The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
After coming up short the last two years at the national championship game, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men’s hockey team became the 2016 Division III men’s hockey national champions with a 5-1 win over St. Norbert College on March 26 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Home of the 1980 Olympics “Miracle on Ice,” the Pointers played at Herb Brooks Arena against SUNY Geneseo in their Frozen Four matchup, where they recorded a 5-1 victory. This win put UWSP into the championship title game for the third time in as many years.
After losing to St. Norbert 3-1 in the 2014 national championship game, the Pointers played with vengeance to earn this year’s title and their fifth in program history.
Going into the championship game, UWSP was ranked No. 3, while the Green Knights were one place ahead—ranked number two.
Most Outstanding Player of the Championship, Junior Eliot Grauer, knocked in the Pointers’ first goal of the night, 2:40 into the first period, off of a pass from Senior Nick D’Avolio.
St. Norbert’ Tanner Froese scored the Green Knight’s only goal of the game a couple of minutes after Grauer’s goal.
Senior Alex Brooks netted the Pointers’ second goal of the evening at 18:52 in the first period giving UWSP an unwavering lead for the remainder of the game.
Junior Kyle Sharkey put the Pointers up 3-1 in the third period and Juniors Lawrence Cornellier and Jacob Barber scored a pair of goals in the final 20 minutes in the third period.
Senior Evan Dixon received the Elite 90 award prior to UWSP’s semifinal game, the second player from UWSP to earn this achievement.
Head hockey coach Chris Brooks was named the 2015-16 NCAA DIII Coach of the Year by USCHO.com. Along with this award, Brooks was the recipient of the Edward Jeremiah Award, an award given annually to the Division III Coach of the Year. He was also named the WIAV Co-Coach of the year.
Concluding their UWSP careers as national champions, seniors Alex Kromm and Brooks signed professional contracts in the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Brooks signed with the Fayetteville Fireantz and Kromm signed with the Columbus Cottonmouths.
In their four years at UWSP, Brooks and Kromm established an 84-29-6 record, which included their most recent national championship title, three trips to the Frozen Four and three 20-win seasons.
The Pointers finished their season with a 24-5-2 overall record.
Baseball Begins Regular Season with Three Wins and One Loss
Pointer baseball returned from Florida facing off against St. Norbert and Ripon in a four-game series of nonconference play on the road, which resulted in just one loss of their four games.
UWSP split its first series off the weekend playing against the Green Knights with a 3-0 win and a 2-0 loss.
In game one of Friday’s doubleheader, the Pointers got the early 1-0 lead from Junior Tyler Thomka’s sacrifice fly to score Freshman William Iloncaie in the first inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, a single from Thomka was able to score Junior Sawyer Schultz and Freshman Ben Diedrich for the Pointers final two runs of the game to post the 3-0 win.
Photo by Jack McLaughlin.
Freshmen Kyle Mrozinski, Sophomore Ray Greco, Diedrich, Schultz, Iloncaie and Thomka recorded one hit apiece in UWSP’s hitting efforts.
Senior pitcher Mark Kowalke threw for seven scoreless innings and recorded two strikeouts, three walks and five hits. He earned the win after pitching a complete game.
Game two of the doubleheader proved to be a bit of the opposite, as the Green Knights shutout the Pointers 2-0.
St. Norbert posted runs in the first and fifth innings to get ahead of the Pointers who could not get their bats working.
Thomka had a team-high two hits, while Greco and Schultz each added one hit of their own.
On Sunday, the Pointers traveled to Ripon for a non-conference doubleheader matchup and swept the Red Hawks 8-4 and 8-2.
In their first game, the Pointers garnered an early 4-0 lead off of three hits after a pair of errors from the Red Hawks.
Ripon came back swinging, tying the game at four apiece in the bottom of the fourth inning, but UWSP then knocked in four more runs in the next two innings to eventually earn the 8-4 win.
The Pointer’s offense was lead by Junior Ben Gerber who posted two hits, two runs and one RBI. Schultz also recorded two hits, as well as one run and one RBI. Junior Clint Rose and Mrozinski each had one run, one hit and one RBI.
UWSP posted another 8-run game for its second win of the day over the Red Hawks.
Posting 17 total hits in the game, the Pointers were up on the scoreboard early on after scoring three runs in the first inning and two runs in the second inning.
Ripon managed to get on the board after scoring twice in the second inning, but those two runs would be the only runs for the Red Hawks the remainder of the game.
Greco recorded a game-high five hits, as well as two runs and two RBI’s. Seniors Peter Strommen and Cody Hanke, Rose and Iloncaie tallied two hits each. Junior pitcher Heinrich Walder was rewarded with the win.
The Pointers (6-8) will be back on the road, playing in a doubleheader against WIAC opponent UW-Whitewater for their first conference games of the season April 9 in Whitewater.
Luther College Blanks Softball in Pair of Games
The UWSP softball team suffered a pair of shutout losses to Luther College on the road in Decorah, Iowa.
Luther recorded its 1000th team win and 21st consecutive victory after posting two wins against UWSP.
Photo by Larry Radloff.
In the first game, Luther’s Samantha Bratland logged a 4.2 inning no-hitter, striking out 10 UWSP batters. Luther scored seven runs in the first inning to lead the Pointers.
After reaching the base six times on five errors from Luther, Senior Bailie Sheahan and Freshman Paige Kitzing led the team with one hit each.
Freshman Amelia Heup pitched 3.1 innings of relief for UWSP.
Game two was highlighted by Luther’s Bailey Victoria who hit a home run in the fifth inning and had two RBI’s in the game.
Freshman Maddie Durie pitched 2.1 innings of relief for UWSP.
The Pointers (7-12) will host Wisconsin Luther for a doubleheader at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 7. UWSP will also begin conference action, playing host to UW-Platteville in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on April 9.
Tennis Drops Games Over the Weekend
Photo by Jack McLaughlin.
The UWSP tennis team tallied two losses to Saint Mary’s University (Minn.) and St. Norbert in De Pere.
The Pointers began their day against Saint Mary’s and lost 8-1.
Their sole 8-3 win occurred in the doubles competition from Junior Frances Weiss and Sophomore Kaylee Roberts.
UWSP also fell 7-2 against St. Norbert the same afternoon.
UWSP (6-10) will match up with Concordia University (Wis.) at 3 p.m. on April 24 in Stevens Point.
Kylie Bridenhagen
Sports Editor
kbrid305@uwsp.edu
