SUPERIOR, Wis.: The Yellowjacket men's hockey team entered play Thursday night in need of a win. Winless in four games coming into the WIAC contest with Stevens Point, the Yellowjackets found themselves tied in the standings with the Pointers, in a conference that is getting tighter by the day. With five teams separated by just three points, the Yellowjackets, every point in the standings is paramount.
 
Accustomed to fast starts and wins on home ice, the Yellowjackets hoped a game at Wessman Arena would be the elixir to get them back to their winning ways.
 
UW-Stevens Point had other ideas.
 
An epic comeback by the Yellowjackets ended up being overshadowed by a Zach Zech power play goal in the first minute of overtime, as the Pointers got the 6-5 win before a raucous crowd in Superior.
 
With the loss, the Yellowjackets fall to 12-5-3 overall and 5-5-0 in the WIAC. The overtime loss gives the Yellowjackets a bonus point, so they now sit in third place in the WIAC, one point behind both Stevens Point and Eau Claire, who are tied for first place with 13 points each. Stevens Point holds the tiebreaker and is currently the conference's No. 1 seed.
 
The 'Jackets got off to a slow start in the first, putting just five shots on goal. The Pointers only had eight, but they found the back of the net twice. A Yellowjacket clearing attempt went off Pointer Luke McElhenie, giving them a 1-0 lead at 9:31. Later in the period a miscue behind the Yellowjacket net resulted in a centering pass and a Brandon McReynolds goal at 14:37 and it was 2-0 Pointers after one.

Early in the second period the Yellowjackets got on the board when Troy York (Plano, Texas/West) found Liam Blais (Uxbridge, Ontario/Uxbridge Secondary) in front the senior scored his sixth of the year just 2:27 into the period to cut the lead in half.

Stevens Point answered in a big way, as Jordan Fader scored on the doorstep at 5:36. Then at 7:30 Carter Roo scored on the power play to make it 4-1. That goal spelled the end of the night for Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest), who was lifted in favor of Nick Althaus (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo), who was making his collegiate debut.
 
The Yellowjackets got one back at 9:48 when Alec MacKenzie (Ottawa, Ontario/École Secondaire Garneau) drove the puck into the Stevens Point zone in the left circle and fed Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas), whose shot from the left circle eluded Pointer goaltender Eli Binning high on the glove side to pull the Yellowjackets to within 4-2. But once again the Pointers had an answer, when Zech scored his first of the game at 16:45.
 
Then the fireworks started.
 
A Stevens Point defender misplayed the puck in the neutral zone and Bates took off, faking to the forehand and going to the backhand to score his fourth of the year, and with 1:24 to go in the second it was 5-3. Just 21 seconds later the 'Jackets got to within one when Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy) fed Dylan Johnson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) on the right wing and sped past the Pointer defense and slid a backhand past Billing to make it 5-4. Then Bates intercepted a clearing pass in the left circle, spun and let a shot go that was going wide, but York was off the right post and with 1.8 seconds left tapped home his 10^th of the year to tie the game 5-5.
 
In total, the Yellowjackets scored three times in a span of 1:22 and Wessman Arena was electric.
 
The Yellowjackets dominated play in the third period, outshooting the Pointers 19-8, but couldn't get the go-ahead goal despite numerous high-grade chances.
 
Zech ended the night just 32 into overtime, scoring from a sharp angle to the left of the goal to make the final score 6-5.
 
The Yellowjackets outshot the Pointers 37-28 in the game. Hektor allowed four goals on 14 shots in 27:30 of play. Althaus was solid coming on in relief and finished with 12 saves on 14 shots. Billing made 32 saves for the Pointers.
 
After a day off the teams will play the rematch at K.B. Willett Arena Saturday at 7:00 p.m.