STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The No. 1 UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team (27-0-2) hosts No. 7/8 Hobart (21-7-2) for the semifinal round of the 2019 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship on Friday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. at K.B. Willett Arena.

THE BASICS
Who: No. 1 UW-Stevens Point (26-0-2) vs. No. 7/8 Hobart (21-7-2)
When: Friday, March 22 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: K.B. Willett Arena | Stevens Point, Wis.

Tickets
$10 for Reserved Seating/$12 for Championship Game
$5 UWSP 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 Friday 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

LAST TIME OUT
The Pointers shut out the defending national champion St. Norbert Green Knights, 3-0, to advance to their second consecutive and 11th overall Frozen Four. Kelly O'Brien (Detroit, Mich.) opened the scoring at 16:24 of the first period flipping a backhander into the net for a 1-0 lead. Tanner Karty (Oklahoma City, Okla.) increased it to 2-0, 3:46 into the second, burying home the puck off a feed from Zach Zech (South Lyon, Mich.) and O'Brien. TJ Roo's (Champlin, Minn.) power-play goal extended the lead to 3-0 with Drew McLean (Waterford, Mich.) and Danny Kiraly (Glendale, Ariz.) picking up assists.
 
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS 
 
BACK TO BACK
UW-Stevens Point earned an NCAA tournament berth for the sixth-consecutive season and the 15th time in program history. The Pointers are making their 11th overall and fifth appearance in six years in the Frozen Four and are the only returners from last season's semifinals in Lake Placid, N.Y. UWSP shutout the defending national champion St. Norbert Green Knights, 3-0, in the quarterfinal round to earn a spot in the Frozen Four. The Pointers are 27-17-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with five national championships (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2016) and have finished runner-up four times (1992, 1998, 2014, 2015). Last season, the Pointers fell, 3-0, in the semifinals to Salve Regina. UWSP is hosting the Frozen Four for the first time since the 1989-90 season.

SEMIFINAL SHOWDOWN
The semifinal matchup with Hobart will feature two of the top scoring offenses in the country. The Statemen enter the week with the eighth-ranked offense in the nation, averaging 3.93 goals per game. UWSP holds the sixth-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 4.21 goals per game. The Pointers power play is 25-for-118 (21.2%). The extra-man unit is led by Steven Quagliata (Bartlett, Ill.) and Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.), who have each tallied six power-play goals this season.
On the defensive side, the Pointers are second in the nation for goals allowed (1.41) while the Statesmen are 14th (2.07).

MAKING HISTORY
The 2018-19 season marked the first time in school history that the Pointers had gone unbeaten through the regular season, finishing 23-0-2. UWSP extended their unbeaten streak on Saturday against St. Norbert to 29 games, breaking the 20-year program record of 28 games, set from Feb. 25, 1989 – Jan. 19, 1990. The Pointers also broke the record for highest regular season winning percentage, setting the new record at .960.
 
Sophomore goaltender Connor Ryckman (Minesing, Ont.) broke Brandon Jaeger's record of most wins in a season, set in 2014-15, in the 3-0 win on Saturday. Senior captain Tanner Karty (Oklahoma City, Okla.) tied Paul Caufield's record for most career game-winning goals (19), previously set from 1988-1992.
 
STREAKING 
Four Pointers players carry point streaks into the weekend. Karty tops the group, riding a nine-game point streak, tallying seven goals and 13 assists in the span. Zech follows close behind with a seven-game point streak, recording four goals and seven assists. Both Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.) and McLean are on four-game point streaks. Roo has put up two goals, both power-play and four assists while McLean has dished out six assists.

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 (11-24-35), Zech (9-19-28), Carter Roo (Champlin, Minn.) (11-15-26) and Luke McElhenie (Sauk City, Wis.) (9-15-24) are the top four scorers for the Pointers.

JUMPING AHEAD
UWSP has scored first in 26 of 29 games. The Pointers have trailed a minuscule 2.6% of game time this year, 45:44 out of 1,750 minutes this season. They have also never trailed by more than one goal. 

BETWEEN THE PIPES 
Ryckman earned his 24th win of the season, overtaking Brandon Jaeger for the program record for most wins in a season (24). In Saturday's game against St. Norbert, Ryckman made 17 saves in his third shutout of the year and ranks second nationally for goals-against average (1.37) and ninth for save percentage (.936). 

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. McLean, 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 – Week of Nov. 19-25
Connor Ryckman (Minesing, Ont.) – Week of Nov. 26 – Dec. 2
Brennen Miller   – Week of Dec. 3 – Dec. 9
Brandon McReynolds – 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 entering 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. 7/8 HOBART  | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
No. 7/8-ranked Hobart enters the weekend with a 21-7-2 record. The Statesmen are making their third trip to the Frozen Four in their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance. Hobart earned an at-large bid for its fifth-straight tournament appearance. Last weekend in the quarterfinals, Hobart took down No. 5/7-ranked SUNY Oswego with a 3-2 win. Junior Lawson MacDougall scored his ninth goal of the season for the Statesmen to take a 1-0 lead. SUNY Oswego answered two minutes later tying the game 1-1. Hobart tallied a power-play goal one minute into the second period and added a short-handed goal at the 13:29 mark to the second to take a 3-1 lead. The Lakers made it a one-goal game with 12 seconds remaining in regulation with an extra attacker on the ice. Liam Lascelle had 26 saves in goal for Hobart. The Statesmen advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Plymouth State, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
In net for the Statesmen is first-year Liam Lascelle, who holds a 10-2-2 record. He has played in 15 games and ranks sixth in the nation for goals against average (1.64) and 11th for save percentage (.935). The Green Knights have 16 players in double figures for points and are led offensively by senior Jonas Toupal (12-14-26), first-year Zach Tyson (6-20-26), junior Zach Sternbach (8-15-23) and sophomore Travis Schneider (15-7-22).

ALL-TIME SERIES
Friday's matchup with Hobart will be the third meeting between the two teams. The series is even at 1-1-0. The first matchup between the teams was in Rochester, N.Y. on Nov. 6, 1992, with the Pointers coming out on top, 9-3. The other time the two teams met was on Dec. 30, 2010 in Oswego, N.Y., with Hobart winning, 6-3.

TEAM LEADERS 

	UW-Stevens Point	Hobart
Goals	Raver (12)	Schneider (15)
Assists	Karty (24)	Tyson (20)
Points	Karty (34)	Toupal; Tyson (26)
Power-Play Goals	C. Roo; Quagliata (6)	Lynch (4)
PIM	Kanter (54)	MacDougall (46)
Goals Against Average	Ryckman (1.42)	Lascelle (1.64)
Save Percentage	Ryckman (.934)	Lascelle (.935)
Home Record	15-0-1	12-1-1
Away Record	11-0-1	8-6-1
Neutral Record	0-0-0	1-0-0
Record Scoring First	24-0-1	20-4-1
Opponent Scores First	2-0-1	1-3-1
Overtime Games	0-0-2	0-0-2

THE COACHES
Head coach Tyler Krueger is in his second season as the head coach of the Pointers and holds a career record of 48-6-5. He led the Pointers back to the Frozen Four, their first unbeaten regular season and the best regular season winning percentage in program history. Krueger was named WIAC Coach of the Year this season as the Pointers captured their third WIAC Championship title. 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.
 
Head coach Mark Taylor is in his 19th season as head coach of the Statesmen. Taylor is the most successful coach in Hobart hockey history, compiling a record of 309-160-49 (.597), earning nine NCAA Tournament bids and three trips to the Frozen Four (2006, 2009, 2019). Taylor is a six-time finalist for the AHCA Division III Coach of the Year Award and was named the ECAC West Coach of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2015 and again in 2016. Taylor led the Statesmen to their 17th consecutive winning season in 2018-19 season, posting a 21-7-2 record.

UP NEXT
The winner of Friday's semifinal game will play the winner of SUNY Geneseo/Norwich in the National Championship game at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 at K.B. Willett Arena.