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Pointers Can't Recover from Early
Deficit
by Scott Williams
Stevens Point Journal
Original Article
Box
Score
The University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's hockey team is finding several bad habits hard to
break this season.
One of the most deadly has been the Pointers' penchant for giving up goals in
the final minute of a period. Another problem area involves falling behind
early, and having to play catch-up the rest of the night.
Both were on display again late Saturday in the Pointers' 6-2 setback at the
hands of second-ranked St. Norbert College in Northern Collegiate Hockey
Association action at K.B. Willett Arena.
If anyone knows about some sort of a patch or 12-step program for kicking these
habits, please contact Pointer coach Joe Baldarotta.
"We played a good half a game, but you can't play catch-up against those guys.
They know how to win," Baldarotta said.
For the second time in a week, the first period turned into a nightmare for
UWSP.
Jason Deitsch got the Green Knights (17-2-2, 9-0-1 NCHA) on the scoreboard first
at the 7:08 mark. That marked the 18th time in 21 games this season the Pointers
have surrendered the first goal.
But the back-breaker came when Ryan Tew put home a rebound with 51 seconds left
in the opening period.
When the same two teams met a week earlier, the Pointers (9-9-3, 4-5-1 NCHA)
found themselves digging out of a 4-0 hole after 20 minutes.
"Last-minute penalties have killed us all year. That kills you," said
Baldarotta, whose team has reached double-figures in that unwanted category. "We
had 2-on-5 numbers on the second goal. How the puck ends up on their stick is
ridiculous."
Despite playing the Green
Knights to a standstill for much of the opening period, UWSP was staring up at a
2-0 deficit.
With momentum well entrenched on their bench, the Green Knights blew the game
open early in the second period.
Sheldon Wing and Spencer Carbery scored in a 12-second span to increase the
margin to 4-0, before Tew added his second goal.
"That was big," said St. Norbert coach Tim Coghlin of the late goal in the first
period. "I don't care what the scoreboard said, this game was a lot closer than
the 7-2 game in our place. It boils down to a bounce of the puck here and
there."
The Pointers did there best to
try to make the game close.
Freshman Tom Vernelli got UWSP on the scoreboard when he swatted a rebound past
St. Norbert goalie Kyle Jones (19 saves) with 5:49 left in the second period
It was ironic that Vernelli
scored on a rebound since three of the Green Knights' goals against UWSP goalie
Bryn Davies (18 saves) came on identical plays.
"It's difficult when you're looking through screens to steer the puck to the
corners," Baldarotta said. "We're not clearing people well in front of the net.
And we have to treat the puck like a time bomb around the net. We try to make
too many plays near the crease."
Ryan Kirchhoff gave the
Pointers a glimmer of hope for a comeback when he beat Jones for his sixth goal
of the season to trim the deficit to 5-2 with 7:54 remaining.
That would be all the scoring the Pointers could muster, and St. Norbert's
Trevor Bayda sealed the win with you guessed it - a goal in the final minute of
regulation.
"We played hard, but it was too little, too late," Baldarotta said.
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