March 1, 2008

Stats

BEMIDJI, Minn. - The Wayne State men's hockey team (9-23-2, 5-13-0 CHA) lost its third straight game Saturday night, a 5-3 result at Bemidji State (16-15-3, 13-4-3 CHA). With their victory, the Beavers clinched the College Hockey America regular season title.

Four straight BSU goals erased an early 2-1 WSU lead. Three different Warriors - Derek Bachynski (Belle River, Ont./Leamington Flyers), Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers), and Derek Punches (Manchester, Mich./Texas Tornado) - lit the lamp for the visitors, while Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians) notched two assists to extend his point streak to six games, including four straight multi-point outputs.

Bachynski's power-play goal halfway through the opening period tied the game at 1-1, and Katz gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead at 17:30. Kyle Hardwick's first collegiate goal at 18:31 made it 2-2, however, and two straight goals in the second period by Ryan Cramer put the Beavers ahead, 4-2.

Punches, playing in his 100th career game, capped off the scoring at 11:42 in the final period.

Shots on goal favored the home team, 31-28, with BSU totaling nearly half of its shots (15) in the third period. Kyle Funkenhauser (Windsor, Ont./Surrey Eagles) started in net for WSU, making eight saves in 30 minutes before giving way to Mike Devoney (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Bridgewater Bandits), who stopped 18 of 19 shots faced.

Bemidji State netminder Matt Climie totaled 25 saves for the win.

Wayne State will host Niagara at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum next weekend to close out the 2007-08 regular season.