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Early Deficit Too Much for Pointers
to Overcome
Box
Score
A
three-goal flurry in the opening period proved to be too much of a deficit for
the UW-Stevens Point men's hockey team on Friday as the Pointers fell to Lake
Forest 4-3 in the opening game of the teams' Northern Collegiate Hockey
Association quarterfinal series at Willett Arena.
Lake Forest became just the fifth
road team to win a quarterfinal playoff game since the round was added in
1992-93. The Foresters' victory also forces UW-Stevens Point to win Saturday's
game and an ensuing 20-minute mini-game in order to advance to its ninth
straight NCHA semifinals. Saturday's game begins at 7:30 p.m. at Willett Arena.
The Pointers won a mini-game in
Superior last year and had three of the previous four road quarterfinal wins in
league history. Lake Forest's win was just the second playoff victory in school
history as the Foresters are now 2-16-3, having also beaten UW-Stout in last
year's quarterfinals.
The Foresters got an early power
play goal from Cory Wilson 4:55 into the game and scored again on a goal from
Brian Lee at the 10:12 mark. Lake Forest's Troy Lother put the Foresters up 3-0
in the first period with a goal at the 15:08 mark.
UW-Stevens Point dominated the
game the rest of the way, holding a 48-21 advantage in shots for the contest.
The Pointers got on the board with a power play goal at the 16:38 mark when Adam
Kostichka fed Mike Brolsma in the slot for the senior's 13th goal of the year.
Brolsma scored a nearly identical
goal 8:21 into the second period off a pass from Colin Trulock to pull the
Pointers to within 3-2. However, Lake Forest regained its two-goal lead at the
12:20 mark of the third period when Robin Charest scored off an assist from
Tyler Canal, who extended his scoring streak to 11 straight games.
UW-Stevens Point made it 4-3 with
5:50 left in the game when Trulock took a long shot from the point that
Foresters' goalie Joel Cameron mishandled and was put in by a defenseman. Dan
Francis was credited with an unassisted goal for the Pointers.
The Pointers outshot the Foresters
16-4 in the third period, but Cameron was solid all night, finishing with 45
saves. It was the third one-goal game the teams have played in as many meetings
this year with each team taking 3-2 victories on their home ice during the
regular season.
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