DE PERE - St. Norbert College senior forward
Liam Fraser registered a natural hat trick in the first 10 minutes of the game to fuel an early barrage for the Green Knights, who went on to post a 6-2 win over longtime archrival UW-Stevens Point in a non-conference game at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights, ranked No. 5 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, have their first 5-0 start to a season since starting 6-0 in their last national championship season of 2017-18. Stevens Point, ranked No. 9 in the USCHO.com Poll, fell to 3-2.
Fraser had the drop on the Pointers from the start, finishing off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing combination with
Logan Dombrowsky and
Braden Lindstrom just 51 seconds into the game. Fraser struck again at 6:50 when he put home a long rebound for a 2-0 edge. The Green Knights went ahead 3-0 when Fraser hammered home a shot that went off the post and in at 9:37 for a power-play goal. The trio of goals moves Fraser to four on the season and 61 for his career, which ties him with Scott Jewitt for eighth all-time in school history. Lindstrom assisted on all three goals, one helper shy of the St. Norbert mark for assists in a period.
St. Norbert added on to the first-period blitzkrieg when
T.J. Koufis scored at 12:47 of the frame for a 4-0 lead the Green Knights would carry into intermission.
Stevens Point pushed back in the second period, with Blake Norris scoring at 9:02 and Chris Engelbert at 14:35. The Green Knights delivered a back-breaking goal with 30 seconds left in the frame when
Calvin Hanson's shot from the left circle was true for his fourth goal of the season and a 5-2 lead at the second rest stop.
The Green Knights closed out the scoring when Koufis added a power-play goal at 6:59 of the the third period.
Lindstrom finished with four assists for a four-point game. Fraser had three goals for three points, while Koufis had two goals for two points. Those were the only three multi-point games for the Green Knights.
St. Norbert outshot Stevens Point 35-22.
Hunter Garvey made 20 saves for the Green Knights, while Alex Proctor turned away 29 shots for the Pointers.
The Green Knights were 2-for-3 on the power play, and are now 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) one-fifth of the way through the regular season. Stevens Point was 0-for-3.
