RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The men's hockey team continued its Wisconsin road trip Saturday in River Falls, Wis. squaring off against the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons. The Royals fell just short as an open net goal with one second to play gave UW-River Falls the 7-5 victory. BU battled a Falcons team that demolished Hamline University 8-1 the night before exceptionally evenly throughout the entire game. Each team scored two goals in the opening period and at one point the game was tied at five with under nine minutes to play. Yet the undefeated UW-RF persevered, scoring the game winning goal with less than seven minutes to play.

In the first frame River Falls got on the board early, tallying a goal at the 6:33-mark. Jake Kogler (Sr., Forest Lake, Minn.) fired the equalizer for BU with under ten minutes to play in the first period from a Danny Smith (Fr., Hermantown, Minn.) pass. The Falcons recorded its second goal of the opening period three-and-a-half minutes later on a power play opportunity, however, BU forward Jack Paul (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) lazered his second goal of the year past the UW-RF goalkeeper on power play in favor of the Royals, evening the game at two a-piece.

After four goals were allowed in the first, both teams locked in defensively in the second period. Bethel surrendered the only goal of the period at the 15-minute mark when Geoff Shewmake recorded his only goal of the evening, giving the Falcons the 3-2 lead.

The third period welcomed a plethora of goals as the two teams found the net, at one point, five times in a matter of six minutes. One minute into the final period UW-River Falls increased its lead to 4-2 on a Alec Hagaman goal. The Royals fired back, though, scoring three of the next four goals. Tyler Sorensen (So., Madison, Wis.) started the scoring parade with 12:16 remaining in the third period, delivering BU's second power-play goal of the game and Sorensen's first of the year. UW-RF kept its two goal lead, as the home team heightened the score to 5-3 45-seconds later. 41 seconds after that the Royals cut into the lead when Tyler Swanson (Fr., Fargo, N.D.) captured his first goal of the season, making the BU deficit just one goal. The one goal advantage the Falcons held was diminished 1:36 later when EJ Gann (Fr., San Jose, Calif.) captilazed on Bethel's third power play goal of the night. Blake Huppert of River Falls broke the 5-5 tie two minutes later, giving the Falcons the 6-5 lead, which the Royals would not be able to overcome.

Bethel fired 22 shots on the UW-RF net throughout the road competition. Danny Smith led BU in shots with four, alongside Jack Paul, Jake Kogler, and Tyler Sorensen, who each tallied three.

Dan Harper (So., Blaine, Minn.) suffered his second loss of the season, dropping to 0-2 thus far. Harper recorded 29 saves in the game.

The loss to River Falls keeps Bethel still searching for its first first win in the 2011-12 campaign, falling to 0-4 on the season. BU has an opportunity to snag a win next weekend both on the road and at home against conference foe, Gustavus Adolphus College.