Feb. 13, 2008

Game Notes in PDF Format

GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (8-20-2, 4-10-0 CHA) makes its first trip to Alabama-Huntsville since Oct. 20-21, 2006 this weekend to battle the Chargers (4-17-3, 1-10-3 CHA) in College Hockey America action at the Von Braun Center. Saturday's game is scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. CT faceoff, and Sunday's rematch is slated to begin at 2:05 p.m. CT.

Fans can follow the game with UAH's live stats or watch the action on the Internet via B2 Networks.

Wayne State was swept at home by Robert Morris last weekend, losing 3-1 on Friday and dropping a 4-3 overtime result the following night at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. After skating to a 2-2 tie at Niagara last Friday, Alabama-Huntsville was blanked 5-0 by the Purple Eagles on Saturday.

After a weekend off from competition, the Warriors will travel to Bemidji State (Feb. 29-Mar. 1) before concluding the regular season at the Coliseum against Niagara.

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 434-464-81, while his mark at WSU is 121-163-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.

Head coach Danton Cole is in his first season with the Chargers.

THROUGH THE YEARS
While Alabama-Huntsville leads the all-time series 21-15-3, Wayne State has won four of the last six meetings including a home sweep three weeks ago at the Taylor SportsPlex. The Warriors are 6-10-1 all-time in Huntsville and 1-4-1 in their last six.

IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while defending CHA tournament champion Alabama-Huntsville was predicted to finish fifth.

ON THIS DATE
On February 16, the Warriors earned a 6-0 shutout over Findlay in 2002, suffered an 8-2 loss at UAH in 2003, and upended then 17th-ranked Niagara 6-1 at home last season.

Wayne State has played twice on February 17 in its history, both times against Niagara. The Warriors lost in Detroit to the Purple Eagles, 4-3, in 2006 and battled to a 4-4 tie last year.

SCOUTING ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE
After being swept in their visit to Wayne State in January, the Chargers rebounded to score a season-high seven goals Feb. 1 at Robert Morris for their first conference victory of the season. They are winless in their last three games since then, however, and are the current CHA cellar-dwellers.

Junior forward Joe Federoff and sophomore defenseman Brandon Roshko lead the team with 14 points each. Roshko also tops the squad in assists (14), while Federoff is tied with junior forwards Josh Murray and Matt Sweazey for the team lead with seven goals.

Forward Andrew Coburn is tied with Wayne State's Tyler Ruel for fourth in the CHA in points among freshmen. Coburn has 11 including seven helpers.

As a team, Alabama-Huntsville ranks last in the nation in scoring offense (1.83 goals/game), scoring defense (3.92 goals allowed/game), and penalty kill percentage (71.3), while only Rensselaer (7.3) has a lower power-play average than UAH (9.0).

LAST TIME OUT
Senior forward Stavros Paskaris netted his team-high ninth goal of the season, but three Colonials posted two-point games as RMU defeated the Warriors, 3-1, on Friday for their first win in Detroit since Jan. 23, 2005.

Robert Morris scored twice in nine opportunities with a man advantage. Wayne State amassed 10 penalties, the most since totaling 11 at Ferris State in October.

After RMU took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first period, Paskaris' even-strength tally tied the score at one apiece 3:30 into the second period with assists from sophomores Jeff Caister and Ryan Bernardi. Two unanswered goals in the third period, however, gave the Colonials all the cushion they would need to put the game away.

Contributing a goal apiece in Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss were Caister, senior Derek Bachynski, and sophomore Jared Katz. Caister also had an assist for his fifth multiple-point game of the season.

The Warriors saw their 2-1 lead evaporate quickly midway through the third period, as the Colonials scored a pair of goals 17 seconds apart. Katz evened things up at 3-3 with just under five minutes remaining in regulation, but Chris Margott's game-winning power-play goal 58 seconds into overtime ended any hopes of a split.

WSU sophomore goaltender Brett Bothwell totaled 55 saves in the series.

WSU NOTES
Senior captain Mike Forgie played in his 100th career game Saturday, becoming the fourth Warrior this season to reach that milestone. Paskaris played in his 100th game against Robert Morris on Oct. 13 at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, while Tylor Michel accomplished the feat Dec. 7 at Western Michigan as did Bachynski on Jan. 12 at Northern Michigan. With six regular-season games remaining, two more players could potentially hit the mark - Matt Krug (98), and Derek Punches (96).

After winning just three of their first 20 games, the Warriors have won five of their last 10 contests. In this recent span, they have averaged 3.00 goals per game and are 11-for-53 (20.8 percent) on the power play. They have also successfully killed 50 of their opponents' 60 man-advantage opportunities (83.3 percent) over the 10-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 25 points and ranks fifth in the league. He has 14 points in his last nine games and is tied with Jason Baclig (2003-07) for fifth all-time at Wayne State with 84 career points and 54 assists. He and Baclig are also tied with Chris Vail (2000-04) for seventh all-time with 30 goals.

After missing the first 18 games of the season, Bachynski has played in 12 games in 2008 and has 11 points in his last nine contests. He ranks 17th all-time at WSU with 54 career points.

Michel has 11 points in his last 10 games and is two points shy of his career-high of 23, set in his freshman year of 2004-05. He is third on the team with 21 points this season.

Caister, Wayne State's second-leading scorer this season, snapped a four-game drought with a three-point weekend against Robert Morris. He leads all CHA blueliners in scoring (3-19--22) and ranks tied for ninth nationally among defensemen averaging 0.73 points per game. He is also sixth and fifth, respectively, all-time at Wayne State in points (38) and assists (33) by a defenseman.

Including Saturday's setback, the Warriors own a 17-11-28 record (.554) in 56 regular-season contests that have reached sudden-death overtime. Three of Wayne State's last five games have been decided in overtime, with the two most recent resulting in losses.

This weekend's series at UAH includes a rare Sunday game for the Warriors. The last time Wayne State played on a Sunday was Nov. 26, 2006, a 2-0 defeat at then 12th-ranked Cornell. WSU's last victory on a Sunday was a 3-1 win over Canisius on Halloween 2004.

Seven of Wayne State's last nine games have been decided by one goal, with three resulting in WSU victories. The Warriors are 5-6 overall this season in one-goal contests.

LOOKING AHEAD
Wayne State closes 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).