July 13, 2006
Nationals Rewind: Day 4
Rivermen win OT semifinal thriller, fall short in championship game
UMSL 2, Brockport 1 (OT)
Brockport 0-0-1-0-1
UMSL 1-0-0-1-2
Pointscoring
Brockport - Ryan Marvin (1-0-1), Joe Connolly (0-1-1).
UMSL - Adam Clarke (1-0-1), Jake Shepard (1-0-1), Ben Lambert (0-1-1), James Wetton (0-1-1).
On Championship Sunday 2006, the UMSL Rivermen advanced to their second national championship game in three years by winning a 2-1 overtime thriller against the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles.
This matchup of the top two goaltenders in the nation was tied 1-1 with under six minutes to play in the third when Jake Shepard told his teammates, "guys, next goal wins this game." He was right. After UMSL's Thomas Ames and Brockport's Kyle Shrauger made several outstanding saves late in the third, it was time for sudden-death.
After a 36-minute standstill, it seemed like this was the type of game that could last another 36.
But it almost ended immediately.
During the regular season, Zach Stacy put up an unbelievable 45.1 shooting percentage, tops on the team by a wide margin. He was the top goalscorer in GPCIHL Division II thanks to his ability to routinely take advantage of defensive lapses near the opposition�??s goal.
And on the big stage, just 18 seconds into the overtime period, Stacy was open, 15 feet from the net, at the left-wing edge of the slot.
Stacy was open in the red zone -- and when he's open in the red zone, it's over. He loaded up and snapped a deadeye, sure-shot game winner, ticketed for the top shelf.
But Shrauger glided across the crease and squared up to Stacy, one of the nation's most feared snipers, in the nick of time. Brockport's first-team All-American resuscitated his team's expiring national-title hopes by filling the net completely, and catching a piece of Stacy's laser with his left shoulder. The puck nicked the crossbar, dropped onto the stick of fellow first-teamer Brian Bauman, and the OT period continued.
The previously-unstoppable UMSL attack continued to create chance after chance to net the game-winner, but the NCRHA DII Most Valuable Goaltender was up to the challenge.
Shrauger made his finest save when 65-goal scorer Jake Shepard flashed across the slot and slid a backhand against the grain toward the inside of the right-wing post.
Another sure-shot game-winner. But Shrauger saw the shot at the last moment, and with a jab of his left skate, the Brockport goalie kicked it away.
After six more minutes of chess-match hockey, the Rivermen finally broke through with the one-shot winner, their first goal in more than three full periods. The play began when Ben Lambert, Adam Clarke, and Jake Shepard took advantage of a turnover high in the UMSL zone.
Bauman sent a long pass down the right wing into onto the stick of forward Joe Connolly. Connolly turned away from the boards, where Lambert met him head-on. The puck came loose, Connolly slipped to the floor, and the Rivermen pounced.
Adam Clarke picked up the free biscuit and started the transition. Clarke sent a long pass across the rink to Shepard, who carried it down the right wing, where he was forced outside. The savvy Shepard continued around the Brockport net, protecting the puck, and reached the left-wing corner.
Shepard executed a delay move, waiting for a trailing Ben Lambert. When Lambert reached the slot, Shepard slid a pass for a one-timer. A Brockport defender dove to block the shot, and the puck rolled loose into the middle of the slot.
Adam Clarke was there, having spun off the left-wing boards to follow Shepard's pass toward the middle. Clarke grabbed the loose puck, waited for Shrauger to commit, and beat the Brockport star through the five-hole for the game-winner.
Pandemonium ensued as the Rivermen mobbed Clarke. It was finally over, and UMSL had earned a chance to play for the title.
Game Notes
Star Brockport defenseman Brian Bauman played through an injury that would have sidelined most players. In the Golden Eagles' quarterfinal victory over UC-San Diego, Bauman suffered a serious shoulder injury and was helped from the rink, unable to lift his left arm. Somehow, the All-American was able to suit up and play most of the game.
The UMSL power play cashed in on the only man advantage of the game for either team after James Wetton drew a first-period hooking penalty. Wetton earned his tournament-high 20th assist when his pass found the stick of Jake Shepard, who tipped home his tournament-high 14th goal.
Brockport needed exactly 20 minutes of game time to even the score. At 2:29 of the third, Ryan Marvin beat Thomas Ames with a wrist shot from the left-wing circle. It was just the second goal against Ames in 86:29.
Neumann 4, UMSL 3
Neumann 2-2-0-4
UMSL 0-1-2-3
Pointscoring
Neumann - Victor Scotto (2-1-3), Steve Klenk (1-0-1), Patrick Wlazel (1-0-1), Dan Sangiorgio (0-1-1), Sean Tallman (0-1-1)
UMSL - Jake Shepard (2-1-3), James Wetton (0-2-2), Adam Clarke (1-0-1).
Shots on Goal
Neumann 10-16-7-33
UMSL 3-8-17-28
After a season of trading the number-one national ranking back and forth, the UM-St. Louis Rivermen and Neumann College Knights were on a collision course.
Despite the predictable matchup, the top two programs in Division II staged a classic national championship game that turned out to be anything but predictable.
The winner of this matchup would earn the undisputed right to call itself the nation's premier DII program.
And the Neumann Knights are it, by the skin of their teeth.
April 9 in Morrisville, N.C., Neumann held off a late rally to defeat UMSL 4-3 and claim the 2006 NCRHA Division II national championship. Neumann captain Victor Scotto scored twice and added an assist on his way to picking up DII MVP honors.
After three consecutive championship-game losses, including a 4-3 defeat by UMSL in '04, the Knights would not be denied.
Neumann's furious 2-1-1 forecheck produced instant momentum and a quick 2-0 lead.
The Rivermen struggled to break out of their end for most of the first five minutes of the game, as the Knights' depth enabled a constant flow of fresh skaters to aggressively pursue the puck. It nearly paid off just forty seconds in, but UMSL goaltender Thomas Ames stopped Dominic Mariotti on a one-timer from point-blank range.
But it wouldn't take much longer for the Knights' forechecking pressure to help them light the scoreboard. Patrick Wlazel and Dan Sangiorgio combined to force a turnover behind the UMSL net, and Sangiorgio centered to Wlazel for a screen shot from the high slot that gave Neumann a 1-0 lead 4:23 into the first.
Less than 30 seconds later, Ames was forced to make a diving, cross-crease save on Wlazel after Jon Donohue had forced an ugly turnover in front of the UMSL goal.
On the ensuing shift, Neumann defenseman Sean Tallman intercepted a James Wetton pass at center and ripped a long slapshot that Scotto tipped past Ames at 5:05 for Neumann's second goal in :42.
The Rivermen finally earned their first scoring chance of the game exactly two minutes later, when Ben Lambert paved the way for Adam Clarke to stickhandle into the slot. Clarke's low shot was stopped and frozen by Neumann goaltender Corey Cramer.
Clarke and Lambert combined for a similar chance in the final minute of the period, but Neumann's defense was able to double-team Clarke, forcing him away from the front of the net, where his shot was easily paddled away by Cramer.
At the end of the first period, Neumann had outshot UMSL 10-3. The Knights enjoyed a clear territorial advantage on their way to the 2-0 lead.
Scotto scored again in the second period when he snapped a top-shelf wrister that gave his team a 3-1 lead. Scotto's conversion reclaimed the two-goal lead that had been halved just 24 seconds earlier.
Tournament goalscoring champion Jake Shepard had put the Rivermen on the board for the first time when he took a rink-length pass from James Wetton, beat Neumann defenseman Jeff Brooks back to the front of the net, and stuffed a backhand past Cramer.
Scotto's goal changed the momentum, and only Thomas Ames was there to stop Jon Donohue on a wide-open one-timer from the edge of the crease just seconds later. On the ensuing shift, Scotto blazed into the open for a clean breakaway, but Ames stopped the Neumann sniper with a diving pokecheck.
Late in the second period, Scotto picked up his third point when he assisted on a wacky goal by freshman Steve Klenk.
Scotto ripped a long, high slap shot off the rush from the right wing. Ames deflected the shot with his blocker, and the puck fluttered into the air toward the left-wing corner. The play looked innocent enough, until Klenk streaked in and tapped the puck from midair off Ames and into the cage.
Klenk's alert net-crashing and perfect swing gave his team a 4-1 lead with 19.1 seconds remaining in the second period.
The Neumann freshman scored a goal that had all the markings of a backbreaker: late in the period, the product of a fluky bounce, and most importantly, giving his team a three-goal advantage.
Trailing 4-1 at the second intermission, desperation was the only option for the UMSL Rivermen.
The Rivermen were given a chance when they were awarded a power-play opportunity thanks to Dan Sangiorgio's tripping penalty 24 seconds into the third period.
It was do-or-die, and the UMSL power play earned its chances, putting seven shots on net during the man advantage.
The Rivermen pulled out the "money" plays that had worked all season. Clarke on the one-timer from the left-wing circle. Wetton cutting to the high slot for a wrist shot. Purk firing bullets from up top. Shepard on tip-ins, redirections, and rebounds. Nothing clicked, thanks to Cramer.
As Sangiorgio exited the box, most observers probably thought, game over. The intensity reached a fever pitch. It looked like Neumann had leaped the final hurdle, and would coast to its biggest victory ever. The Knights could feel it.
But James Wetton had other ideas. Playing in what everyone expected was his final collegiate game, Wetton took a pass from Purk at the top of the right-wing circle, eluded Victor Scotto, and carried all the way across to the left-wing boards before sliding a pass through a maze of defenders to Shepard on Cramer's doorstep. Shepard deflected it past Cramer for his 65th goal of the season.
Shepard had given the Rivermen new life, facing just a two-goal deficit with 9:24 to play.
It took only 1:13 to capitalize on the momentum swing thanks to Adam Clarke, who took Shepard's pass and barrelled in on left wing before sneaking the puck through Cramer's pads on an outside-in deke.
After Clarke's goal, a comeback seemed imminent. Even more so when Sangiorgio took his second penalty of the period with 5:33 left.
But Neumann held. Outstanding shotblocking by Cramer and his teammates, particularly defenseman Dominic Mariotti, held off UMSL's final chance to even the score.
Game Notes
The runner-up Rivermen finished the season 29-4-1. James Wetton (first team), Thomas Ames (second team), Adam Clarke (second team), and Jake Shepard (second team) received all-tournament honors.
James Wetton (10) and Jake Shepard (9) led the Rivermen in shots on goal.
James Lambert