St. Norbert built a four-goal lead and held off a UW-Stevens Point third period comeback for a 7-5 men's hockey victory on Saturday at Willett Arena in Stevens Point.

Pat Lee (Schaumburg, IL/) had his first career hat trick for the Pointers as UW-Stevens Point became the first team to score more than four goals against a Green Knights' defense that entered the game ranked second in the NCAA Division III by allowing just 1.67 goals per game. In fact, the Green Knights had not allowed five goals in a game over their last 46 games played.

St. Norbert, however, had enough offense to counter the Pointers' scoring, netting three goals in the first period and another just 1:07 into the second period for a 4-0 advantage. Marc Belanger finished the night with two goals and two assists, while Ryan Petersen had two goals and one assist and Matt Boyd collected four assists.

UW-Stevens Point started its rally in unlikely fashion, scoring two shorthanded goals following a five-minute major penalty. Nick Zebro (Mosinee/Mosinee) and Lee both scored unassisted just 58 seconds apart to pull the Pointers within 4-2 and mark the fifth straight game and sixth time in seven games they have scored shorthanded.

During the major penalty, the Pointers committed another minor penalty and the Green Knights squelched the momentum by taking advantage of the five-on-three power play with a goal from Jeff Hazelwood. St. Norbert led 6-2 after two periods as Petersen scored later in the period.

The Pointers scored three power play goals in four chances in the final period with Rolf Ulvin (Edina, MN/Edina) scoring at the 8:38 mark and Lee following at the 10:03 mark to cut the lead to 6-4. St. Norbert added a power play goal of its own by Shane McCormick at the 17:36 mark, but the Pointers pulled the goalie with a five-on-three power play and Lee earned his hat trick with 31 seconds remaining. Lee also assisted Ulvin's goal to finish with a four-point night, while Josh Calleja (New Richmond/New Richmond) recorded assists on both of Lee's third period scores.

St. Norbert held a 42-32 advantage in shots with the Pointers holding a 16-11 edge in the third period. The Green Knights are ranked fourth in the country and improved to 18-3-2 overall and 8-3-1 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. UW-Stevens Point is now 6-15-2 overall and 2-9-1 in the league.