Ryan Wagner has been playing goalie most of his life. The position just always appealed to him, and the UW-Stevens Point hockey senior standout hasn’t looked back.
“I think as a kid, I enjoyed that you got to be on the ice all the time. And I thought the gear was really cool,” Wagner said. “I know the impact a goalie can have a on a game and my skill set as an athlete lines up well with playing goalie.”
Wagner has handled that role well and has played in nearly 50 games for the Pointers over the course of his career.
And it’s a career that isn’t over yet. The sixth-ranked Pointers are back in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time since 2019 when they won the national championship.
“It’s a big moment for us,” Wagner said. It’s definitely a step we wanted to take this year, especially since the WIAC got an automatic bid.”
The Pointers (19-5-4) punched their ticket to the tourney with a win over UW-Eau Claire in the conference championship game, avenging last year’s loss to the rival Blugolds. That loss brought a 21-6-1 season to a close.
“From the beginning, we knew we had the potential to be here,” Wagner said. “Last year left a bad taste in our mouths, and we had to go through some ups and downs this year to grow as a team to be a team that could be in the tournament.”
Wagner is one of three captains on the team, sharing that honor with Jordan Fader and Wilson Northey.
He did not play during the national championship season and only played in three games the following season.
Wagner made six starts in 2020-21, winning four games, and won 16 games in 21 appearances last season. At one point last year, he won seven consecutive games.
This season, he has started in 14 games, winning 10, and has racked up 322 saves while fashioning a 1.68 goals against average for a Pointers team that has won its last six.
“I’d say this year the big thing for me is I’ve been really consistent,” Wagner said. “We out-shoot the other team a lot of the time, so I have to sit there and be this spectacular goalie every game. I just have to be pretty good, making saves, controlling the simple shots and not letting up the quote, unquote, soft goals that can change the momentum.”
With a solid defense in front of him, as well as an offense that features 11 players with 10 or more points, including leading scorer Fletcher Anderson (14 goals, 14 assists), Wagner goes into a game believing he can get the job done.
“It does give me a lot of confidence, and we can play with confidence as a team knowing if we stick to the game plan even if things don’t go our way right away,” Wagner said.
The Pointers open the NCAA tourney with No. 15 Augsburg (16-9-2), the champion of the MIAC. The two teams last played each other on Jan. 7, with the Pointers skating to a 4-0 victory.
“We have to stick to our game plan and play well at our game,” Wagner said. “We can’t deviate from that.”
For Wagner, the chance to be a part of a tournament team as a senior is a huge deal. This is one of the moments that is a reminder of why athletes play the game.
“Every college player wants to be in the tournament and play in big games like this,” Wagner said. “They are a lot of fun and a lot of great memories come from games like this.”
