FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Neumann University Knights are 2025 NCRHA DII National Champions. The Knights faced ECRHA conference rival Slippery Rock University defeating them 2-1 to claim their second National Championship in three years (Neumann was crowned DIII Champions in 2023). 

SRU and Neumann are no strangers, in fact they have faced each other four times this season before meeting tonight for a 5th match up. The two teams had split evenly in the first four, Neumann winning 4-3 & 6-5 in November and early February, while The Rock took the back two games 2-7 & 1-6 (the second loss coming in the ECRHA Championship). 

The Knights entered into tonight's national title match on fire! They claimed the top seed in pool play of the tournament after undefeated in the round robin defeating CSU Fullerton, Michigan State, & SUNY Cortland. Rolling into the single elimination playoff round on Friday, the Knights prevailed over Michigan State in the quarter final game. On Saturday morning, Neumann played a thrilling down to wire semifinal game with CSU Fullerton coming out on top with an overtime 4-3 win. 

Finally, the Knights looked to get revenge over SRU who defeated them back in March to claim the ECRHA conference title. The National Title game was another thrilling down to the wire game.  Neumann opened up the scoreline during Saturday's game taking 1-0 lead with just two minutes left to play in the second period, the Rock leveled the scoreline just 30 seconds into the third period on a power play. The game would stay level until the Knights Anthony Putter found the back of the net near halfway mark of final period putting the Knights up 2-1. The Knights defense battled hard and kept the puck from entering their net for the remainder of the third period and Neumann was crowned champions with a 2-1 victory over Slippery Rock!  Freshmen Goalie Kevin Toye had a top-class performance during the title match saving an unprecedented 46 of 47 shots on net.

The tournament MVP for the Knights was Junior Captain Anthony Putter who accumulated 13 goals & 19 points throughout the six games.

The Knights return home to Aston, on Sunday afternoon and will start planning a ring ceremony before getting back to work preparing for the 2025-2026 season. Go Knights!