UW-Stevens Point men’s hockey wins national title

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - The third time was the charm for the Pointers.

After being on the losing side the past two years, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men’s hockey team was able to celebrate a win in the Division III national title game Saturday.

The Pointers scored three power-play goals and never trailed on the way to a 5-1 win over St. Norbert in an all-Wisconsin matchup at Herb Brooks Arena.

Kyle Sharkey had a goal and two assists for the Pointers, who captured the program’s fifth national championship and first since 1993. St. Norbert was vying for its fifth title in the past eight years.

The Pointers, who lost to St. Norbert in the title game two years ago, scored the final four goals of the game, including a pair less than two minutes apart in the third period.

The Pointers converted on three of five power-play opportunities against St. Norbert, and completed a run in which they went 19-1-1 over the final 21 games of their schedule.

Eliot Grauer, who scored twice in Friday’s semifinal win over Geneseo State, gave the Pointers a 1-0 lead just 2:42 in the game on the power play as his shot from the right wing trickled through the pads of St. Norbert goalie Tony Kujawa.

Grauer was named the most outstanding player of the tournament.

UWSP’s Alex Brooks, who was named to the all-tournament team, hit the left post minutes later, one of the handful of chances the fast-skating Pointers had early to add to the lead.

St. Norbert’s Tanner Froese tied the game 1-1 at the 9:25 mark with a power-play goal that deflected in off the Pointers’ Lawrence Cornellier.

The goal came with one second left on St. Norbert’s power play and moments after Cornellier was denied on a shorthanded opportunity.

Brooks gave the Pointers a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal with 68 seconds left in the first period as he picked up a loose puck in the high slot off a scramble and beat Kujawa with a shot.

Sharkey extended the Pointers lead to 3-1 with 80 seconds left in the second period as he one-timed a bouncing puck from between the middle of the two faceoff circles. The goal came off a delayed penalty on St. Norbert as the Pointers’ Stephan Beauvais was tripped up on the play but was able to knock the puck towards Sharkey.

“When it was 2-1, and the moment of truth arrived, we needed to change the tide and we didn’t,” St. Norbert coach Tim Coghlin said.

“If you look at the way the game started and the way the game was played, I don’t know if we were better in any area. They were better. Their power play was a huge factor.”

The Pointers were able to expand their lead despite losing their leading scorer, senior Joe Kalisz, to a leg injury early in the second period.

Erik Cooper, St. Norbert’s leading scorer, was held without a point for only the third time in 31 games this season. The senior captain was named a first-team All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association this year and finishes his career with 108 points (46 goals, 62 assists).

The Pointers lost leading scorer Joe Kalisz to an injury early in the second period. He was knocked into the St. Norbert net on a scoring opportunity and had to be helped off the ice. He did not return to the game.

UWSP put the game away early in the third period as the combination of Sharkey-Cornellier and Jacob Barber combined for two goals in a span of 1:56.

The Pointers finished the season with a 19-1-1 mark when leading after two periods and are 51--1-2 dating back to the start of the 2013-14 season.

First period: 1. UWSP, Eliot Grauer (Nick D’Avolio), 2:42 (pp). 2. SN, Tanner Froese, 9:25 (pp). 3. UWSP, Alex Brooks (Joe Kalisz, Jono Davis), 18:52 (pp).

Second period: .4. UWSP, Kyle Sharkey (Stephan Beauvais), 18:40.

Third period: 5. UWSP, Lawrence Cornellier (Sharkey, Jacob Barber), 4:44 (pp). 6. UWSP, Barber (Sharkey), 6:38

Saves: Stevens Point (Max Milosek) 21-; St. Norbert (Tony Kujawa) 34 .

Records: UW-Stevens Point 24-5-2; St. Norbert 25-4-2