Box Score

STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Saint John's hockey ended non-conference play with a 5-2 loss at Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday, Jan. 17.

The Pointers scored twice in the first and second periods before adding an empty-netter as time ticked down at K.B. Willett Arena. 

Gabe Randel bookended the first period for UWSP (7-8-2, 2-4-1 WIAC) with a pair of goals, scoring just 34 seconds after the opening puck drop and adding another on the power play with 19.4 seconds left in the frame.

The Johnnies (8-4-3, 3-1-2 MIAC) received a five-minute power play 3:45 into the second period, but managed just one shot on goal with the man advantage. SJU finished 1-for-3 on the power play thanks to senior defenseman Mason Campbell's (Rosemount, Minn.) second goal of the season, which came after Stevens Point's third goal of the game.

Campbell got the Johnnies on the board with 6:28 left in the second period. He scored his third point of the weekend (1g/2a) after going end-to-end and dumping the puck into the Pointer zone. The UWSP goaltender and defense prepared to receive the puck behind the net, but it took an unconventional bounce off the boards directly to Campbell, who tapped it in around the post. Senior goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) picked up his second assist of the season and third of his career on the goal after stopping the puck behind the net on the power-play breakout. 

UWSP answered late in the period with a power-play goal from Quinton Hill with 25.8 seconds left, restoring a three-goal advantage heading into the third.

Junior forward Logan Lyke (Medina, Minn.) cut the lead to two with his team-leading eighth goal of the season after head coach Doug Schueller pulled Howe for the extra skater with 4:24 left in regulation. After junior forward Chris Kernan (Maple Grove, Minn.) won the faceoff to the point, sophomore defenseman George Moore III (Edina, Minn.) sent a pass across the blue line to junior forward Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.). Wandmacher's shot bounced off the left pad of Alex Proctor and directly to Lyke who buried the rebound.

The Johnnies mustered five more shots with the extra attacker before Joseph Manning scored the Pointers' empty-net goal with 1:39 left in the game. 

Howe finished with 37 saves in the game (70 on the weekend), including double digits in the first (16) and third (13) periods. 

The Johnnies return to conference play with a home-and-home series against Saint Mary's (7-7-1, 3-3-0 MIAC), starting with a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday, Jan. 22, in Winona. SJU hosts SMU at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.