Top-ranked Pointers beat St. Norbert to advance to Frozen Four
Portage County Gazette
By John Kemmeter
With a trip to the Frozen Four on the line, the top-ranked University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) men’s hockey team was firing on all cylinders, as it knocked out fourth-ranked and defending National Champion St. Norbert in a NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal at K.B. Willett Arena Saturday, March 17.
The Pointers (27-0-2) scored one goal in the first period and added two more goals in the second period to win 3-0 and advance to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four, which they were chosen to host at K.B. Willett Arena Friday and Saturday, March 22 and 23.
“Being my last year, it’s a treat to go as many times as I’ve been able to go,” said UWSP senior forward Tanner Karty. “I’m trying to just soak it all in and enjoy the ride, especially here at home in front of our fans.”
“It’s the best 60-minute effort we’ve had all year,” said UWSP men’s hockey head coach Tyler Krueger. “We knew after the Eau Claire game (in the WIAC Championship), we needed to clean things up in our game for playoff time.
“Minimizing mistakes and playing a certain way is what wins you games this time of year and in these types of games, and especially playing against St. Norbert,” he said. “We put together a game plan for the guys and it was their job to trust it and execute it, and they did it to a ‘T.’”
Coming off a 3-2 win over 12th-ranked UW-Eau Claire in the WIAC Tournament Championship Game and a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament, UWSP carried a 20-game winning streak into Saturday night, after it tied St. Norbert 1-1 in De Pere Nov. 17.
Meanwhile, St. Norbert rallied from a 3-1 deficit at home against fifth-ranked Augsburg in the first round of the NCAA Tournament March 10, as it scored two goals in the final 5:04 of regulation and a goal 2:19 into overtime to win 4-3 to advance to set up the showdown at K.B. Willett Arena.
In front of a sold-out crowd Saturday night, the game remained tied at 0-0 late into the first period, when UWSP junior forward Kelly O’Brien got a shot past St. Norbert All-American senior goalie T.J. Black with 3:36 left in the opening period on assists from sophomore forward Carter Roo and junior defenseman Chris Allemon to give the Pointers a 1-0 lead.
“We weren’t getting the scoring chances that we would’ve liked right away, but we stuck with it and (O’Brien) made a great play on the rebound there,” said Krueger. “That was part of the report of T.J. Black; that we wanted to make him move side-to-side, when he sees the pucks he’s going to stop it straight on, you’ve got to make him move side-to-side and get him moving, and stuff opens up there.
“So it was a huge goal, but even with a one-goal lead, two-goal lead, and even a three-goal lead, we can’t back off,” he said. “We saw last Saturday when they played Augsburg.”
UWSP maintained a 1-0 lead heading into the second period, when Karty buried a shot past Black 3:46 into the second period on assists from sophomore forward Zach Zech and O’Brien to put the Pointers ahead 2-0.
“Good transition by our D getting the puck up, Zach made a great play there in the middle to kind of recognize the D slide over, and pass it over,” said Karty. “I kind of had an empty-netter.
“It was just my job not to miss it,” he said.
Following a hooking call on St. Norbert at the 16:27 mark of the second period, UWSP went on the power play for only the second time in the game.
Senior forward TJ Roo cashed in when scored in front of the net on assists from his younger brother Carter and junior defenseman Drew McLean to give the Pointers a 3-0 lead with 2:03 to go in the second period.
UWSP limited St. Norbert’s scoring opportunities down the stretch, as sophomore goalie Connor Ryckman stopped three shots in third period and finished with 17 saves to record the shutout in his program-record 24th win of the season, as the Pointers closed out a 3-0 victory to move on to the Frozen Four for the second consecutive season and the fifth time in six years.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Ryckman. “We had the experience last year, and it’s nice to do it again, back-to-back.
“We just go out there, do our best every day, and do what we can to get there,” he said.
“We didn’t have a lot of holes in our game,” said Krueger. “We were good all the way around, everybody was good, we got great goaltending again from Connor, and it was fun.
“It was an absolute blast with the crowd here,” he said. “And we’re looking forward to next weekend.”
About an hour after the game, UWSP learned that the Frozen Four would be held at K.B. Willett Arena, as the NCAA chose the home of one of the four remaining teams as the host site.
“Once we heard at the start of the year that the No. 1-seeded team could host possibly, that’s been our goal all along,” said Karty. “Not the record, not the WIAC, we could really care less about all of that stuff.
“It’s more of winning a National Championship and playing in front of our fans here at the K.B. Willett,” he said.
“These guys have bought in all year,” said Krueger. “They’ve jelled very quickly, and we’ve kind of been on a roll since we played the second game against Trine (Oct. 27), tied them, a game that we shouldn’t have tied, and that was kind of the breaking point.
“That got them to believe over the next few weeks of what we were seeing, and it’s a special team,” he said. “We talked and we said, ‘we shouldn’t lose a game all year,’ when we play how we play, and how we can play a certain way, we believe nobody can touch us, and it’s just been fun.
“They’re a fun group to be around, they’re a group that is very unselfish and just wants to win together,” he said. “They’ve been doing it all year long, and they continue to do that.”