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 Brock Meadows had two points and scored the first of four WSU goals. |
March 14, 2008
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. - The Wayne State men's hockey team (11-24-2) will advance to the College Hockey America semifinals for the first time since 2004 following a 4-0 victory over Alabama-Huntsville (6-21-4) on Friday night at Niagara's Dwyer Arena.
The Warriors snapped a four-game postseason losing streak and achieved their first ever shutout victory in CHA tournament play.
Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians) scored a power-play goal and extended his point streak to nine games, eclipsing Dustin Kingston's previous school record of eight set in 2003, and tied Tyler Kindle (1999-2003) for third all-time with 98 career points.
Additionally, Jeff Caister (Mississauga, Ont./Milton Icehawks) notched an assist on Paskaris' marker and moved ahead of Kindle to establish a new WSU record for points in a single season by a defenseman (30).
Shortly after killing a 5-on-3 UAH power-play, the Warriors struck first while briefly playing with an extra skater on a delayed penalty call. Brock Meadows (Mission, B.C./Salmon Arm Silverbacks) lit the lamp at 11:40 to give the Warriors, who entered the game with a 6-1-0 record when they score first, a 1-0 lead. Senior captain Mike Forgie (Scarborough, Ont./Stouffville Spirit) was credited with an assist on the play, his first helper since Jan. 11 at Northern Michigan.
Wayne State scored twice in the second period and outshot Alabama-Huntsville, 15-4. On a power-play, Caister and Ryan Bernardi (Etobicoke, Ont./Milton Icehawks) cycled the puck to the front of the net where Paskaris was waiting to score his 14th goal of the season and put the Warriors ahead by a pair at the 8:47 mark.
With just over five minutes remaining in the middle stanza, Forgie collected a rebound between the faceoff circles off a shot by Meadows and scored his ninth goal of the season. Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers) also picked up an assist on the goal.
Wayne State made it a 4-0 game when Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ont./Orleans Blues) poked the puck ahead to a surging Dylan Exton (Calgary, Alb./Prince George Spruce Kings), who capitalized on a breakaway in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot in the top corner over the right shoulder of UAH netminder Blake MacNicol.
Brett Bothwell (Red Deer, Alb./Yorkton Terriers) made 21 saves and held UAH at bay on its six power-play chances to achieve his second shutout of the year. MacNicol turned aside 25 of WSU's 29 shots on goal.
Wayne State will face top-seeded Bemidji State in a semifinal game Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET. The Warriors and Beavers have not met in the CHA Tournament since the 2003 championship game, which resulted in a 3-2 WSU win.
