Nationals Rewind: Day Two

Friday, April 7: UMSL dominates defending champ Nevada, blows out SHSU in first round

GPCIHL July 12th, 2006 at 2:07AM June 13th, 2008 11:24PM

This is part two of a four-part series reviewing the UMSL Rivermen's run to the Division II national championship game.

UMSL 10, Nevada 3

UMSL 5-2-3 - 10

Nevada 0-1-2 - 3

Shots on Goal

UMSL 14-12-9 - 35

Nevada 5-9-5 - 19

Pointscoring

UMSL - James Wetton (1-4-5), Adam Clarke (1-4-5), Jake Shepard (3-0-3), Doug Purk (2-0-2), Zach Stacy (2-0-2), Ben Lambert (0-1-1), Jason Shields (1-0-1).

Nevada - Tony Luiten (3-0-3), Corey Jones (0-2-2), Devon Hume (0-1-1).

In a highly anticipated confrontation between the last two DII national champions, the UMSL Rivermen showed why they were once again a contender by blowing out defending national champ Nevada 10-3 Friday afternoon, April 7, in pool play at the College Roller Hockey National Championships in Morrisville , N.C.

Defensemen James Wetton and Adam Clarke led the Rivermen with four assists and five points each, and forward Jake Shepard posted his second hat trick of the tournament to finish the three-game round robin with eight goals. Forward Zach Stacy scored twice to post his second multiple-goal game of the tourney.

Friday's victory completed a sweep of Pool D, as the Rivermen had vanquished Duquesne and Hofstra on Thursday during the first full day of the event.

UMSL's 3-0 round-robin record would earn the top overall seed in the Division II national championship playoffs.

Dominant...

From the beginning, UMSL left no doubt.

The Rivermen wore Nevada out with superior depth and outstanding special-teams play on the way to the 10-3 pounding.

UMSL built an early 3-0 lead by scoring three power-play goals in the first 5:44 of the game.

UMSL had also jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Hofstra Thursday night. But the Pride quickly cashed in on a power play, and the Rivermen hung on for dear life until late in the third period.

Against the Wolfpack, the Rivermen PK faced a similar early test.

Nevada earned its first man-advantage opportunity when Doug Purk took a roughing penalty 18 seconds after the three-goal edge had been achieved.

It would be Nevada' s first chance to light up the offense. As the star-studded Wolfpack had proven before, one strike could touch off a storm.

But the 4-on-3, and the game, would belong to the Rivermen. Backstopped by senior netminder Thomas Ames, UMSL never allowed UNR off the mat.

UMSL maintained the 3-0 edge, killing Purk's penalty thanks in large part to Ames' brilliant, stacked-pad save of a point-blank shot by UNR's Chris Jones. It may have been Ames' finest stop of the season.

With the pivotal PK complete, UMSL brought the dagger.

Moments after Purk exited the box, James Wetton hit Jason Shields with a short breakout pass from deep in the UMSL zone, and Shields took it all the way. Shields ripped a top-shelf wrister from forty feet out to give the Rivermen a 4-0 lead.

It was Shields' third goal of the tournament, just 16 seconds after the successful PK had expired. The Louisiana native was playing his best hockey of the season and riding a wave of confidence.

Any four-goal lead is huge, but UMSL's work was far from finished. If anyone could come back from 4-0, it was the Wolfpack, especially with 27:42 of game time to work with.

But just 2:01 later, Devon Hume visited the penalty box for the second time, allowing UMSL to pound another nail into the coffin.

Wetton made it 5-0 with a power-play slapshot from the right-wing circle that sneaked inside the near post with 11 seconds to play in the first.

The captain's goal was the product of a power-play shakeup that saw Zach Stacy and Adam Clarke swap positions. Stacy now operated from the left-wing faceoff circle, and Clarke moved to the point position up high, where he slid a pass to Wetton along the right-wing boards before Wetton swung toward the middle and blasted home his fourth goal of the tournament.

At the end of the opening frame, Nevada replaced starting goaltender Matt Van Ness with Steve Owens, who had backstopped the WCRHL championship run while Van Ness recovered from a leg injury.

The Wolfpack jumped on the board during the first minute of the second period when Tony Luitenï¿½??s wrister found the net to cut UMSL's lead to 5-1.

Nevada had a chance to mount a comeback when Stacy took a high-sticking penalty 3:40 into the period.

But Jake Shepard, as he had done so many times before, changed the momentum.

Shepard was outstanding on the penalty kill. He tirelessly pursued the puck, forcing Nevada to make high-risk passes and preventing the sharpshooting Luiten from loading up a point shot.

As Stacy's penalty expired, Shepard picked up a loose puck in the UMSL zone, burned down the left wing, and beat Luiten with an inside-out move before shoveling the puck with his backhand past Owens at 5:44 to restore the five-goal lead.

The momentum swing would sink Nevada' s comeback hopes for good. Thirty-seven seconds after Shepard's goal, Doug Purk rifled home his second of the game to give the Rivermen a 7-1 advantage.

Purk's first goal had given UMSL an early 2-0 lead thanks to a blistering, top-shelf slapshot that still had the standing-room-only crowd abuzz long after play resumed.

Luiten's power-play marker with :36 to play in the second gave Nevada another spark, but it was snuffed out when Stacy scored two spectacular goals in the first 1:20 of the third to put UMSL ahead 9-2.

UMSL capitalized on Hume's fourth penalty of the game when Adam Clarke scored at 10:30 of the third period for his fifth point of the afternoon.

Luiten closed the scoring, completing his hat trick with thirty seconds to play.

The buildup...

The tilt between the 2004 and 2005 national champs was the most anticipated round-robin game of this year's tournament. There were many reasons to be excited about this matchup, so it felt much bigger than just a pool-play game.

Both UMSL and Nevada had set off fireworks from the beginning of pool competition, knocking off a pair of quality opponents, Duquesne and Hofstra. Nevada scored 17 goals in defeating the Dukes and Pride, and the Rivermen potted 18 while allowing just four.

Each team is blessed with abundant star power, and arguably the two best top-four units in Division II.

Nevada forward Chris Jones, forward/defenseman Corey Jones, and defenseman Tony Luiten were three-fourths of the nation's best quartet in '05, teaming with runaway national scoring champ Steve Van Ness to finish undefeated.

After winning it all, Van Ness moved on, naturally creating a huge hole in Nevada' s '05-06 lineup -- but sophomore Devon Hume stepped in to pick up much of the scoring slack.

The huge, imposing Hume was dominant throughout his second season in Reno , developing into the nation's best "power forward." Hume would finish with 63 goals, an astonishing breakthrough after scoring just 19 as a freshman.

Nevada' s abundant top-line skill is tough to handle, but UMSL believed it could successfully match up. The Rivermen had an all-star foursome of their own.

UMSL brought two of the top five goalscorers in the nation, sophomore forwards Jake Shepard and Zach Stacy, and a pair of elite two-way defensemen: league MVP Adam Clarke and defending national assist champion James Wetton.

Eight impact players would face off, each bringing his share of big-game experience. More than half of each team's roster had won a collegiate national championship.

League championship contenders...

After winning their respective league tournaments in 2005, UMSL and Nevada both had an opportunity to repeat on March 5, 2006 .

That morning in Upland , Calif. , Nevada won its second WCRHL title in a row by edging UC-San Diego 4-3.

In the evening, 1800 miles away, UMSL coughed up its chance at a second straight GPCIHL championship by losing its first league game since February 2005.

After showing no sign of weakness in its semifinal blowout of Truman State, UMSL appeared to be the easy pick to repeat.

But in the final, the Rivermen dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to Washington University -- an excruciating defeat that ended a 31-game league winning streak.

Including their 6-1 win in last year's league final, the Rivermen had beaten the Bears four times in a row by a combined 36-9 score before the upset.

Shocking defeat...

UMSL's GPCIHL-final loss was so unexpected that atop the game story, the Wash-U student newspaper ran the headline Miracle on 'ice'.

The loss swept away the aura of invincibility UMSL had built up as it outscored league opponents 163-23 and rolled through the GPCIHL season to the tune of a perfect 18-0 record.

Reclaiming excellence...

UMSL was shooting for redemption at Nationals.

The Rivermen had begun pool play Thursday morning by blowing out Duquesne 13-2 before topping Hofstra 5-2 on Thursday afternoon.

Up next was a stiffer test against a Nevada team with the talent to win its second straight national championship.

This was UMSL's chance to bounce back against a top-flight opponent, to earn back the respect that had earned the Rivermen a unanimous No. 1 national ranking in December and a long stay atop the poll in February. UMSL dropped to sixth after its loss to Wash-U.

As the defending national champ, UMSL had not enjoyed watching from the stands on Championship Sunday '05 in Fort Collins as the flashy, exuberant Wolf Pack won the national title.

That day, Nevada survived two final-four nailbiters, winning a classic semifinal over Wash U before pulling off a come-from-behind win over Neumann to finish undefeated.

Since then, the motivated Rivermen had lost just once against DII competition.

This season, Nevada rounded into championship form after the midseason return of '05 All-American Corey Jones. Since Jones' return, the Wolfpack had won 11 of 13 games and a WCRHL tournament championship.

The Rivermen believed a convincing victory would earn the number-one overall seed.

It was the perfect time to make a statement, to gain confidence and momentum, and to prove that UMSL was the team to beat this year.

The Rivermen wanted a piece of Nevada.

The stars shine...

The five UMSL superstars dominated the game.

Zach Stacy turned in a spectacular performance that may have been his best of the season. He was outstanding at both ends of the rink. Stacy was relentless on the forecheck, airtight on the penalty kill, and tough in the faceoff circle. On the first shift of the game, Stacy attacked the net before being pulled down by Corey Jones, resulting in the power play that produced UMSL's first goal. He also scored a pair of third period goals -- crunchy ones, of course -- both at full speed off the rush.

Jake Shepard was Jake Shepard. The pint-sized warrior got the Rivermen started when he tipped Adam Clarke's pass into the cage on the first UMSL power play, and put the Rivermen ahead 3-0 with a goal almost identical to his first, a power-play redirection of a Clarke pass from the left-wing faceoff circle.

Shepard completed his second hat-trick of the tournament in the middle frame after walking All-American defensemen Tony Luiten on the way to a spectacular backhand goal, followed up with a celebratory fist-pump and a theatric leap into the arms of James Wetton.

Wetton, as usual, engineered the UMSL attack with precision, finishing with four assists and five points in his standard thirty-plus minutes of game time. The captain played his customary airtight defense, highlighted by several key first- and second- period shotblocks on Hume.

Adam Clarke matched Wetton's 1-4-5 line, helping jump-start the UMSL offense right away with three first-period assists, and keeping the Nevada offense at bay from the start.

Senior goaltender Thomas Ames was outstanding throughout, making several tough saves early in the game as traffic swarmed his net, including the awesome shorthanded pad-stack against Chris Jones.

The second liners made their presence felt as well. Doug Purk and Jason Shields scored key first-period goals, and Purk's second of the game gave UMSL a 7-1 second-period lead.

Success...

On this Friday afternoon, UMSL brought its A game. The Rivermen played efficiently and with determination, taking advantage of their early power-play opportunities and responding every time Nevada threatened to jump back into the game.

UMSL was a perfect 4-for-4 on the power play while taking a 5-0 lead into the first intermission, and finished the game 5-for-6.

During the three-game round robin, the Rivermen were 11-19 (57.9%) on the man advantage.

Wolfpack comeback...

Nevada would bounce back by dominating its first two elimination games on Saturday. The Wolfpack scored seven third-period goals to blast Shippensburg 10-1 before beating perennial DII powerhouse UT-Dallas 6-3 to reach the final four, with a chance to face UMSL for the second time in three days -- this time with a national title at stake. But the Wolfpack lost 6-4 to Neumann in the semis.

It was Nevada's third final-four appearance in three years of the club's existence.

UMSL 9, Sam Houston St. 1

SHSU 0-0-1 - 1

UMSL 3-4-2 - 9

Pointscoring

SHSU - Josh Ferguson (1-0-1)

UMSL - James Wetton (1-5-6), Jake Shepard (3-0-3), Zach Stacy (2-0-2), Ben Lambert (2-0-2), Doug Purk (0-2-2), Tim McFarland (1-0-1).

Having earned the tournament's top overall seed, the Rivermen were rewarded with a late-night faceoff Friday for their first-round game against the 16^th-seeded Sam Houston State Bearkats.

UMSL cruised to a 9-1 victory, advancing to the quarterfinals with ease despite losing star defenseman Adam Clarke when his skate broke early in the second period.

The Rivermen didn't quite bring the heavy attack they had unleashed earlier Friday afternoon in the blowout of powerful Nevada , but it was more than enough.

Senior captain James Wetton led UMSL with five assists and six points, taking over the tournament scoring lead.

Sophomore Jake Shepard scored three goals while splitting time between forward and defense, where Clarke's temporary absence had created a void.

Shepard and linemate Zach Stacy stayed red-hot, as Stacy scored twice for his third multiple-goal game of the tournament. Shepard claimed the tournament lead with 11 goals thanks to the hat trick, his third of the event.

Off the opening faceoff, the Rivermen possessed the puck for an entire shift, generating several chances before Shepard broke through.

James Wetton's perfect cross-rink pass found Shepard streaking down the right wing. Shepard executed a brilliant body deke to beat a SHSU defenseman before scoring on a wrister from the faceoff dot to give the Rivermen an early 1-0 lead 1:47 into the game.

SHSU goaltender Steve Rydarowski was penalized 3:36 later for delay of game when he flipped the puck over the glass on the left-wing boards.

The Bearkats appeared to be living on the edge, a snowball on top of a mountain. Eight hours earlier, the Rivermen had ravaged Nevada by scoring five goals in the first period -- four on the power play. But SHSU would block five shots to stifle UMSL's first man advantage.

Underdog SHSU subsequently gummed it up with a 0-1-3 forecheck, and forced a turnover on the ensuing shift for its first sustained possession of the game.

But the Bearkats' trap had no answer for the speed of Zach Stacy, who gave UMSL a 2-0 lead with 2:43 left in the first.

After a strong backcheck by Shepard, the Rivermen reset in the defensive zone before Wetton threaded a hard breakout pass that found Stacy streaking across the middle. Stacy turned and blazed down the right wing before cutting around a defender and scoring his sixth goal of the tournament on a stick-side wrister from 15 feet away.

Wetton notched his third helper 1:04 later when he fed a sweet backhand pass to Ben Lambert at the left-wing post for a bang-it-home goal that gave UMSL a 3-0 lead.

The Rivermen had their second man-advantage opportunity when SHSU's Josh Ferguson took a high-sticking minor with :51 to play in the first.

Solid goaltending and tough shotblocking allowed the Bearkats to kill another penalty. SHSU had once again pushed the snowball back up the hill.

It was Sam Houston State' s turn to enjoy the man advantage early in the second period when Lambert took a cross-checking penalty fourteen seconds after the unsuccessful power play.

But it was UMSL, not SHSU, who put one on the board during the Bearkats' 4-on-3 advantage.

Wetton blocked a shot down low, corralled the puck, and carried it all the way across center to the high slot for a low shot that beat Rydarowski stick-side. It was Wetton's fourth goal of the tournament, his fourth point of the game, and it gave UMSL a 4-0 edge early in the second period.

With Clarke taking the rest of the night off to find a new pair of skates, freshman John Angelbeck was then pressed into duty on the UMSL penalty kill. Angelbeck took advantage of the opportunity.

After breaking up a SHSU scoring chance, Angelbeck pulled the puck out of traffic and rushed down the floor for a shorthanded attempt, but the puck was knocked off his stick to the corner as he attacked the net. Angelbeck regained the loose puck and sent it back to Jake Shepard, who carried from deep in the UMSL zone to kill the remaining seconds of the penalty.

Shepard scored his second goal of the night on a slapshot from the right wing that found the far side of the net with 5:31 left in the middle period. Wetton earned the assist, his 13th of the tournament, and UMSL led 5-0.

Sam Houston State began to possess the puck more, adopting some of UMSL's throw-it-back-and-regroup tactics, and the underdogs generated a few scoring chances.

But the SHSU attack was foiled when Shepard forced a turnover on the forecheck, took it to the net, and scored on his own rebound with 1:45 to play in the period.

Zach Stacy made it 7-0 before the period was finished. After receiving a Wetton pass in the left-wing faceoff circle, Stacy briefly lost possession before regaining control in the middle and releasing a spinning backhand shot with his back to the net. The puck found the inside of the left-wing post. Stacy's spectacular, no-look goal gave the Rivermen a seven-goal advantage with 26.3 seconds to go in the middle frame.

With a big lead, coach Tom Schneider replaced senior goaltender Thomas Ames with backup Scott Kincaid at the second intermission.

Ames had easily shut out the Bearkats for his two periods of action, facing just two shots in each.

It was Kincaid's first varsity action of the season. A puckhandling mishap resulted in SHSU's first goal 3:19 into the third, but Kincaid was remarkably solid in his varsity debut, stopping nine of ten third-period shots.

Doug Purk assisted on third-period goals by Ben Lambert and Tim McFarland, and the Rivermen coasted to a 9-1 victory.

UMSL would enjoy a rare 20-hour layoff before its Saturday evening quarterfinal against the Maine Black Bears.

Maine and UMSL had clashed twice at the 2004 national championships in Anaheim, Calif . The Black Bears edged the Rivermen 5-3 during pool play, handing UMSL its second and final loss of the 2003-04 campaign. The Rivermen would win the national semifinal rematch 5-2 on their way to the title.

Due to server issues, we have been unable to post new content for the past few weeks. The problem appears to have been resolved. However, we are unable to post embedded video to player profiles at this time. Please check Google Video for new Rivermen Reels highlight videos.

The following new Rivermen Reels are now available on Google Video:

Rivermen Reels No. 7: James Wetton - "Omniscient"

Rivermen Reels No. 8: Jake Shepard - "True Grit"

Rivermen Reels No. 9: Jason Shields - "The Real Deal"

Go to http://video.google.com and search for UMSL Inline Hockey.

James Lambert

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