Jan. 23, 2004

Plymouth, Mich. - The Wayne State University men's hockey team (6-15-2, 2-9-0 CHA) dropped its sixth consecutive home league contest Friday night, 6-2, to the league-leading Bemidji State Beavers (12-7-2, 9-2-0).

BSU started the scoring 1:33 into the contest when Ryan Huddy netted his third of the campaign on a rebound from Wade Chiodo and Riley Riddell. The Beavers increased their lead to 2-0 at the 6:42 mark when Luke Erickson intercepted a Warrior clearing pass and fed Brendan Cook for his 12th of the year. The guests had a 13-3 shots on goal advantage during the opening 20 minutes.

WSU cut the deficit to one at 2-1 when sophomore John May (Livonia, Mich./Springfield Junior Blues) scored his third of the season as he batted the puck out of the air. Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) and Nicholas Staneckyj (Garson, Ont./Rayside Balfour Sabrecats) cycled the puck down low with Higgins feeding the puck out front.

The Warriors went on the power play just past the mid-point of the second period, but BSU's Cook scored a short-handed goal as he finished off a two-on-one with Erickson. Bryce Methven earned his first of two assists in the game on the Beavers third goal.

Erickson added a power-play goal with 4:16 left in the middle stanza from Cook and Methven.

Wayne State made it a 4-2 game just 2:43 into the third period. Steve Kovalchik (Riverview, Mich./Omaha Lancers) started the scoring play at his own blueline. He fed Higgins in the neutral zone and his pass glanced off Ryan Wright (Brownstown, Mich./Texas Tornado) to Jason Baclig (Leamington, Ont./Leamington Flyers). After carrying the puck into the offensive zone, Baclig made a nifty pass to Higgins for his seventh lamp-lighter of the campaign.

Riddell and Peter Jonsson would tack on goals for the guests.

WSU senior goalie Marc Carlson (Hingham, Mass/Chicago Freeze) made 29 saves including two double-digit period totals (11 in the first and 13 in the second), while BSU netminder Grady Hunt turned aside 10 Warrior shots. Wayne State went zero-for-two with the man-advantage, while the Beavers had two power-play goals in six chances.

Wayne State will play its final game of January on Saturday the 24th with a 3 p.m. face-off against Bemidji.