After a disappointing end to last season, the UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team enters the 2013-14 season with high expectations for the upcoming season.
In 2012-13, the Pointers were ousted in the NCHA Quarterfinals in a mini-game by UW-River Falls. The loss brought an end to a 15-11-1 season, which included an 8-9-1 mark in NCHA play.
"Losing a first-round playoff series at home wasn't what we expected or hoped for", third-year head coach Chris Brooks said. "We had a great start to the season and plateaued. We underachieved a little even though we improved from my first year to the second. There was definitely more there."
Entering 2013-14, UW-Stevens Point has garnered national attention, as the Pointers are ranked No. 13 in the country in both the USCHO.com Division III and the D3hockey.com Men's Top 15 Preseason polls. UWSP was also picked to finish second in the WIAC, behind defending NCAA champion UW-Eau Claire. This is the first season where the conference teams will compete solely under the banner of the WIAC, after previously being members of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).
"Any time you get national recognition before you play a game, it's a positive," Brooks said. "We have to continue to get better every day and concentrate on the present. If we do that, we should be just fine in the long term."
The high expectations are the result of an experienced group of 19 returning players. Nineteen letterwinners are back for UWSP, including two All-WIAC players in Kyle Heck (Plover, WI/SPASH) and Alex Brooks (Grand Rapids, MI/). Heck has been named All-WIAC in each of the last two seasons and led the Pointers with 12 goals last season while also handing out nine assists. Brooks had a standout freshman season for UW-Stevens Point in 2012-13, scoring three goals and recording 10 assists.
In addition to Heck and Brooks, Garrett Ladd (Fenton, MI/Fenton), Andrew Kolb (Toledo, OH/Toledo Catholic), Josh Daley (Pittsburgh, PA/Bishop Canevin Catholic), Scott Henegar (Trenton, MI/Trenton), Kevin Gibson (Grosse Pointe, MI/North), and Brandon Jaeger (Champlin, MN/Champlin Park) were all named honorable mention all-conference performers last season and are all back. Ladd led the team in scoring with 22 points and was +15 in 2012-13. Kolb tallied 21 points, including three game-winning goals, in just 22 games, while Daley notched 19 points in 20 games and was +14. Henegar was second on the Pointers in goals (10) and Gibson earned his second straight honorable mention after finishing with 13 assists. In net, Jaeger backed up his 2011-12 All-WIAC season by going 11-6-1 with a 2.69 goals-against average.
Despite the returning core of players, the Pointers do lose two key contributors in Johnny Meo (Vernon Hills, IL/Ursuline) and Jerry Freismuth (Grosse Pointe, MI/North). Meo was tied for fifth on last year's squad with 16 points, while Freismuth had 12 assists and finished the season with a +16 rating.
A deep and talented batch of newcomers will also bolster the Pointers ranks this year. Bemidji State transfer Kyle Brodie (Denver, CO/Northglenn) will look to make an immediate impact on the blue line for UW-Stevens Point. Joe Kalisz (Davison, MI/Davison), a transfer from UConn, was the 2011-12 North American Hockey League (NAHL) MVP after scoring 91 points in 60 goals. Freshman Kyle Sharkey (Moore, OK/Insight School of Kansas) was a first-team all-star in the NAHL last year and was second in the league in scoring with 69 points. Nick Shkreli also adds depth to the forward line following his transfer from Lake Superior State University. UWSP also added freshman goalie Spencer Viele (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette), who posted a 52-19 record and 2.30 goals-against average in the NAHL from 2011-13.
"You can go through the whole freshman class and we really improved our depth," said Brooks. "I think all the incoming guys have the potential to be impactful for us."
The added depth is just one aspect of the team that Brooks sees as one of the strengths of this year's team. He also noticed improvements in overall team skill and speed.
The Pointers will look to translate the improvement into an improvement in wins, which is vital given the WIAC does not get an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The UWSP schedule features a couple one-game weekends to keep the team fresh for the duration of the season.
"Playing in the WIAC with five teams and no automatic NCAA bid, it is critical for us to win as many games as we can," Brooks said. "We have to win a great number of games to give us a chance to get consideration for the national tournament."
Despite the lack of an automatic bid, Brooks is excited about the prospects of the WIAC as a conference.
"I think it's going to be extremely positive," he said. "UW-Stout, who was picked last in the conference, beat Marian in a non-conference game and that shows the depth of the WIAC. The conference has momentum coming off a national championship by UW-Eau Claire and that says a lot about the strength of our conference."
