ADRIAN, Mich.--Host Adrian College saw its 2017-18 season end on Saturday evening with a 5-2 loss at the hands of University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point in the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship Quarterfinals. 

THE BASICS
= Final Score: Wisconsin-Stevens Point 5, Adrian College 2

= Location: Arrington Ice Arena; Adrian, Mich.

= Records: UW-Stevens Point Pointers 21-5-3 overall (NCAA West No. 3); Adrian Bulldogs 24-6 overall (NCAA West No. 2)

= National Rankings: UWSP--#4 USCHO.com (231 points) and #4 D3hockey.com (240 points); Adrian--#2 USCHO (280 points, 2 first-place votes) and #2 D3hockey (279) polls

TOP 'DAWGS
= Senior captain Mathew Thompson was 17-for-31 on face-offs and had an assist.

= Senior assistant captain Taylor McCloy scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season.

= Junior Trevor Boyd also scored for the Bulldogs.

= Sophomore Dino Balsamo won 14 of 23 face-offs and junior Bryan Yim added 9-of-16.

= Senior Dillon Kelley came off the bench to stop 21 of 22 shots he faced to keep Adrian close after trailing 3-0, seeing 42 minutes between the pipes.

THE OPPOSITION
= Zach Zech tallied a pair of goals to pace the UWSP offense, which outshot Adrian 39 to 34. 

= Max Milosek (W, 17-5-3) got the win after making 32 saves.

= Colin Raver and Carter Roo both had two assists, while the latter was 9-for-16 on face-offs. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
= UWSP stunned the home crowd with a 3-0 lead 16 minutes and 8 seconds into the contest. Kelly O'Brien staked the Pointers to a 1-0 advantage just 69 seconds after the opening face-off by beating junior Kevin Entmaa (16-4) on a backhand just inside the right post. Zech scored back-to-back goals less than five minutes apart beginning at the 11:37 mark.

= The Bulldogs, however, battled back to within 3-2 to almost the game's midpoint. McCloy got Adrian on the scoreboard with 19 seconds left in the first period when he slammed home a pass from Thompson from below the left face-off circle. Boyd cut it to within one to open the second-period scoring at 11:20 when he potted Yim's centering pass from behind the goal line.

= Nathan Harris put UWSP up 4-2 on assists from Brennen Miller and CarterRoo 5:12 later.

= The Pointers added an empty-net goal to account for the three-goal margin. The Bulldogs pulled Kelley for 1:43 in favor of an extra-attacker, but couldn't get the equalizer and force overtime.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= UWSP moves on to Lake Placid, N.Y., where the National Semifinals and Championship will be held next weekend.

= The Pointers improve to 27-15-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, while the Bulldogs are now 4-8.

= Adrian has appeared in the last six NCAA tournaments.

= McCloy finished the season with 24 goals and 38 points.

= Adrian lost back-to-back games for the first time in the 2018 calendar year.

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UP NEXT
= Adrian is expected to return 19 players, including two goalies, for the 2018-19 campaign.  

#GoldStandard #AdrianBulldogs #GoDawgs #GDTBAB