Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which at one time during the season was saddled
with an 8-6 mark, won its third straight NCAA Division III championship last
weekend at Elmira's Murray Center. The Pointers became the first Division
III team to capture three championships in a row, and the first hockey team
to win three straight since Michigan turned the trick back in 1951-1953.
Results of the Division III Final Four:
Friday, 3/15:
Semifinals:
Wisconsin-Stevens Point 5, Babson 2
Mankato State 7, Elmira 3
Saturday, 3/16:
Consolation:
Babson 3, Elmira 2
Championship:
Wisconsin-Stevens Point 6, Mankato State 2
Some notes on the games:
Wisconsin-Stevens Point 5, Babson 2
The defending NCAA Division III champions got off to a quick start in
this game, as Todd Tretter scored just 46 seconds in, but Babson's Mark
Allen tied it up at 2:12 of the first. Babson took their only lead of
the game 2:07 into the second on John Boudreau's breakaway goal, and
Stevens Point's Al Bouschor made it 2-2 just over a minute later. With
4:14 left in the second period, Babson defenseman Todd Crabtree closed
his hand on the puck in the crease, and the referee gave Stevens Point
the penalty shot. The Pointers' All-American center, Paul Caufield,
beat Babson goalie Joe Capprini on it, and that was pretty much the end
of the game. Caufield added another goal at 1:23 of the third, and
Stevens Point rounded out the score with a late tally. Capprini
finished with 27 saves, and Pointer goalie Todd Chin had 20. This was
Babson's fourth straight NCAA Division III semifinal loss.
Mankato State 7, Elmira 3
A week after overcoming a four-goal first period deficit against Mercy-
hurst, Elmira's national championship dreams evaporated after a horrid
first period that saw them on the short end of a 3-0 score, having been
outshot 20-10. Early in the period, the puck bounced off the side
boards and over Elmira defenseman Jules Jardine's stick, allowing the
Mavericks' Bill Rooney and Paul Gherardi to come in on a 2-on-1 break.
Gherardi blasted a shot past Soaring Eagles goalie Tom O'Brien at the
2:49 mark. Just over four minutes later, Mankato's Dave Willcoxson
scored a fluke goal from which Elmira probably never recovered. The
puck bounced off the endboards, over the net, hit O'Brien in the back-
side, and went into the goal. Paul Gerten made it 3-0 when he tallied
off a 5-on-3 Mankato power play with 1:19 left in the first.
The Soaring Eagles fought back with two goals in the first minute and a
half of the second, as Mike McNamara and Jason Courtemanche both
scored. Courtemanche's goal was his first of the season. However,
Mankato goalie Glen Prodahl stonewalled the Soaring Eagles' attempts to
tie the game up, stopping a couple of point-blank shots by Bernie Cas-
sell. Rob Thompson got the eventual game-winner for Mankato State at
the 7:32 mark. A loose puck lay in the Elmira zone just out of
O'Brien's reach for about three seconds before Thompson skated in and
banged it home. Craig Willmert scored at 3:24 of the third, and with a
Maverick penalty expiring and the Soaring Eagles deep in the Mankato
zone, Todd Suhsen was able to come up the ice on a breakaway, beating
O'Brien at the 14:08 mark to make it 6-2. O'Brien was pulled for the
extra attacker after that, and Joey Spinelli notched the Soaring
Eagles' third goal with 3:03 to go. However, ten seconds later, with
O'Brien still on the bench, Moose Martin became the seventh different
Mankato player to register a goal, picking up the empty-netter. Pro-
dahl stopped 37 shots, while O'Brien had 35 saves in the losing effort.
Babson 3, Elmira 2
A rash of stupid penalties, including two majors and a game disqual-
ification on goalie Tom O'Brien, doomed the Soaring Eagles in this
game, as Babson wound up with an incredible 14 power-play chances (all
three of their goals came on the power play). Not surprisingly, the
Elmira players and coaches were very upset with the officiating,
claiming that the referee was falling for a lot of obvious Babson
dives. Head coach Glenn Thomaris had a bit of a strange quote after
the game, saying, "It was real discouraging to have the NCAA dictate
that the officiating had to go by the book and that the officials had
to control the game." In part because of their man-up advantages,
Babson outshot Elmira 42-25.
A cross-checking call on the Soaring Eagles' Gord Law (who later said
the Babson player took a dive) set the Beavers up in a 5-on-3 situation
late in the first period, and John Kennedy capitalized, firing a re-
bound past O'Brien. Elmira tied the score on Joey Spinelli's 40th goal
of the season at 4:19 of the second, on a sharp angle shot that slipped
between Babson goalie Joe Capprini and the post. Spinelli thus became
the only player in Elmira history to reach the 40-goal plateau.
However, at 4:56, O'Brien was hit with a spearing call; he protested
that he had hardly touched the Babson player, but he was thrown out
anyway. An angry Elmira team responded with a short-handed goal at the
6:33 mark, courtesy of Tom Moses, but the Beavers tied it up again
while the major was still being served, as Mark Allen tallied at 9:17.
For some reason, Capprini left the game at the 9:59 mark and was
replaced by Mark Kuryak. Babson's Chris McGee scored the game's final
goal with five seconds left in the second. Strangely enough, there
were only two penalties called in the third, after there had been a
total of 21 in the first two periods. O'Brien had 14 saves before
being retired, and Bob Delorimiere stopped 25 shots and was credited
with the loss. Capprini made 11 saves before he left the game, and
Kuryak was perfect in relief, stopping all 12 shots he faced.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point 6, Mankato State 2
There's already talk that the Pointers will be a shoo-in for their
fourth straight championship next year, as their team is pretty young.
The teams battled through a scoreless first period before Mark
Strapon's unassisted tally got the Pointers going at 3:40 of the
second. Rob Thompson tied it up for Mankato State 48 seconds later,
but from then on, Stevens Point dominated, putting up the game's next
four goals. Jeff Marshall scored at 7:08 of the second, and Todd
Tretter gave the Pointers a 3-1 lead less than three minutes later.
Two goals 1:18 apart early in the third, by Al Bouschor and Paul Cau-
field, put Stevens Point up 5-1 and effectively iced the game. The
Mavericks did manage another goal, a power-play tally by Dan Brett-
schneider at the 8:13 mark, but the Pointers closed out the scoring two
minutes later on Sean Marsan's goal. Todd Prodahl recorded 34 saves in
taking the loss for Mankato, while Stevens Point's Todd Chin stopped 36
shots.
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
"Some parents will film the birth of their child -- my wife and I filmed the
conception."
-- Dennis Wolfberg
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