STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The No. 1 UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team (26-0-2) hosts No. 3/4 St. Norbert Green Knights (23-4-3) for the quarterfinal round of the 2019 NCAA DIII Men's Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. at K.B. Willett Arena.

THE BASICS
Who: No. 1 UW-Stevens Point (26-0-2) vs. No. 3/4 St. Norbert (23-4-3)
When: Saturday, March 16 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: K.B. Willett Arena | Stevens Point, Wis.

Tickets
$10 for Reserved Seating
$4 UWSP or WIAC students

Advance tickets can be purchased at the University Information and Tickets Office in the Dreyfus University Center, online at tickets.uwsp.edu, or by calling 715-346-4100. With the recent trend of sell-outs at Willett Arena, fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

GAME COVERAGE
Live stats and live video will be available for Saturday's game. 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."

Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio

Tom and Shaun will be hosting their final 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
The Pointers won their third WIAC Commissioner's Cup with a 3-2 win over No. 9-ranked UW-Eau Claire. Both Steven Quagliata (Bartlett, Ill.) and Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.) scored power-play goals with Danny Kiraly (Glendale, Ariz.) netting the game-winner to extend the unbeaten streak to 28-straight games, tying the program record.
 
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS 
NCAA TOURNAMENT
This season, the Pointers earned an NCAA tournament berth for the sixth-consecutive season, and the 15th time in program history. Last season, the Pointers advanced to the Frozen Four in Lake Placid, N.Y., falling in the semifinals, 3-0, to Salve Regina. The Pointers have claimed five National Championships, which is second all-time behind Middlebury (8).
UW-Stevens Point is 26-17-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

QUARTERFINAL SHOWDOWN
The quarterfinal matchup with St. Norbert will feature two of the top scoring offenses in the country. The Green Knights enter the week with the fourth-ranked offense in the nation, averaging 4.37 goals per game. They also boast the third-best power play in the country, going 41-for-149 (27.5%).

UWSP holds the fifth-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 4.25 goals per game. The Pointers power play is 24-for-115 (20.9%). The extra-man unit is led by Quagliata and Roo, who have each tallied six power-play goals this season.

On the defensive side, the Pointers are second in the nation for goals allowed (1.46) while the Green Knights are fourth (1.67).

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. Tanner Karty (Oklahoma City, Okla.) (10-24-34), Zach Zech (South Lyon, Mich.) (9-18-27), Luke McElhenie (Sauk City, Wis.) (9-15-24) and Roo (11-13-24) are the top four scorers for the Pointers.

BETWEEN THE PIPES 
Sophomore Connor Ryckman (Minesing, Ont.) earned the win in Saturday's 3-2 win over the Blugolds, tying Brandon Jaeger for the program record for most wins in a season (23). Ryckman made 27 saves in the game and ranks second in the nation for goals-against average (1.42), and 14th for save percentage (.934).

LEAGUE HONORS
Led by Ryckman's Player of the Year and first-team selection, UWSP claimed eight spots on the All-WIAC teams announced on February 28. Other first-team selections were Stephan Beauvais (Shelby Township, Mich.), Karty, McElhenie and Quagliata. Drew McLean (Waterford, Mich.), Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.) and Zech were named to the honorable mention team. Head coach Tyler Krueger was named the league's Coach of the Year.

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 came in at No. 1 in both the D3Hockey and USCHO polls for the 15th week in a row for the NCAA Tournament. UW-Stevens Point has been ranked by USCHO.com for 110 consecutive weeks and D3hockey.com for 108 straight weeks.

ABOUT NO. 3/4 ST. NORBERT  | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
No. 3/4-ranked St. Norbert enters the weekend with a 23-4-3 record and is on a 14-game win streak The Green Knights haven't dropped a game since falling to Marian, 3-1, on January 11th. Last weekend, St. Norbert took down No. 6-ranked Augsburg in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-3 overtime win. St. Norbert led 1-0 after two periods before Augsburg rattled off three goals to take a 3-1 lead with 7:33 remaining in the game. The Green Knights tallied a power-play goal to make it 3-2 with just over five minutes remaining and tied the game with an extra skater on the ice with 1:11 to go in the game. In overtime, the Green Knights' Dominick Sacco scored the game-winning goal at the 2:19 mark to send the Green Knights to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament. Roman Uchyn scored two goals and had two assists for St. Norbert, including the game-tying goal in the third period. He also assisted on the game-winner in overtime. T.J. Black had 19 saves in goal for St. Norbert. 
 
In net for the Green Knights is senior T.J. Black, who holds a 22-4-2 record. He has played in 29 games and ranks seventh in the nation for goals against average (1.65) and 22nd for save percentage (.927). The Green Knights have 12 players in double figures for points and are led offensively by seniors Roman Uchyn (15-18-33) and Riley Christensen (14-19-33) and sophomore Peter Bates (11-20-31).

ALL-TIME SERIES
Saturday's matchup with St. Norbert will be the 81st meeting between the two teams. St. Norbert holds the series lead against UW-Stevens Point, 49-23-8, beginning in the 1981-82 season. Earlier this season, the Pointers and Green Knights tied 1-1 in De Pere. Following two scoreless periods, St. Norbert got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead 1:06 into the third. UWSP's Ryan Bittner (Crookston, Minn.) tied the game at 12:13 of the third with Brennen Miller (Keller, Texas) and TJ Roo (Champlin, Minn.) picking up assists.
 
The two teams have previously met four times in the NCAA Tournament, including the 2014 and 2016 title games with the Knights winning, 3-1, in 2014 and the Pointers victorious, 5-1, in 2016.
 
Last season, both teams made it to the Frozen Four with UWSP falling to Salve Regina, 3-0, in the semifinals and St. Norbert defeating the Seahawks in double overtime, 3-2, in the championship game.

TEAM LEADERS 

	UW-Stevens Point	St. Norbert
Goals	Raver (12)	Uchyn (15)
Assists	Karty (24)	Gysbers (23)
Points	Karty (34)	Uchyn; Christensen (33)
Power-Play Goals	C. Roo; Quagliata (6)	Christensen; Frantti (7)
PIM	Kanter (54)	Frantti (39)
Goals Against Average	Ryckman (1.42)	Black (1.65)
Save Percentage	Ryckman (.934)	Black (.927)
Home Record	15-0-1	17-0-2
Away Record	11-0-1	6-4-1
Neutral Record	0-0-0	0-0-0
Record Scoring First	24-0-1	19-3-2
Opponent Scores First	2-0-1	4-1-1
Overtime Games	0-0-2	2-3-3

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.

St. Norbert head coach Tim Coghlin is in his 26th season in 2018-19. Coghlin has led the Green Knights to five national championships (2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018) and holds a 579-145-57 (.740) record at SNC, sitting in 16th-place for all-time in wins for NCAA men's ice hockey coaches across all divisions. Before coaching at St. Norbert, Coghlin was an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point from 1991-93, including the 1993 national championship season. Coghlin was a two-time All-American and three-time All-NCHA defenseman at UW-Stevens Point (1986-89) and captained the Pointers' first national championship team in 1989. He was inducted into UWSP's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and totaled 21 goals and 87 assists in 105 games played as a defenseman.

UP NEXT
The winner of Saturday's game will represent the West Region in the Frozen Four beginning on March 22.