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River Falls
Handles UWSP in Regular Season Finale
By Scott Williams
Central Wisconsin Sunday
Original
Article
Box Score
STEVENS POINT - Nothing
like a trip to Superior in late February to get you attention.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's hockey team earned the right
to pack its bags for the arctic circle of Wisconsin.
An 8-1 loss to UW-River Falls at K.B. Willett Arena on Saturday night left
the Pointers in sixth place in the final Northern Collegiate Hockey
Association standings.
Stout jumped into a fifth-place tie with UWSP following a 4-2 win at Eau
Claire. The Blue Devils owned the season tiebreaker (1-0-1).
"The playoffs are a different season. Playoff time it doesn't matter where
you play. We've won in the playoffs on the road before," UWSP coach Joe
Baldarotta said.
The Pointers (12-10-3,
5-7-2 NCHA), who suffered their first losing season in league play since
1995-96, meet third-place Superior in a two-game series next weekend.
Should the teams split the games, a 15-minute mini-game will determine who
advances to the NCHA final four at the site of the highest remaining seed.
River Falls locked up the No. 2 seed for the playoffs thanks in large part
to a three-goal barrage in a span of 1:32 of the second period.
What had been a game still up for grabs became a commanding 5-1 lead for the
Falcons (17-4-4, 8-3-3).
"I thought the first period was pretty even. We broke it open in the second
period when a few bounces turned out the right way for us," said River Falls
coach Steve Freeman, whose team was coming off a 4-2 loss.
Mike Brolsma scored the lone Pointer goal on the power play midway through
the opening period to bring them within 2-1.
Josh Schlipp and Tony Sikich had given the Falcons an early 2-0 lead.
Once River Falls broke the game open all the steam left UWSP.
"We had a lack of jump and looked tired the last two periods. I think the
overtime (Friday against Stout) took something out of us," said Baldarotta.
"It's been very frustrating." |
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