Green Knights Inch Closer to Outright NCHA Crown With Rout of UW-Stevens Point

From Sports Information Director, February 9, 2012 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GREEN BAY - St. Norbert College moved closer toward capturing the outright regular-season title in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association and the No. 1 seeding in the NCHA Peters Cup Playoffs with an impressive 8-3 defeat of UW-Stevens Point at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (14-5-5, 11-4-2 NCHA) need at least a tie against UW-Stout Friday or at least a tie from UW-River Falls in its final two games to lock down the top league playoff seeding. St. Norbert has clinched at least a share of its 13th NCHA regular-season title. UW-Stevens Point, which was 6-1-2 in its last nine games entering the contest, fell to 11-9-4, 7-6-4.

St. Norbert opened the scoring at the 12 minutes 41 seconds mark when Johan Ryd scored shorthanded. Ryd broke out alone and lost his edge when nearing Stevens Point goaltender Brandon Jaeger, but Ryd slid the puck through the five hole from his belly while sliding past the crease for the goal. Stevens Point tied it up at 18:05 when Max Bobrow scored.

The Green Knights scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 8:58 of the second period to take the lead when Joe Perry flicked a puck in from the doorstep. Seth Soley scored his 12th marker of the year when he scored at 12:30 for a 3-1 lead. The Pointers' Nick Kenney cashed in on a 3-on-2 rush 59 seconds later to halve the deficit.

St. Norbert took control of the game late in the second. Marian Fiala scored a 4-on-4 goal at 17:12, and Mason Baptista knocked home a power-play score 42 seconds later for a 5-2 lead after two periods.

The Green Knights added three more power-play goals in the third period. Cody Keefer (7:55), Kyle Stroh (12:07) and Reid Campbell (17:05) all scored for St. Norbert with a man advantage. Stevens Point's goal was a power-play score by Kyle Heck at 9:58.

St. Norbert's power play was an impressive 5-for-9 on the night, and the Green Knights scored just one goal out of their eight at 5-on-5 strength.

Perry, Ryd and Soley all had two assists for the Green Knights to give them all three-point performances.

St. Norbert outshot Stevens Point 38-23. David Jacobson made 20 saves for the Green Knights. Jaeger made 19 saves in 37:54 of work, while Nick Graves made 11 saves in 22:06 of relief. The Pointers were 1-for-5 on the power play and took 12 penalties for 35 minutes.