Marcus Paulson (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) made a career-high 41 saves and UW-Stevens Point fought off a late Bethel power play to hold on for a 4-3 men's hockey victory on Saturday at Willett Arena in Stevens Point.

Paulson stopped all 21 shots in the first period and came up with another big save with six seconds left when the Royals had an extra attacker as part of a power play during a five-minute major assessed to the Pointers with 2:39 left. UW-Stevens Point, ranked ninth in the NCAA Division III, is now 3-1 overall, while Bethel is 1-3 and ranked 15th nationally.

UW-Stevens Point was outshot 21-6 in the opening period, but scored the only goal of the frame when Brett Coburn (Addison, IL/Addison Trail) poked home a puck in a scramble in front of the net at the 10:01 mark. Sean Fish (Ramsey, MN/Anoka) gave the Pointers a 2-0 lead at the 7:27 mark of the second period.

Bethel cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal by Kevin Broten at the 9:38 mark of the second period, but the Pointers scored goals less than three minutes apart to push the lead to 4-1. Russel Law scored the first goal and Brett Beckfeld (Plymouth, MN/Armstrong) added the second with an unassisted goal on a long shot from the point on a power play.

The Royals climbed back into the game by getting two power play goals from Steve Eastman. The first came with 14 seconds left in the second period and the other with 7:23 left in the third period. Bethel also had a goal disallowed on a power play in the opening two minutes of the final period when it was ruled that the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the line.

The Royals were unable to take advantage of the five-minute major penalty in the final 2:39 of the game, getting few shots until adding the extra attacker for the final 21 seconds. Patrick Kielty made 22 saves in his first start for Bethel, which outshot the Pointers 44-26.
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