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 Ryan Wright had a goal and an assist against Alabama-Huntsville. |
Jan. 17, 2004
Plymouth, Mich. - The Wayne State University men's hockey team (6-13-2, 2-7-0 CHA) returned home after a 12-game road trip, but the visiting Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (7-7-1, 6-3-0) upended the host Warriors 5-2 behind a hat trick from Jared Ross.
Ross, the son of UAH head coach and 1976 U.S. Olympian Doug Ross, scored once in the first period and added two more goals in the middle stanza. His first goal came after both teams failed to score on their first power-play attempts on the game. UAH had 3:07 of power play time after WSU senior forward Travis Rycroft was assessed a major for checking from behind just 26 seconds into the contest.
The Warriors battled back to tie the game at one with 5:56 left in the opening period when freshman Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) took a feed in the slot from classmate Ryan Wright (Brownstown, Mich./Texas Tornado). Wright had pressured UAH goalie Adam MacLean behind the net causing the turnover.
The first period ended 1-1 even though the guests held an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal.
Ross scored 49 seconds into the middle stanza with linemates Bruce Mulherin and Craig Bushey both earning their second assists of the game. Doug Watkins four-on-four goal after Todd Bentley won an offensive zone face-off gave the Chargers a 3-1 lead at the 9:02 mark of the second period. Ross added another goal with 9:25 remaining in the middle stanza for a 4-1 UAH advantage.
In the third period, Wright scored his second goal in as many games and third in the last five contests, off a feed from John May (Livonia, Mich./Springfield Junior Blues) just past the halfway point (10:46).
Bushey completed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left in the game.
Warrior senior goalie Marc Carlson (Hingham, Mass./Chicago Freeze) made 35 saves including 19 in the middle stanza when WSU was outshot 22-11. MacLean was credited with 24 saves in the Charger cage. Both teams went zero-for-five on the power play.
The teams will conclude the weekend series with a 2 p.m. face-off on Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth.
