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 Senior forward Tylor Michel has 10 points in his last eight games. |
Feb. 6, 2008
GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (8-18-2, 4-8-0 CHA) makes its return to the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum for a series against league foe Robert Morris (11-11-3, 6-4-2 CHA) this weekend. Both Friday's game and Saturday's rematch are slated to begin begin at 7:05 p.m. ET and will be broadcast over the Internet via B2 Networks.
Wayne State came away from its trip to Bemidji State with a split, winning last Friday by a score of 3-2 but dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime the next night. After suffering a 7-5 setback at home to Alabama-Huntsville on Friday, Robert Morris snapped its four-game winless streak with a 5-2 victory on Saturday.
The Warriors will soon hit the road again as they head to Huntsville next weekend (Feb. 16-17) to take on the Chargers in a series which includes a rare Sunday afternoon contest.
BEHIND THE BENCH
Bill Wilkinson is in his ninth season as Wayne State's head coach and his 26th year as a collegiate head coach. Wilkinson's overall record stands at 434-462-81, while his mark at WSU is 121-161-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.
Derek Schooley, who played under Wilkinson at Western Michigan and has been at the helm of Robert Morris since the team's inception four years ago, has a career record of 45-71-12.
THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State holds a slim 7-5-3 lead in the all-time series despite losing all three previous meetings with Robert Morris this season. The Warriors are 4-1-1 at home against the Colonials including a sweep in January 2007 at the Coliseum.
IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while Robert Morris was predicted to finish second.
ON THIS DATE
On February 8, the Warriors earned a 5-2 victory at Niagara in 2002 and a 6-1 win over Bemidji State the following season.
Wayne State is 1-2-0 on February 9 with an 8-5 loss at Alabama-Huntsville in 2001, a 3-1 win in Niagara in 2002, and a 3-1 setback against UAH last year.
SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS
It has been a somewhat streaky season for the Colonials thus far. After seeing its record dip below .500 at 6-7-1 following a four game losing streak in early December, Robert Morris went 4-1-2 over its next seven games - all of which were on the road - before its recent 1-3-0 stretch. The Colonials are in third place in the CHA, just one point behind defending regular-season champion Niagara.
The offense is led by senior Ryan Cruthers (15-22--37) and junior Chris Margott (12-20--32) who are the top two scorers in College Hockey America and rank third (1.48) and ninth (1.28) in the nation, respectively, in points per game. They are also tied for the league lead with 14 power-play points apiece.
Senior Sean Berkstresser (7-15--22), junior Jason Towsley (8-11--19) and freshman Nathan Longpre (5-14--19) are among the top 10 scorers in the conference as well, while Longpre ranks second in points among rookies.
Senior goaltender Christian Boucher has seen the most ice time between the pipes for RMU this season. He has a 3.05 goals-against average, a .902 save percentage, and with a record of 11-7-2 has been the starting goaltender in all of RMU's victories.
As a team, the Colonials boast the fifth-best scoring offense in the country (3.58 goals/game), but conversely have the fourth-worst scoring defense (3.64 goals allowed/game).
LAST TIME OUT
Freshman forward Dylan Exton scored the game-winning goal in the third period to cap off a 3-2 come-from-behind triumph Friday night at Bemidji State. The Warriors earned their first win in Bemidji since Feb. 23, 2002, snapping a 10-game winless streak.
Seniors Stavros Paskaris and Derek Bachynski continued their torrid scoring pace with a goal and an assist apiece, while sophomore Ryan Bernardi assisted on each of their goals for his third career multi-point game.
After the Beavers took a 2-0 lead in the first period, Paskaris cut the Warriors' deficit in half 34 seconds into the middle stanza, tying the school record for the fourth-fastest goal to begin the second period. Bachynski tied the game on a power-play with just under three minutes to go in the frame, and a trio of rookies came together for the game-winner at 12:44 of the final period, as Ryan Adams and Brock Meadows assisted on Exton's second goal of the season.
Saturday's 4-3 overtime setback marked just the second loss in the Warriors' last 16 games to reach the extra period. Freshmen Chris Kushneriuk and Jordan Inglis scored 59 seconds apart midway through the second period to turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead. Inglis netted his second straight tally at 1:55 of the third to make it a 3-1 game, but two BSU power-play goals tied the score before Matt Read's game-winning goal in overtime.
WSU goaltender Brett Bothwell totaled 59 saves in the series and subsequently was named College Hockey America Defensive Player of the Week.
WSU NOTES
After winning just three of their first 20 games, the Warriors have won five of their last eight. In this recent span, they have averaged 3.25 goals per game and are 10-for-40 (25.0 percent) on the power play. They have also successfully killed 37 of their opponents' 44 man-advantage opportunities (84.1 percent) over the eight-game stretch. Comparatively, Wayne State averaged just 1.75 goals per game and struggled on both the power play (13.9) and penalty kill (71.8) over the first 20 games of the season.
Paskaris, WSU's active leading scorer, has a team-high 23 points and ranks fifth in the league. He has 12 points in his last seven games and ranks sixth all-time at Wayne State with 82 career points, sixth with 53 assists and tied-for-ninth with 29 goals. Paskaris has posted multiple-point performances in four of the last seven contests including a two-goal game Jan. 19 against Niagara, his third career multiple-goal game and first since March 3 last season at Robert Morris.
After missing the first 18 games of the season, Bachynski has played in 10 games in 2008 and has 10 points in his last seven contests. He and senior captain Mike Forgie are tied for 17th all-time at WSU with 53 career points.
Senior forward Tylor Michel has 10 points in his last eight games and is three points shy of his career-high of 23, set in his freshman year of 2004-05. He is second on the team with 20 points this season.
Despite a four-game drought, sophomore defenseman Jeff Caister leads all CHA blueliners in scoring (2-17--19) and ranks 16th nationally among defensemen averaging 0.68 points per game. He is also sixth and fifth, respectively, all-time at Wayne State in points (35) and assists (31) by a defenseman.
Freshman forward Tyler Ruel leads the Warriors freshman class with 11 points, putting him in a tie for third among league rookies. After an eight-game scoreless streak, Ruel has three points in his last five games. Collectively, the WSU freshmen have accounted for 34 of the team's 169 points (20.1 percent) this season. More recently, however, they contributed nine of the Warriors' 17 points (52.9 percent) in last weekend's series at Bemidji State.
Three Warriors this season have reached the century mark in career games. Paskaris played in his 100th game against Robert Morris on Oct. 13 at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, while Michel accomplished the feat Dec. 7 at Western Michigan as did Bachynski on Jan. 12 at Northern Michigan. All three players recorded a point in their 100th game as well. With eight regular-season games remaining, three more players could potentially hit the mark - Forgie (98), Matt Krug (96), and Derek Punches (94).
Including Saturday's setback, the Warriors own a 17-10-28 record (.564) in 55 regular-season contests that have reached sudden-death overtime. WSU's only other loss in its last 16 overtime games was a 4-3 result in last year's CHA tournament quarterfinal against eventual champion Alabama-Huntsville.
Six of Wayne State's last seven games have been decided by one goal, with three resulting in WSU victories. The Warriors are 5-5 overall this season in one-goal contests.
After being the first team to score in just three of their first 23 games, the Warriors have opened the scoring in three of their last five games. They are 5-1-0 when they light the lamp first.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Warriors have a weekend off sandwiched around trips to UAH (Feb. 16-17) and BSU (Feb. 29-Mar. 1) before closing out the regular season at home against Niagara (Mar. 7-8), which coincidentally is the host institution for the College Hockey America Tournament (Mar. 14-16).