STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Brad Scurfield scored a short-handed goal with 1:39 left in the game to lift the Lawrence University hockey team to a 5-4 nonconference victory over UW-Stevens Point Saturday night at Willett Arena.
Scurfield’s short-handed goal, the first short-hander of the sophomore forward’s career, came after teammate Reijo Wahlin had been sent off for checking from behind.
After the Vikings took the lead, Lawrence’s Sam Johnson was whistled for checking from behind with just 42 second left. The Pointers pulled their goaltender, but Lawrence was able to hang on for the victory.
It was the second consecutive season Lawrence had won its season opener, but it the first time the Vikings had won a season opener on the road since 1997.
Scurfield got the scoring started when he scored on the power play at the 12:24 mark of the first period. Stevens Point tied it on Alex Handy’s goal on the man-advantage with just 1:09 left in the opening period.
Lawrence made it 2-1 on freshman Paul Zuke’s first career goal when he scored on the power play just 1:30 into the second period. The Pointers tied at 5:00, but freshman John Orrico gave Lawrence a 3-2 lead heading into the third period when he scored at 18:15.
Stevens Point’s Johnny Meo tied it at 3-3 just 52 seconds into the third, and Jake Skjodt gave the Pointers a 4-3 led at the 8:01 with his power-play goal.
Orrico notched his second goal of the night when he scored unassisted at 10:44 to tie it at 4-4.
Evan Johnson made 26 saves to pick up the win for Lawrence. Randy Wolcott made 16 saves and took the loss.
