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University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Athletics

OFFICIAL ATHLETICS SITE OF UW-STEVENS POINT

Pointers Drop Home Opener to the Johnnies

Box Score

STEVENS POINT – The UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team rallied to tie St. John's University (MN), but fell short in the third period as the Johnnies defeated the Pointers 5-3 tonight in the season opener at Willett Arena.


The Pointers fall to 14-6 in season openers since the 1988-89 season. The Johnnies scored five goals on the Pointers for the second consecutive season.


St. John's got on the scoreboard quickly as 16 seconds into the first period Nate Meinz put one in off the deflection to give the Johnnies a 1-0 lead. Then just fewer than five into the game, the Johnnies got their second goal when Chris Murray put one in the net. St. John's wasn't done in the period as James Olmscheid put one past the goaltender to make the score 3-0.

 
The Pointers got on the scoreboard with a little less than four minutes to play in the first period as Sean Fish (Ramsey, MN/Anoka) scored a powerplay goal in a scramble in front of the net to make the score 3-1. Brett Beckfield and Tim Manthey (Anoka, MN/Anoka) had the assists.


The second period belonged to the Pointers. The Johnnies committed five penalties in the period so the Pointers were on the powerplay for much of the period. Stevens Point cut the lead to 3-2 on an Andy Cankar (Lockport, IL/Lockport) powerplay goal with 14:54 remaining in the second period. Garrett Suter (Madison/Oregon) and Jonathan Ralph (Chester, NJ/Shattuck St. Mary's) had the assists. The Pointers then tied it 45 seconds later when Sean Fish (Ramsey, MN/Anoka) scored his second powerplay goal of the contest. Josh Calleja (New Richmond/New Richmond) assisted on the goal.


The score remained that way until about halfway through the third period. That's when on the powerplay, the Johnnies struck with a slap shot from Clay Ream at 7:26 remaining to make the score 4-3. The Johnnies added an empty net goal with 1:21 remaining to seal the 5-3 victory.


A crowd of 1,450 showed up to Willett Arena to watch the Pointers open up the season. The Johnnies out shot the Pointers 46-43 in the game. St. John's goalie Vince Wheeler stopped 16 shots to earn the win. Thomas Speer (Janesville/James Madison) had 21 saves in the defeat for the Pointers.


The Pointers will host Concordia-Moorhead tomorrow night at Willett Arena at 7:30 p.m.

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