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 Tylor Michel recorded his first career hat trick Friday night against RMU. |
Jan. 19, 2007
DETROIT, Mich. - Tylor Michel (Sudbury, Ont./Owen Sound Saugeen Greys) recorded his first career hat trick as the Wayne State men's hockey team (6-17-0, 2-7-0 CHA) overcame an early two-goal deficit to defeat Robert Morris (8-12-1, 5-6-0 CHA), 7-4, on Friday night at the Michigan State Fairground Coliseum.
Michel socred all three goals in the third period in a record-setting span of 7:57, far surpassing the previous school mark of 21:06, set by Jason Durbin in 2001.
Robert Morris jumped out to a 1-0 lead 2:59 into the game, as Joel Gasper sent the puck back off the faceoff to Aaron Clarke, who sailed a slap shot over the glove of WSU goaltender Brett Bothwell (Red Deer, Alb./Yorkton Terriers).
The Colonials made it a 2-0 game when Jake Obermeyer scored from just inside the blue line with an assist from Ryan Cruthers, one of two helpers Cruthers had on the night.
Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers) extended his goal-scoring streak to four games at 11:25 when he collected a rebound off a short-range shot by Dan Iliakis (Scarborough, Ont./Georgetown Raiders) and placed a backhand just inside the left post from between the circles.
Derek Bachynski's (Belle River, Ont./Leamington Flyers) power-play tally at 5:46 in the middle stanza tied the score at two. Jason Baclig (Leamington, Ont./Leamington Flyers) and Mark Nebus (South Lyon, Mich./Texas Tornado) worked the puck around the back of the net to Bachynski, who skated into the left faceoff circle and fired a shot into the top corner over the glove of RMU netminder Christian Boucher.
A wraparound goal by Chris Margott put the Colonials in front, 3-2, until Jon Grabarek's (Sterling Hts., Mich./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) power-play goal at 14:08. Katz took a pass from Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) to the left corner, where he spotted Grabarek open across the ice. Grabarek finished the play on a one-timer, and the teams went into the locker room tied at three.
The go-ahead goal came off the stick of Jason Bloomingburg (Canton, Mich./Texas Tornado), as he poked in a loose puck in front of the net at 4:46 of the final period. Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians) and Mark Cannon (River Rouge, Mich./Compuware Ambassadors) earned assists on the play.
Michel scored his first of three goals, which proved to be the game-winner, in similar fashion to Bloomingburg, as good puck movement from Iliakis and Mike Forgie (Scarborough, Ont./Stouffville Spirit) created an opportunity in front of Boucher, who was subsequently pulled in favor of Joe Tuset.
Minutes later, Derek Punches (Manchester, Mich./Texas Tornado) sent a nice pass up neutral ice, hitting Michel in stride up the left wing as he fired a shot past the glove of Tuset at the 12:33 mark.
With an assist from Iliakis, his third of the night, Michel completed his hat trick on an empty-net goal.
Gasper scored RMU's fourth goal at 19:19, but the game was out of reach for the visitors as the Warriors earned their second conference victory of the season.
Bothwell finished with 25 saves, including 11 in the first period and nine in the third, to pick up his fifth win of the season.
Wayne State and Robert Morris will meet again tomorrow night (Jan. 20) at 7:05 p.m. at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
