STEVENS POINT- Garrett Suter (Madison/Oregon) had a hat trick and an assist to lead the Pointers past UW-River Falls 4-3 Saturday night at K.B. Willett Arena.

The win was the fourth straight for the Pointers and moved them to 5-7 in the NCHA, while River Falls dropped to 3-9 in league play.

Suter had all the scoring in the game's opening period as he scored two goals in the first 20 minutes.

After the Pointers killed off a couple early power plays to keep the game 0-0, Suter found the back of the net off assists from Max Bobrow (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) and Nick Kenney (Wixom, MI/Walled Lake Western) to give the Pointers a 1-0 lead.

The Pointers then gained a power play opportunity with 3:30 left in the opening period and Suter took advantage with a goal with 1:53 left on the clock to push the Pointers lead to 2-0.  Suter was assisted Alex Handy (Carmel, IN/Park Tudor School) and John Bockmann (Plover, WI/SPASH).

The second period saw five goals score with River Falls scoring all three of their goals in the second.

The Falcons got their first goal off a Pointer turnover when Josh Calleja stole the puck and beat the goalkeeper to make the score 2-1.  Calleja's goal came with the Falcons being a man down.

The Falcons then tied up the game 10:28 into the second period when Jeff Burke scored off an assist from Justin Brossman.

The Pointers then grabbed the lead back four minute later when Bockmann deflected a shot from Harrison Niemann (Canton, MI/Novi) past the goalie to give the Pointers a 3-2 edge.  Suter also picked up an assist on the play.

River Falls came right back as they scored with 3:45 left in the period to make the score 3-3.  The Falcons goal was scored by Jason Yuel and assisted by Jeff Burke.

The Pointers then got a penalty with two minutes left in the period, but scored shorthanded just twelve seconds into the penalty to take a 4-3 lead.

After the puck was loose Suter out skated a Falcons defensemen and put the puck in the net to give him the hat trick and the game winning goal.  Suter also had a goal last night to give him four goals and one assist on the weekend.big

Nick Graves (Hewitt, WI/Ashwaubenon) made 17 saves, including six big saves in the third period, to push his record to 9-7 on the season.

The Pointers will return to action on Thursday night when they travel to NCHA leader St. Norbert for a 7:00 p.m. game.  The Pointers will then host UW-Eau Claire Friday night at K.B. Willett Arena.