Box Score
GREEN BAY - UW-Stevens Point took a 3-2 lead into the third period but a short-handed goal with less than five minutes remaining in the third and an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining in overtime gave the Green Knights of St. Norbert the 4-3 victory on Saturday evening in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) playoff action.
Coming off an 8-3 loss in the first game of the two game series with the Green Knights, the Pointers came out the of the game firing, as
Matt Stendahl (Forest Lake, MN, Forest Lake) put the Pointers on the board at the close of the first period, scoring on the power play at the 18:15 mark off a
Garrett Suter (Madison, Oregon) pass.
In the second, the Pointers added two more goals, as
Jon Madden (Brighton, MI, Howell) and
Brett Beckfeld (Plymouth, MN, Armstrong) scored to give UWSP the 3-0 advantage at the 6:24 mark of the second period.
But the defending national champs came fighting back, scoring their first goal of the game at the 6:56 mark of the second. St. Norbert added another goal at the 9:19 mark of the second period, cutting the Pointer lead to just one, 3-2, a score that held for the remainder of the second period.
In the third, with time winding down, St. Norbert's Matt Boyd scored just his fifth goal of the season unassisted and short-handed, knotting the score at 3-3 and forcing overtime.
In overtime, needing a win to stave off elimination, the Pointers pulled
Thomas Speer (Janesville, James Madison) and brought on the extra attacker to try and force a decisive min-game. But St. Norbert capitalized, scoring at the 3:40 mark of overtime, as Nick Tabisz scored his 11th goal of the season and sent the Pointers out of the playoffs.
Spear tallied 42 saves for the Pointers including 22 in the third period.
The win advances St. Norbert (19-7-1) to the semifinal round of the NCHA playoffs. UW-Stevens Point finishes the season with a record of 15-10-2.
