Colleges

Denver continues its hockey reign

By wire services
Published April 10, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Freshman Paul Stastny scored two goals and Peter Mannino made them stand up with an almost flawless performance in goal to help Denver successfully defend its national title with a 4-1 victory over North Dakota Saturday night.

It was the seventh national title for Denver (32-9-2), which was No. 1 for most of the season.

Stastny, the son of NHL Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, also had an assist on Gabe Gauthier's empty-netter. Kevin Ulanski scored the Pioneers' first goal, Matt Carle had two assists and Gauthier had an assist to go with his 26th goal of the year.

Mannino had a career-high 44 saves two nights after stopping 41 shots in a 6-2 win over Colorado College in the semifinals.

In three previous meetings between these two teams in the championship game, Denver held a 2-1 advantage, with victories in 1958 and 1968. North Dakota won in 1963. In three previous games this season, Denver was 3-0, including a 2-1 victory in overtime in the WCHA postseason tournament.

The Pioneers' seventh title tied them with North Dakota for second place behind Michigan's nine.

TAMPA 9-4, FLORIDA GULF COAST 7-0: Tampa snapped a four-game losing streak in taking Saturday's doubleheader.

TCU 7, USF 3: USF was held to just three hits Saturday in its fourth straight loss.

FSU 4, WAKE FOREST 3: FSU staged its second come-from-behind victory in as many nights with a win over Wake Forest Saturday.

NEW COACH: Brigham Young coach Steve Cleveland was tapped for the men's job at Fresno State Saturday. Cleveland vowed to restore integrity to the program. He will replace Ray Lopes, who resigned March 17 after a school investigation determined he had broken the NCAA rule about telephone calls to recruits while with the Bulldogs. Cleveland went 138-108 in eight seasons at BYU.

OKLAHOMA MEN WIN TITLE: Oklahoma scored a school record 225.675 points and beat Ohio State to win the NCAA men's gymnastics championship Friday night, its third title in four years. The Sooners clinched the title when freshman Jonathan Horton tied his career-high with a 9.5 on his final vault attempt, giving Oklahoma a 37.275 on the vault to edge Ohio State by less than a quarter of a point. The Buckeyes finished with a team score of 225.450. Illinois was third, followed by Penn State, California and Michigan. The Sooners, winners of six titles, finished second last year to a late-surging Penn State.

CAMPBELL 4, UCF 1: Campbell capitalized on an in-the-park home run that scored three in the first inning.

SAINT LEO 10-5, ECKERD 1-0: Saint Leo swept a doubleheader against its Sunshine State Conference foe.

USF 1-7, UAB 7-2: USF dropped its first game to UAB but rebounded thanks to solid pitching to beat the Blazers. USF coach Ken Eriksen picked up his 400th career win.

FLORIDA 1-3, SOUTH CAROLINA 0-0: Florida has won all of the last six meetings with South Carolina.

TAMPA WOMEN: Lynn University swept Tampa Saturday 9-0. The closest match was between Tampa's Caitlin Scudder and Dina Bajramovic. Scudder lost 6-3, 6-1.Track

FLORIDA STATE: Two-time All-American rookie Walter Dix ran the fastest all-conditioned time in the world in winning the 100-meter dash at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

MIAMI: Kim Barrett continued her dominance in the shot put winning for the seventh time this season at the Littlefield Texas Relays. Barrett recorded a school-record throw of 17.48 meters which is also the best mark in the nation this year.

UCF WOMEN: UCF earned its eighth state title at the Florida Intercollegiate championship. Its time was 13 seconds better than second-place Miami.

[Last modified April 10, 2005, 00:41:07]