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 Stavros Paskaris extended his point streak to eight games Saturday against Niagara. |
March 8, 2008
DETROIT - In its home finale, the Wayne State men's hockey team (10-24-2, 6-14-0 CHA) suffered a 7-3 defeat against 20th-ranked Niagara (20-10-4, 12-6-2 CHA) at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum on Saturday night.
Derek Bachynski (Belle River, Ont./Leamington Flyers), Derek Punches (Manchester, Mich./Texas Tornado), and Tylor Michel (Sudbury, Ont./Owen Sound Saugeen Greys) each lit the lamp for the Warriors, while Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians) chipped in three assists and Jeff Caister (Mississauga, Ont./Milton Icehawks) notched a pair of helpers.
Niagara took a commanding 3-0 lead in the first period, beginning with Paul Zanette's first of two tallies 96 seconds into the game. Ted Cook scored a power-play goal at 7:33, and a wrist shot just under the crossbar by David Ross at 11:14 gave the Purple Eagles a three-goal advantage.
The Warriors scored three goals of their own, however, in the second period and totaled 24 shots, one shy of the school record. Bachynski's power-play tally at the 10 minute mark put WSU on the board, as Caister and Paskaris cycled the puck through the offensive zone before finding the senior forward open down low on the left side.
Punches brought the home team within one with a power-play goal at 13:58, redirecting a shot from Paskaris. Egor Mironov made it a 4-2 game just 20 seconds later with a slap shot from the left wing off the pads of WSU goaltender Brett Bothwell (Red Deer, Alb./Yorkton Terriers), but Michel blast from between the faceoff circles at 18:19 was the Warriors' third power-play goal of the night and kept them alive.
However, a WSU turnover set up Zanette, who deflected a shot from Derek Foam, for his second goal of the night at 19:37 and gave the Purple Eagles a 5-3 lead with 20 minutes to play.
Ross netted his second of the game midway through the third, and Cook tacked on an empty-netter to complete the scoring.
Wayne State had a season-high 40 shots on goal to Niagara's 21 shots. Bothwell totaled 14 saves, NU starter Juliano Pagliero stopped all 10 shots he faced in the first period, and Adam Avramenko made 27 saves to collect his fifth win of the year.
The Warriors will head to the College Hockey America Tournament next weekend at Niagara and face Alabama-Huntsville in the quarterfinal on Friday, March. 14 at 7:05 p.m. ET.