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WINONA, Minn. — It wasn't quite the start to the new year that Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore was hoping for, as UW-Stevens Point broke a 2-2 tie with a goal late in the third period to lift the Pointers to a 3-2 nonconference win over SMU at the SMU Ice Arena.

“I thought we did some good things — we played very well in our defensive zone — we just didn't create enough opportunities in the offensive end,” said Moore, whose team had its two-game winning streak snapped with the loss. “I don't think this was our best performance of the season by any stretch of the imagination — some of that is the fact that we've had three weeks off, but overall I didn't think our effort was a good as it needs to be, either.”

After a scoreless first period, the Pointers finally solved SMU goalie Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.), as Chade Boeckman and Max Bobrow netted powerplay goals to give UW-Stevens Point a 2-0 advanatage with four minutes remaining in the period.

Nick Gorup (Omaha, Neb.) got the Cardinals on the board with his third goal of the season — also a powerplay tally — before the period ended to cut the Pointers' lead to 2-1 heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) pulled SMU even, scoring his team-leading fourth goal of the season 1:10 into the third period, and — thanks in large part to the play of Scheib — the score stayed deadlocked until the 15-minute mark, when UW-SP's Andrew Kolb banged in his own rebound for the game-winning goal.

“Give Andy a lot of credit, he played very well,” said Moore of his junior goalie, who finished with 32 saves — including 17 in the third period. “We've just got to find a way to generate more offense, it's that simple.”

The Cardinals (3-9-0 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, as they host defending national champion St. Norbert in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.