Pointer hockey gets cold shoulder from NCAA The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point hockey team was denied an invitation to the NCAA Division 3 hockey tournament for the third time in four years Sunday night when St. Thomas (Minn.) received an at-large bid over UW-SP. The NCAA has only one at-large bid for the eight-team field, with seven of the berths going to conference winners. UW-Superior clinched the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association's berth by beating the Pointers (23-7-1) Saturday night in the NCHA championship game, 6-3 at the K.B. Willett Arena. UW-SP, who won the NCHA regular season championship, becomes the first regular season champ to miss the NCAA tournament. The Pointers had hoped to receive the at-large bid, but Concordia-Moorhead upset St. Thomas (24-3-2) in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Concordia-Moorhead beat the Tommies 5-2 and 1-0 in a mini-game Sunday to receive the conference's automatic berth. St. Thomas defeated the Pointers 8-5 on Jan. 4 and is ranked No. 2 in the latest national poll. The Tommies are the West Region's No. 1 seed and will host Wentworth (Mass.), the fifth seed in the East Region, this weekend. UW-Superior will host Concordia, Norwich (Vt.) will host Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) and Plattsburgh State (N.Y.) will host five-time defending national champion Middlebury (Vt.) in the other quarterfinal series. The Pointers had defeated Middlebury, UW-Superior and Concordia-Moorhead during the regular season and was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online poll. UW-SP was also denied a chance to continue its season in 1997 and 1999. In 1998, the Pointers were the national runner-up. * * * The Pointers dominated the NCHA and WIAC postseason honors, including coach Joe Baldarotta, who swept both Coach of the Year awards. Sophomore goalie Bob Gould (Eagle River) started the season as the team's backup goalie, but led the NCHA in goals against average (1.75) and save percentage (.929) and is now the NCHA Player of the Year. Gould was one of five first-team All-NCHA selections and one of three first-team All-WIAC performers. He was joined on the All-NCHA team by junior forwards Ryan Maxson, Mikhail Salienko and David Boehm as well as junior defenseman Troy Michalski. Michalski and Maxson both also made the All-WIAC squad. Freshman defenseman Josh Strassman was named honorable mention to both NCHA and WIAC teams while Salienko, Boehm, junior forward Matt Interbartolo and senior forward Derek Toninato all received honorable mention All-WIAC honors. Gould is the fifth UW-SP player to be named the NCHA Player of the Year. Ben Gorewich won the award last year for the Pointers. Gould is just the fourth freshman or sophomore to win the award and the fourth goalie ever to be recognized in the 19-year history of the league. * * * UW-Superior 6, Pointers 3 Four straight Superior goals turned the tables on UW-SP's 3-2 lead in the NCHA championship game. The Pointers, behind goals from Michalski, Jason Kendrick and Toninato, put UW-SP ahead by a goal 9:48 into the second period. But the Yellowjackets tied the game on a Jay Stewart tally 16:26 into the second period and Superior scored three goals in the third period. Allen Hasbargen and Kris Wilson both lit the lamp within 3:27 during the middle of the third, giving the Yellowjackets a 5-3 advantage. Superior's Scott Wagner added an empty-net goal with 44 seconds left. Superior goalie Tom Pink saved 30 of UW-SP's shots on goal. Gould made 34 saves for UW-SP. Pointers 4, UW-Superior 4 UW-SP's Zenon Kochan scored with just 32 seconds remaining to salvage a 4-4 tie in the series opener. The Pointers trailed 3-1 in the second period before Kochan scored in the second period and Boehm lit the lamp in the third to tie the game at 3-3. Superior's Randy Barker answered 12:58 into the third period to give the Yellowjackets the 4-3 lead. Toninato scored UW-SP's first goal 16:30 into the first period. Pink made 38 saves on UW-SP's 42 shots on goal. Gould saved 31 of 35 Superior shots. Wrestling Chet Zdanczwicz and Brady Holtz finished with 1-2 records while Wes Kapping dropped both of his matches at the NCAA Division 3 wrestling championships Friday in Ada, Ohio. The two wins gave UW-SP 2.5 team points for a 38th-place finish. Zdanczewicz (149 pounds) fell 4-1 to second-seeded Nick Mitchell of Wartburg (Iowa) in his opening match and then came back for an 18-4 consolation-round win over Mike Markovic of John Carroll (Ohio). In the next round, Craig Collins of Loras (Iowa) outsted Zdanczewicz, 3-2. Holtz was pinned in his first match, in 2:56, by Bob Ulrich of Norwich (Vt.) and rallied for a 9-2 victory over Gettysburg's (Pa.) Steve Kareha. He was then eliminated in a 10-6 decision by Jamie Pales of Augustana (Ill.). Kapping lost to Dustin Chihocki of Olivet 9-4 in the first round and fell to Tony Wallace of Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) 17-8 in the consolation round. Women's swimming and diving Six swimmers hope to give the Pointers their best finish ever at the NCAA Division 3 championships at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. UW-SP was 32nd last year and finished 26th in 1982. This season, the Pointers have already captured their first WIAC title and bring a No. 11 national ranking into the meet, which runs Thursday through Saturday. Senior Becca Uphoff is in four events - the 100-yard backstroke, 200 backstroke, 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Mary Agazzi enters the 50 freestyle with the second-fastest seed time and she will also compete in the 100 freestyle. Mary Thone will be in the 100 butterfly. The Pointers will bring four relay teams - the 400 freestyle relay (Agazzi, Thone, Uphoff, Laura Latt), the 800 freestyle (Agazzi, Thone, Jen Randall, Uphoff), and the 200 and 400 medley relays (Uphoff, Christine Sammons, Thone, Agazzi). Track and field Eight individuals and one relay team will represent the UW-SP men's and women's teams this weekend at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. Mike Mead is the second seed in the high jump, while the distance medley of Jesse Drake, Chris Horvat, Dan Schwamberger and Ben Treptow are also ranked No. 2. Schwamberger and Drake will compete in the 5,000 meters while Craig Gunderson is in the 400 meters. In the field events, Joel Schult is in the shot put and Josh Keim is in the weight throw. Leah Juno brings the fourth-fastest time into the 800 meters. Megan Lundahl is in the weight throw. The Pointer men finished third with 111.5 points and the UW-SP women were fourth with 70 points at the WIAC indoor championships in Platteville. UW-La Crosse won the men's title with 201 points and UW-Oshkosh was second with 134. La Crosse (226.5) won the women's title, followed by Oshkosh (177.5) and UW-Whitewater (98.5). UW-SP's Dan Schwamberger received the men's track athlete of the meet honors after winning both the 1,500-meter (3:55.03) and 5,000-m (14:43.86) runs. Mike Mead was the only other champion for the Pointers, winning the high jump with a jump of 6-feet-6.25 inches. The Pointer women also won three conference championships, led by the distance medley team (12:14.71). Leah Juno won the 800-m run (2:15.04) and Megan Lundahl's toss of 15.83 meters captured the shot put title. Neither team had a runner-up finisher. Jesse Drake (1,500-m and 5,000-m runs), Eric Miller (shot put) finished third for the men while Becky Lebak (1,500-m) and Jen Hau (55-m hurdles) grabbed third place finishes.