Box Score
STEVENS POINT – Pat Lee (Schaumburg, IL/) (So.-Schaumburg, IL) scored the final three goals of the game as the UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team defeated UW-Eau Claire tonight 5-0 at Willett Arena.
Even though both teams are Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) members, tonight's contest didn't count towards the NCHA standings. This is the sixth straight year that the Blugolds and Pointers have squared off in a non-conference game. The Pointers are now 4-1-1 in those games and are 12-3-2 in the last 17 meetings against the Blugolds.
The Pointers scored their first goal of the game when Josh Calleja (New Richmond/New Richmond) (So.-New Richmond) scored off the rebound with 11:34 remaining in the first period. Nic Polaski (Delafield/Wasson) (Fr.-Delafield/Wasson) and Garrett Suter (Madison/Oregon) (Fr.-Madison/Oregon) had the assists. Stevens Point added another goal at the end of the first period when Tim Manthey (Anoka, MN/Anoka) (Jr.-Anoka, MN) put a wrist shot past the goaltender on the power play with 37 seconds left in the period. Calleja and Sean Fish (Ramsey, MN/Anoka) (Jr.-Ramsey, MN/Anoka) both assisted on the goal.
Pat Lee (Schaumburg, IL/) scored his first goal of the night when he stole the puck near the blue line and put the puck in the back of the net to make the score 3-0 halfway through the second period. The score remained that way until the third period when on a four-on-four Lee scored again with 3:35 left in the game. Lee picked up the hat trick just 2:26 later when he put a slap shot in the net on the power play to make the final score 5-0 Stevens Point.
Pointer goaltender Thomas Speer (Janesville/James Madison) (Fr.-Janesville/James Madison) earned his fourth shutout of the season and his second back-to-back shutout of the year, stopping 26 shots on the night. Speer is just one shutout shy of the Pointer record for shutouts in a season, which was set by Bobby Gorman, who had five during the 1997-98 season.
The Pointers improve to 8-5 overall, surpassing last year's win total. The Blugolds drop to 6-7 overall on the year.
The Pointers will play their last game before the holiday break Saturday when they travel to face Finlandia University for the first time in program history. The puck drops at 3 p.m. local time.
