For Starters...and Finishers
Rivermen win a pair; Championship Sunday awaits
GPCIHL March 4th, 2006 at 6:00AM June 13th, 2008 1:35AM
The top-ranked UMSL Rivermen won both round-robin games Saturday at the GPCIHL Regional Championships to secure a spot in the four-team elimination bracket.
UMSL, the regular-season league champion and top seed, survived a challenge Saturday evening. The Rivermen outlasted the fourth-seeded Saint Louis Billikens 3-1 thanks to outstanding third-period goaltending by Thomas Ames.
Ames stopped eleven shots during a third period that featured two SLU power plays, and finished with 22 saves on 23 shots to earn his 21st win of the year.
During the third period, Ames stopped Billiken stars Adam Kulp and Danny Demas from the doorstep twice each, and defused three Dave Fisher bombs that would have given SLU a chance to tie with one shot.
UMSL started the scoring at 5:35 of the first period on Jake Shepard's 48th goal of the season. SLU goaltender Mike Riley stopped Shepard?s initial shot, a slapper from fifty feet out, but Shepard tapped home the rebound, giving the Rivermen a 1-0 lead.
The teams each had an unsuccesful power play, and UMSL led 1-0 after the first. Shepard won the center-ice faceoff at the beginning of the second, sliding the puck to Zach Stacy, who would evade two defenders to score a top-shelf goal just 10 seconds into the period to provide a 2-0 cushion. It was Stacy?s 46th of the year.
The Rivermen took a 3-0 lead at 4:39 of the second when Adam Clarke scored his 21st of the season.
Saint Louis broke the seal less than two minutes after Clarke?s goal, when a long Marty Finn pass set up Denis Ditch alone in front. The veteran power forward went low for his 25th goal of the season.
Ames and his teammates were able to hold off a third-period Billiken rally that was fueled by two power plays.
Saturday, in their first round-robin game of the tournament, the Rivermen massacred the eighth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats 10-0.
The Rivermen needed just 9:38 to build their ten-goal lead and complete the mercy-rule victory.
Jake Shepard led the Rivermen with four goals and an assist. James Wetton (1-4) matched Shepard?s five points to share the team lead.
It was the quickest "mercy" in GPCIHL Div. II history, and the first Great Plains mercy to last less than one period since Jan. 22, 2005, when Jake Shepard's hat trick led Lindenwood's B-Division squad to a 10-0 victory over UM-Rolla B that took 11:50 to finish.
Zach Stacy completed his eighth hat trick of the season with 2:22 left in the first period to provide the game-ending ten-goal margin. Doug Purk and Adam Clarke also scored for UMSL. Clarke notched a pair of assists to finish with three points.
Thomas Ames stopped two shots to earn his 20th win and his sixth shutout of the season.
The Rivermen will return to action Sunday morning at 9:00. UMSL faces fifth-seeded Missouri State in the final round-robin game.
If UMSL conquers Missouri State, the Rivermen will claim the top seed in Pool A.
As the top seed, the Rivermen would likely face Truman State in the league semifinals at 2:00 Sunday. The GPCIHL Div. II champion will be crowned at the 5:00 championship game. Barring a major upset, UMSL will either stage a rematch with SLU, or will confront the surging Wash U Bears, who defeated Truman State 5-2 Saturday.
Washington University 5, Truman State 2
The Bears are back. Wash-U flexed its playoff muscle Saturday with two impressive victories, reaffirming their status as a serious title contender.
WU forwards Tommy Paskvan, Jim Jost, and Zane Truman proved that they are playoff performers, comfortable in the forced tempo of a postseason battle.
Jost put up a hat trick in the playoff-opening 10-2 defeat of Southeast Missouri State. Truman and Paskvan scored twice each in a critical 5-2 win over second-seeded Truman State.
Bears goaltender Dave Garland is also up to the playoff challenge. Garland stopped 21 of 23 shots against Truman State to earn his 10th win in 13 career playoff starts.
Wash-U is a battle-tested club. Last year, the Bears reached the national final four. But what makes the '05-06 Bears an even stronger contender?
The new guy. Josh Matteo, the most talented player on a team loaded with bonafide stars. Eleven games into his Wash-U career, Matteo is now fully integrated into the WU system. It appears that he has found a role, and if so, his increased production is no accident. After finishing the regular season strong by scoring six goals in the last four games, Matteo put up seven points on Saturday (2-3 vs. SEMO, 1-1 vs. TSU).
The Bears' win clinches first place in Pool B, barring a major upset in Sunday morning's round-robin finale, and they will probably face Saint Louis in a league semifinal Sunday at 2 pm.
The Bulldogs will need help from an unlikely source on Sunday morning. Otherwise, Truman State will face the winner of Pool A, where their semifinal opponent will be UM-St. Louis, the nation's top-ranked team.
