Nevada Finishes Season Undefeated
Wolf Pack Wins Division II National Championship
WCRHL April 22nd, 2005 at 4:13PM August 3rd, 2005 8:13AMSeeking an undefeated season and their first National Championship
in their second year of existence the University of Nevada at Reno
faced off against Neumann College in the Division II National
Championship game at OD?s Sports Crossing in Fort Collins, CO Sunday,
April 18th.
The teams had met once last season in the Final Four round of the
National Championship Tournament when Neumann defeated Nevada by a
score of 5-4 to advance to the title game, but this time was different
in that the winner would skate away with the National Championship for
the first time in the history of either program.
Neumann jumped out to an early lead just 1:51 into the first
period on the power play when Sean White banged home the rebound of
Victor Scotto?s shot inside of the right post. Scotto had the
initial shot on the opportunity from the left face-off circle before
the rebound popped out to White who had camped out off the right post
give the Knights a 1-0 lead. Despite two power-play opportunities
of their own, Nevada was unable to beat Neumann goaltender Corey Cramer
(22 saves) and the first period ended with the Knights holding a 1-0
lead.
Nevada tied the game when Steve Van Ness skated in on a 2 on 1
rush with teammate Corey Jones (1 goal, 1 assist), using Jones as a
decoy, Van Ness fired a wrist shot high over the glove of Cramer off
the crossbar and in the net to tie the game at 1-1 with 7:40 remaining
in the second period.
The Knights recaptured the lead before the end of the second
period when Gary Todd fired home the rebound of John Holmes shot from
the right wing to give Neumann a 2-1 lead with 3:55 remaining in the
second period. Neumann had a late power play in the second
period, but was unable to convert on any of their chances taking a
one-goal lead into the final twelve minutes of the season.
Although Neumann held a one-goal lead entering the third period,
the Wolf Pack were determined not to let their undefeated season slip
away without a fight. Chris Jones tied the game at 2-2 just 2:19
into the third period when he converted the rebound of a point shot
from Tony Luiten into the upper left corner of the net.
Nevada continued their attack and took the lead for the first time
in the game just before the mid-point of the period when Corey Jones (1
goal, 1 assist) pulled the puck out of a face-off scrum in the left
face-off circle and took a quick wrist shot through traffic in front of
the net past Cramer and into the far left side of the net to give the
Wolf Pack a 3-2 lead with just 6:24 remaining in the third period.
Neumann picked up their pressure in pursuit of the tying goal, but
were unable to beat Nevada goaltender Matt Van Ness (30 saves) to tie
the game before Steve Van Ness scored his second goal of the game on a
3 on 1 rush off of a pass from Devon Hume put Nevada up by a score of
4-2 with just 1:41 remaining in the third period giving the Wolf Pack a
two-goal cushion for when Neumann pulled their goaltender for an extra
attacker.
But a late penalty on Neumann for slashing sealed the game and
despite out shooting the Wolf Pack by a final count of 32-26 and 11-9
in the third period, the Knights fell for the third straight year in
the Championship Game as the University of Nevada-Reno finished off
their undefeated season with the 2005 Division II National Championship.