DE PERE, Wis. – The fifth-ranked UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team earned its first victory at Cornerstone Community Center in 20 trips by defeating top-ranked St. Norbert 6-5 on Saturday night.
Box Score UW-Stevens Point (10-2) had been 0-17-2 in its last 19 visits dating back to a 4-3 UWSP win on Jan. 13, 2001. The loss snapped a 22-game unbeaten streak for St. Norbert (10-1-1) going back to last season.
The Pointers scored three second-period goals to build a 4-1 lead before the Green Knights stormed back to tie the score at 4-4 in the third. However,
Scott Henegar (Trenton, MI/Trenton) scored an unassisted goal 36 seconds after SNC tied the goal and
Joe Kalisz (Davison, MI/Davison) lit the lamp for the second time in the game, scoring the eventual game-winning goal at 12:43 of the third period.
Trailing 6-4, St. Norbert was whistled for a five-minute major with 12:55 to go but got a shorthanded goal from Michael Hill, his second of the night, with 5:54 remaining to get back within a goal. UWSP held the Green Knights scoreless the rest of the way in a rematch of last season's national championship game.
The loss at Cornerstone Community Center is just the 24th for St. Norbert in 237 games since the building opened in the 2000-01 season. The Pointers also earned their fourth victory over the Green Knights in the last 33 meetings.
Kalisz got the scoring started at 8:18 of the opening period and finished the game with two goals and one assist, giving him a team-high 14 points in 12 games. St. Norbert tied the score at 1-1 three and a half minutes later through Noah Nelson's goal.
Entering the game, St. Norbert had outscored its opponents 26-0 in the second period this season but UW-Stevens Point scored three times in the period. After
Garrett Ladd (Fenton, MI/Fenton) scored at 4:39 of the period,
Kyle Brodie (Denver, CO/Northglenn) and
Logan Lemirande (Janesville, WI) scored three minutes apart to make it 4-1.
Lemirande had a goal and an assist in his first game in a UW-Stevens Point jersey, while Brodie also tallied a goal and an assist. The three-goal second period chased St. Norbert's David Jacobson, the reigning national player of the year.
Late in the second period, Hill scored his first of the night for the Green Knights to get the hosts within 4-2. Early in the third period, SNC tied the game at 4-4 on a power-play goal by Tanner Froese and a goal by Pijus Rulevicius in a span of 2:06.
St. Norbert outshot UW-Stevens Point 39-23 in the game.
Brandon Jaeger (Champlin, MN/Champlin Park) kept out 34 shots for the Pointers. Jacobson made 11 saves in two periods before being replaced by Tony Kujava, who made six stops.
UWSP takes to the road next weekend with games against a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC teams). The Pointers are at Augsburg on Friday, Jan. 9 at 7:05 p.m. before the team faces Hamline at 7 p.m. the next night.
