Issued: December 2, 2002

BIG WEEK FOR HOME BLUGOLD EVENTS

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team will host two events this week at Hobbs Ice Center and the men's basketball team will open up conference play Wednesday night at W.L. Zorn Arena.

The women's hockey team will host Hamline University Tuesday night at Hobbs at 7:05. The Blugolds come into the game looking to improve on their 3-5 record this season. Hamline will bring a 1-5 record into Tuesday night's game. The Blugolds have a 3-0 all-time record against the Fighting Pipers including the first ever victory for the Eau Claire women's hockey team in 2000. The Blugolds have outscored Hamline 19-9 in the three meetings.

On Friday night Eau Claire will host the College of St. Catherine, who bring a 5-2 record into the game. The Blugolds have never beaten the Wildcats in school history. Eau Claire has steadily been closing the scoring gap between the two teams. In the first game ever against the Wildcats, Eau Claire lost 9-0 while last season they lost by just one goal on two occasions. Scores for last season's games were 3-2 and 2-1. The game between the Blugolds and Wildcats is set for 7:05.

The men's basketball team will hold their conference opener against UW-La Crosse Wednesday night at W.L. Zorn Arena. Tip-off is set to begin at 7:00. Eau Claire is coming off an impressive performance at the Holiday Inn Airport Invitational in Rochester, New York in which they defeated the 15th ranked team in the country, Calvin College. Eau Claire moved onto the championship game of the tournament where they lost to the third ranked University of Rochester. Eau Claire features a 4-1 record on the season.

The Eagles from La Crosse finished fourth in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season with a 10-6 record in conference play. They defeated Eau Claire twice last season by three points in the first game and 12 points in the last. La Crosse comes into the conference opener with a 2-1 overall record this season.