STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The No. 1 UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team (23-0-2) hosts UW-River Falls (12-9-5) in the semifinal round of the WIAC Commissioner's Cup Tournament (presented by Culver's) on Friday (Feb. 22) and Saturday (Feb. 23).

THE BASICS
Who: No. 1 UW-Stevens Point (23-0-2) vs UW-River Falls (12-9-5)
When: Friday, Feb. 22 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: K.B. Willett Arena | Stevens Point, Wis.

Who: No. 1 UW-Stevens Point (23-0-2) vs UW-River Falls (12-9-5)
When: Saturday, Feb. 23 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: K.B. Willett Arena | Stevens Point, Wis.
 
Tickets
$10 for Reserved Seating
$3 UWSP or WIAC students

GAME COVERAGE
Live stats and live video will be available for each contest over the weekend. Tom Weaver and Shaun McMahon will provide coverage of Pointers men's hockey all season long on SportsFan100.5 on sportsfan1005.com and on Tune-in by searching "WDTX."
 
Friday: Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio
Saturday: Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio

Tom and Shaun will be hosting their fifth radio show of the season on Wednesday, March 13th at Guu's on Main from 6-7 p.m. The radio show can be heard on 100.5 FM and on sportsfan1005.com. Fans can also listen on the Tune-In Radio app by searching WDTX.

LAST TIME OUT
Prior to the first-round bye, the Pointers closed out their first unbeaten regular season with 6-3 and 7-1 victories over UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire. On Friday night against the Blue Devils, the game was tied 2-2 midway through the second until the Pointers offense exploded for four goals. Luke McElhenie (Sauk City, Wis.) topped scorers with two goals. Zach Zech (South Lyon, Mich.), Tanner Karty (Oklahoma City, Okla.), TJ Roo (Champlin, Minn.) and Steven Quagliata (Bartlett, Ill.) also netted goals.
 
The following night at UW-Eau Claire, UWSP's offense never slowed down against the Blugolds. Kelly O'Brien (Detroit, Mich.) recorded his second career hat trick and Wilson Northey (North Vancouver, B.C.) scored his first career collegiate goal. Colin Raver (Bartlett, Ill.), Zech and Quagliata also tallied goals for the Pointers. Karty dished out four assists in the game.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
 
STREAKING
Five Pointers players carry point streaks into the weekend. McElhenie tops the group, riding a six-game point streak, tallying three goals and four assists in the span. Karty has had five multi-point games in a row, recording five goals and eight assists. O'Brien follows close behind with a four-game point streak, three of them multi-point. He has three goals and seven assists. Both Quagliata and Zech are on three-game point streaks. Quagliata has put up three goals, including two power-play goals and one assist while Zech has scored three goals and dished out three assists.

MAKING HISTORY
The 2018-19 season marks the first time in school history that the Pointers have gone unbeaten through the regular season, going 23-0-2. UWSP also broke the record for highest regular season winning percentage, setting the new record at .960. Karty sits second in career game-winning goals (18), one behind Paul Caufield. Caufield set the record from 1988-92, scoring 19 in his career.

BALANCED ATTACK
The Pointers are balanced offensively, with 15 players boasting 10 points or more so far this season. and 16 players have scored three or more goals. Karty (9-19-28), Zech (8-15-23), McElhenie (9-12-21) and Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.) (9-11-20) are the four players over 20 points. UWSP holds the sixth-best scoring offense in the country averaging 4.16 goals per game.

WIAC HONORS
UWSP captured WIAC Athlete of the Week honors for the weeks of Jan. 28 – Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 – 10. Karty earned the honor by scoring two goals in the 3-1 win over UW-Stout and recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win against UW-Superior. O'Brien received the award for the first time in his career the following week, tallying three assists in the 6-3 win over UW-Stout and three goals and an assist in the 7-1 victory at UW-Eau Claire.
 
2018-19 WIAC Athletes of the Week:
B.J. Duffin (Red Deer, Alta.)  – Week of Nov. 19-25
Connor Ryckman (Minesing, Ont.) – Week of Nov. 26 – Dec. 2
Brennen Miller (Keller, Texas)  – Week of Dec. 3 – Dec. 9
Brandon McReynolds (North Vancouver, B.C.) – Week of Dec. 10 – Dec. 16
Tanner Karty (Oklahoma City, Okla.) – Week of Jan. 28 – Feb. 3
Kelly O'Brien (Detroit, Mich.) – Week of Feb. 4 – Feb. 10

IN THE RANKINGS | D3HOCKEY.COM POLL | USCHO.COM POLL
UW-Stevens Point comes in at No. 1 in both the D3Hockey and USCHO polls for the 13th week in a row. UW-Stevens Point has been ranked by USCHO.com for 108 consecutive weeks and D3hockey.com for 104 straight weeks.

ABOUT UW-RIVER FALLS  | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-River Falls heads into the WIAC Semifinal matchup holding an 12-9-5 overall record and finished fourth in the conference standing with an 1-4-3 conference record. The Falcons swept the Blue Devils this past weekend, 3-2 and 3-0, to earn a spot in the WIAC Semifinals. In Friday night's 3-2 win, UW-Stout jumped ahead 1-0, 1:10 into the game. UW-River Falls answered scoring two power-play goals in the second and an even-strength goal in the third. The following night, the Falcons shut out the Blue Devils, 3-0. UW-River Falls scored a power-play goal in the opening period and two more in the second to complete the swept of UW-Stout.

Zach Quinn has seen majority of time in goal for the Falcons, starting 15 of 16 games. He picked up two wins over the weekend to improve to 5-6-4. Quinn ranks 39^th for both goals against average (2.42) and for save percentage (.917). The Falcons are led by Eddie Matsushima (14-16-30), Cayden Cahill (7-12-19) and Christian Hausinger (2-13-15).

ALL-TIME SERIES 
The Pointers tied the all-time series against UWRF at 60-60-8 this season. UWSP swept the regular season series against the Falcons, winning 3-1 and 6-2. In the first meeting, UWSP took down UW-River Falls, 3-1, at K.B. Willett Arena. Quagliata, Logan Fredericks and McElhenie all tallied goals for the Pointers.

On the road, the Pointers beat UW-River Falls, 6-2. Carter Roo and McElhenie opened the scoring in the first period, before UWSP exploded for four goals in the second period. Brennen Miller (Keller, Texas), TJ Roo (Champlin, Minn.), Karty and Raver all put the pucks in the back of the net.

TEAM LEADERS
 

	UW-Stevens Point	UW-River Falls
Goals	Raver (10)	Matsushima (14)
Assists	Karty (19)	Matsushima (16)
Points	Karty (28)	Matsushima (30)
Power-Play Goals	C. Roo; Quagliata (4)	Miller (5)
PIM	Kanter (54)	Matsushima (53)
Goals Against Average	Ryckman (1.44)	Marcouiller (1.87)
Save Percentage	Ryckman (.933)	Marcouiller (.931)
Home Record	12-0-1	8-4-2
Away Record	11-0-1	4-5-3
Neutral Record	0-0-0	0-0-0
Record Scoring First	21-0-1	10-4-1
Opponent Scores First	2-0-1	2-5-4
Overtime Games	0-0-2	0-1-5

THE COACHES
Head coach Tyler Krueger is in his second season as the head coach of the Pointers. Under his leadership, the Pointers finished the 2017-18 season with a 21-6-3 record and returned to the Frozen Four after missing out the year before. He was also a pivotal part of the Pointers' three-year run to the National Championship game in 2014, 2015 and 2016.  From behind the bench, Krueger helped UWSP win its first WIAC Tournament title and fifth National Championship in 2016. Prior to joining the coaching staff, Krueger was a four-year member of the Pointers hockey team.  He skated in 79 games as a Pointer with two goals, 15 assists and a plus/minus of +34 for his career.  He captained the 2014 team that reached the NCAA title game.

Steve Freeman is in his 23rd season at UW-River Falls. He is the program's all-time leader in games won with a career record of 376-209-52 (.615). In 2016, he led UWRF to the WIAC regular season championship. In 2015, Freeman led the Falcons to the WIAC playoff Championship including a thirteen-game winning streak and 20-7-1 overall record. Freeman has been named WIAC Coach of the Year 12 times in his career at UW-River Falls. Freeman is the WIAC's all-time leader in games won and has led the team to WIAC championships in 12 of the past 16 seasons. Before being named head coach, Freeman was the top assistant at UWRF for seven seasons.
 
UP NEXT
With a pair of wins, or a win and a tie the Pointers will advance to the WIAC Commissioner's Cup Championship game on March 2. That game would be at K.B. Willett Arena at 7:00 p.m.