MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team scored five times in the third period to power its way into its second-straight national championship game by defeating Amherst 6-2 on Friday night at Ridder Arena.
 
Box Score
 
UW-Stevens Point (23-6-1) trailed 2-0 near the midway point of the second period but scored the game's final six goals to surge past Amherst (22-5-2) and remain undefeated in national semifinal games (8-0). The Pointers will face Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Ridder Arena, looking for the program's fifth national championship.
 
"With this group, I knew we would create enough offense to be in the game," head coach Chris Brooks said of the game. "We've talked all season about staying even-keel. We congratulate each other and celebrate a win, but nothing has been accomplished yet. We've talked since we left Lewiston last year that our goal is to be in position to win a national championship. We enjoyed that game but we'll put it to bed and start thinking about the next game."
 
UWSP became just the second team all season to defeat Amherst after the Lord Jeffs led after two periods. Amherst entered the night with a 16-0-1 record when leading after 40 minutes and the Pointers were 2-4-0 when trailing after two periods.
 
"I thought our guys did a great job sticking to the game plan," Brooks said of his team's effort. "We had a structured game plan coming in and I think our guys did as good of a job as we have all year sticking to it. I was really pleased with our performance."
 
After a scoreless first period, he Lord Jeffs struck twice in a five-minute span of the second period on goals by Brendan Burke and David White. Just 23 seconds after Amherst doubled its lead, Nick D'Avolio (North Riverside, IL) got the Pointers on the board, halving the deficit at 8:38 of the second period from Alex Brooks (Grand Rapids, MI) and Kevin Gibson (Grosse Pointe, MI/North).
 
"We stayed level-headed," Brooks said. "It's happened to us before, so it's not something we've never been through. We were patient with it and were confident that if we stayed with it, we didn't think Amherst could play at that pace for all three periods."
 
UW-Stevens Point leveled the score at 2-2 at 5:53 of the third period, as D'Avolio scored his second goal of the night, giving the junior his second two-goal game of the season. A minute and a half later, Brooks gave the Pointers their first lead of the night with a one-timer on the power play at 7:23.
 
Less than four minutes later, Lawrence Cornellier (Machesney Park, IL/Harlem) pushed the lead to 4-2 with his first goal of the night. Joe Kalisz (Davison, MI/Davison) made it 5-2 a mere 95 seconds later at 12:49 of the third, as Gibson earned his second assist of the night. Cornellier added an empty-net goal with 1:45 remaining, giving the sophomore two third-period goals in each of the last two games.
 
UW-Stevens Point outshot Amherst 41-24 in the game, including a 17-5 advantage in the final period. Danny Vitale made double-digit saves in all three periods, finishing with 35 in the game.
 
Brandon Jaeger (Champlin, MN/Champlin Park) stopped 22 shots for the Pointers to earn his 23rd win of the season, setting the single-season program record in the process. The win is the 62nd of Jaeger's career, which is also a program record.
 
"It (the records) mean that we're one game away from being national champions," Jaeger said of his record-breaking night. "We've got one more to go tomorrow."
 
Five UWSP players recorded two-point games, led by D'Avolio and Cornellier's two goals each. Gibson and Kyle Sharkey (Moore, OK/Insight School of Kansas) each had two helpers, while Brooks had a goal and an assist.
 
"Trinity is a very talented team, as you could see in the semifinal game," Brooks commented. "They have some tendencies that we are going to prepare for. We're going to continue to put ourselves in situations where our strengths are exposed and I think we did a great job of that tonight."