St. Norbert Wraps Up NCHA Crown, Whitewashes UW-River Falls

From Sports Information Director, February 8, 2008 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIVER FALLS - In one of its best efforts of the season, the St. Norbert College hockey team picked up a convincing 4-1 win over UW-River Falls in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association contest at Hunt Arena.

The Green Knights, ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com Poll, extended their winning streak to 20 games (17-0-3) with the win. St. Norbert also clinched the No. 1 seed in the league's Peters Cup Playoffs, and won its 10th NCHA title in 12 years. The championship is the ninth outright for St. Norbert.

St. Norbert outshot River Falls 32-16, and played very well in the first and third periods. The Green Knights outshot the Falcons 17-6 in the first period and 10-3 in the third frame.

Steven Sleep scored first, putting St. Norbert on the board at 16:49 of the first period. That lead would hold up through two periods, with St. Norbert killing off four power plays in the second period.

Taylor Langford scored the eventual game-winner 59 seconds into the third period for a 2-0 advantage. Shane Wheeler made it 3-0 at 4:09 of the third before River Falls' Lance Malark cut it to 3-1 at 10:19. Ryan Petersen's breakaway with five seconds left was the final margin.

Kyle Jones picked up the win for St. Norbert, making 15 saves. It marked the 44th time in his career he's allowed one goal or less. Stephen Ritter made 28 saves for the Falcons.