St. Norbert Dispatches Previously Unbeaten Pointers

From Sports Information Director, November 21, 2015 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

STEVENS POINT - St. Norbert College dealt UW-Stevens Point its first loss of the season behind a convincing 5-2 non-conference win at K.B. Willett Arena.

The Green Knights (7-1) swept an important road trip against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes with the win, including a 4-0 win Friday at UW-Superior. The Pointers, the defending NCAA Division III runner-up, fell to 6-1-1 with the loss. Stevens Point was ranked No. 2 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, while St. Norbert was ranked eighth.

St. Norbert scored two goals in the last five minutes of the first period to take control. The Green Knights got their first goal off the stick of Ross Pavek at the 15:25 mark. Riley Christensen then scored an unassisted marker at 18:54 for a two-goal edge. St. Norbert dominated the first period, holding a 19-7 edge in shots on goal in the first 20 minutes.

The Green Knights pushed their lead to three goals when Roman Uchyn scored 2:47 into the second period. Blake Thompson then put home a power-play goal at 10:35 for a 4-0 lead, which St. Norbert would carry into second intermission.

Stevens Point scored its first goal on a Jacob Barber goal at 6:32 of the third period, but Noah Nelson responded 31 seconds later with an unassisted goal to regain the Green Knights' four-goal lead. The Pointers scored the game's final goal at 14:34 on a Lawrence Cornellier shorthanded marker. Stevens Point had an extra attacker on for the final 2:54, but couldn't draw any closer.

Nelson had an assist to go along with his goal for St. Norbert's lone multi-point game.

St. Norbert outshot Stevens Point 35-20. Tony Kujava made 18 saves for the Green Knights, while Jesse Gordichuk made 30 stops for the Pointers.

The Green Knights were 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Pointers were 1-for-7.