St. Norbert Wins NCHA Semifinal Battle Over St. Scholastica

From Sports Information Director, February 23, 2013 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College advanced to the championship game of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Peters Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 win over the College of St. Scholastica in a semifinal-round game at Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (22-5-1) will travel to No. 1 seeding UW-Eau Claire (20-4-2), who topped UW-River Falls 7-2 in its semifinal-round game, for the title game at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 2 at Hobbs Ice Center in Eau Claire. St. Norbert is making its 11th NCHA Peters Cup Playoffs championship game appearance in the last 12 years.

After a scoreless first period, St. Norbert took the lead at the 1:43 mark of the second period when Sam Higgins' drive off a long rebound found the back of the net. St. Scholastica (13-14-1) answered at 8:36 when Dave Williams put home a loose puck in the crease to cap off a strong shift by the Saints.

The Green Knights tallied the game-winning goal at 11:55 of the second period when Mason Baptista scored his seventh goal of the season, with assists going to Zach McDonald and Reid Campbell.

St. Scholastica outshot St. Norbert 10-2 in the third period, and had an extra attacker for the last 36 seconds of the game, but could not force overtime.

St. Norbert held a 27-26 shots-on-goal advantage. David Jacobson made 25 saves for the Green Knights, while Colin Rundell made 25 stops for the Saints. St. Norbert was 0-for-2 on the power play, while St. Scholastica was 0-for-1.