Connor Hughes scored a pair of goals 2 minutes, 26 seconds apart in the second period, leading top-ranked and top-seeded St. Norbert to a 3-1 victory over Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the semifinals of the NCHA Peters Cup Championship on Friday at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center.
Hughes, the right wing on St. Norbert’s top line, helped dig the Green Knights (25-1-2) out of a 1-0 deficit after the first period.
St. Norbert will play the winner of the semifinal game between Wisconsin-River Falls and Wisconsin-Superior in Saturday’s championship.
Nick Molski scored his first goal since Dec. 13 for Stevens Point (14-12-2), which was the fourth seed in the tournament.
St. Norbert’s Chancy Colquhoun made 20 saves. Ryan Scott stopped 31 shots for Stevens Point.
Hughes tied the game at 1 on the power play at 4:27 of the second period, roofing a rebound at the right side of the net. His second goal of the game and 11th of the season also was off a deflection, this time from the left side of the net at 6:53.
St. Norbert killed a Pointers 5-on-3 power play that lasted 1:10 in the last minutes of the second period.
Green Knights captain Kyle Peterson scored a power-play goal for a 3-1 lead in the third period
St. Norbert improved to 159-0-3 in its last 162 games in which it leads after two periods, dating to January 1995. It’s 22-0 this season when leading after two.
