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 Marc Carlson made 32 saves against Northern Michigan. |
Feb. 13, 2004
Plymouth, Mich. - Before the largest home crowd of the season, and the eighth largest home crowd in the program's five-year history, the Wayne State University men's hockey team (6-19-2) battled the CCHA's Northern Michigan University Wildcats (15-12-2) nearly even for over 50+ minutes but fell 4-1 Friday night at the Compuware Sports Arena.
In a pre-game ceremony, the 2003 College Hockey America tournament champions and NCAA Regional participants received their championship rings.
An inspired 2003-04 WSU squad was outshot 14-8 in the opening period, but trailed just 1-0 on a rebound goal by Geoff Waugh. His second career goal (in 68 games) was assisted by Patrick Murphy (first assist of the season) and Matt Ciancio.
Northern Michigan outshot the Warriors 8-5 in the middle stanza but only managed a power-play goal on a deflection by Pat Bateman. Jamie Milam and Nathan Oystrick assisted on the man-advantage marker.
Just past the mid-point of the third period and only 10 seconds into a Wayne State power play Matt Boldt's (Burnsville, Minn./Billings Bulls) blueline shot was deflected past NMU netminder Craig Kowalski by WSU senior Travis Rycroft (Penticton, B.C./Merritt Centennials) for his third goal of the season. Sophomore defenseman Steve Kovalchik (Riverview, Mich./Omaha Lancers) also garnered an assist on the Warriors lone goal.
The one-goal deficit remained for just 67 seconds until Alex Sawruk netted NMU's second power-play goal of the contest. Matt Hunter completed the scoring with an even-strength marker at the 15:06 mark.
WSU senior goaltender Marc Carlson (Hingham, Mass./Chicago Freeze) made 32 saves including two double-digit period totals. Kowalski stopped 25 of the Warriors 26 shots. Wayne State scored one power-play goal in seven chances, while the Wildcats had two man-advantage tallies in six opportunities.
The teams conclude the weekend series with a 7:05 p.m. face-off on Saturday at the Compuware Sports Arena.
