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Pointers Tie St.
Scholastica
By Scott Williams
Stevens Point Journal
Original
Article
Box Score
There
are times over the course of a long season when the goal looks more like a
thimble.
On Friday night, it felt more like a needle in a haystack for the University
of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's hockey team.
UWSP wasted a number of early scoring chances and had to settle for a 1-1
tie with St. Scholastica at K.B. Willett Arena. UWSP (10-4-2, 3-1-1 Northern
Collegiate Hockey Association) earned one point for the tie. But failing to
earn that second point - and create a three-way tie with UW-River Falls and
St. Norbert College for first place - left the Pointers somber.
"We had all kinds of chances, and we didn't bury them. We don't have any
excuses," said UWSP coach Joe Baldarotta, whose team extended its unbeaten
streak against the Saints to 38 games (36-0-2).
There may have been more cause for concern had the Pointers not had any
scoring chances.
But just the contrary was true.
UWSP outshot the Saints 36-19, and had a chance to end the game in
regulation, but failed to put a shot on net off a 3-on-1 rush.
"You have teams that can't score and teams that won't score. We proved we
can score goals the first half," Baldarotta said. "We have to get over the
mental part and put it our of our minds. Our guys have to do what they're
good at and score goals."
The Pointers eventually
had to turn to defenseman Chris Gehrke for their only goal. He scored a
power-play goal early in the second to put UWSP on top 1-0.
Saints goalie Josh Liebig
(35 saves) also had something to do with the paucity of goals.
Liebig may not be tall in stature, but the sophomore netminder came up big.
Never was that more true than the first period when St. Scholastica was
forced to kill off four penalties.
"Unfortunately, that (penalties) is sort of our trend. Our youth is showing.
They think they can get away with more than they can on the ice," Saints
coach Cory Borys said.
St. Scholastica (5-8-3, 0-4-1 NCHA) withstood the early barrage and
eventually created scoring chances of its own.
Dustin Sieben finally broke through against Pointer goalie Ted Eastman to
tie the game 15:19 left in the third period.
Baldarotta feared the longer his team allowed the Saints to stay in the
game, odds were something bad would happen.
"The longer it goes without scoring, the more it's going to haunt us," the
Pointer coach said. "I thought a bounce of the puck would go against us, and
they got the counterattack."
UWSP will host Superior
tonight.
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