless overtime period. For the game, the Falcons outshot the Sabres 47-29, although Marian held an 11-9 edge in the third period.

UW-RF goaltender Stephen Ritter made 25 saves while Marian goalie Jason Jadczak stopped 43 shots.

Each team was whistled for seven minor penalties. UW-RF was 0-for-5 on the power play while Marian was 1-for-4.

After visiting Hamline Friday, the Falcons return home to host St. Olaf on Friday, Nov. 7, at 7:05 p.m. UW-RF will open Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play the weekend of Nov. 14 and 15 with home games against St. Scholastica and UW-Superior, respectively.

Tags: falcons, hockey, matt, amos, bob, burrows