It's becoming a season of repeat performances, and not all in a good way. For the second time in as many games, the 'Jackets fell behind 1-0 before half of the paying customers were able to get in their seats. For the second time in as many games it was Talon Berlando (Jr. Drumheller, Alberta) who tied the game. For the second time in as many games at home against UW-Stout, the 'Jackets trailed 4-1 after two periods. For the second time in as many home games against UW-Stout they scored twice in the third period and came close to tying the game, but came up short. The 'Jackets fell behind early and gave the Blue Devils a big first period, a hole they were never able to crawl out of, losing 4-3 and falling further out of the NCHA race.

The 'Jackets are now 2-6-1 in conference play and remain tied for NCHA basement with Eau Claire. The question now is not whether the 'Jackets can win the league, but rather can they climb back into the top half of the league and play a playoff series at home; Truly uncharted territory for a team that has always played at least one playoff round at Wessman Arena. The 'Jackets have nine conference games left to make up ground.

Another repeat performance came courtesy of Chris Wilson (Sr. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan). For the third straight game, Wilson put up three points and became the first Yellowjacket this season to reach the 10-goal plateau.

Stout opened the scoring when Robert Carr took a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Mike Rosett (Sr. Anchorage, Alaska) on the stick side to make it 1-0 just 1:02 into the game. The 'Jackets came back and tied the game minutes later, when Berlando scored his eighth of the year at 3:11. Wilson won a faceoff back to Casey Dion (Fr. Colorado Springs, Colorado) who took a shot from the right point that was stopped, but Berlando got the rebound and scored to tie the game. The Blue Devils regained the lead for good at 6:20 of the period when Derek Hanson picked up a loose puck to the left of the Yellowjacket net and scored his seventh of the season on a power play to make it 2-1. It went to 3-1 when Joe Knoepke picked up his second of the year at 12:03 of the first period. Stout made it 4-1 at 9:06 of the second period as Joel Gaulrapp picked up a puck in a scramble and poked it home for his tenth of the year.

The 'Jackets started to climb back into the game in the third. Wilson picked up a puck in the slot and let a shot go from the right circle that beat Stout goaltender Nick Hopper to make it 4-2 at 9:42. Derek Stauber (Fr. Duluth, Minnesota) and Logan Isley (Jr. Bonnyville, Alberta) got the assists. Wilson had another opportunity minutes later on a wraparound, but Hopper scrambled back into the net and made the save. Later, Braden Desmet (Sr. Strathmore, Alberta) had his best scoring chance in quite some time, but his point-blank shot was also stopped by Hopper. After a timeout, the 'Jackets pulled to within one when Thomas Erlacher (Fr. Brunico, Italy) fed a beautiful pass across the slot to Wilson who tapped home his second of the game and tenth of the season with 41 seconds to play in regulation. Justin Faryna (Fr. Calgary, Alberta) also picked up an assist on the play. From there, the 'Jackets couldn't mount any more of an attack, and were forced to settle for another conference loss at home.

Each team took four penalties for eight minutes and each team went 1-4 on the power play. Rosett finished with 18 saves for the 'Jackets, while Hopper, in his first appearance since opening weekend, made 32 saves for Stout.

The same two teams will meet again tonight in game two of the series at Wessman Arena. Faceoff will be back to the normal 7:05 p.m. time and the game can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in on the Internet at www.ifan.tv. Jon Garver will have the call.