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 Jon Grabarek's second goal of the game tied the score at 4-4 in the third period. |
Feb. 17, 2007
DETROIT, Mich. - The Wayne State men's hockey team (9-20-1, 5-10-1 CHA) skated to a 4-4 overtime tie with 17th-ranked Niagara (17-11-4, 8-4-4 CHA) on Saturday night at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
It was just the second regular-season game to go into overtime this season for the Warriors, and the first to result in a tie.
Jon Grabarek (Sterling Hts., Mich./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) scored the game-tying goal, one of his two tallies on the night, at 8:13 in the third period of a contest that saw seven of the eight combined goals recorded on the power-play, including all four of Niagara's lamplighters.
Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers) put the Warriors in front, 1-0, at 2:08 in the opening period, as Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) found him open down low on the left post to put it past Niagara goaltender Allen Barton. Matt Krug (Livonia, Mich./Texas Tornado) also assisted on the play.
Matt Caruana evened the score with his first of two power-play goals in the contest at 15:35, finishing off a scramble in front of the crease of WSU netminder Brett Bothwell (Red Deer, Alb./Yorkton Terriers).
Grabarek netted the lone even-strength marker of the game at 4:31 in the middle stanza as the Warriors regained their one-goal lead. Mark Cannon (River Rouge, Mich./Compuware Ambassadors) dug the puck out from behind the Niagara net to Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians), who found Grabarek open across the zone for the one-timer.
Niagara would score three straight power-play goals, however, including two 49 seconds apart.
Sean Bentivoglio's centering pass found the stick of Egor Mironov, who fired it past Bothwell to tie the game at 2-2 at the 12:06 mark. At 12:55, Ted Cook scored his nation-leading 29th goal and 19th power-play goal of the season, putting away a rebound off a wide shot by Pat Oliveto.
Caruana's second goal of the night made it a 4-2 game at 1:26 of the third period, as he buried a slap shot from the right faceoff circle.
Wayne State would narrow the gap to 4-3 on a power-play goal by Jason Bloomingburg (Canton, Mich./Texas Tornado). Dan Iliakis (Scarborough, Ont./Georgetown Raiders) and Grabarek worked the puck around the blue line to Bloomingburg, who ripped a shot from the right boards past Barton.
The game-tying goal began on a play by Derek Bachynski (Belle River, Ont./Leamington Flyers), as his shot from the left side went wide and carried around the boards to Iliakis. Iliakis sent it over to Grabarek, and the sophomore forward took a slap shot from between the circles that found the back of the net to tie the game at four.
Shots on goal went slightly in favor of Niagara, 31-28, as the Purple Eagles were successful on four of their nine power-play opportunities. Wayne State scored three times in eight chances.
Bothwell made 27 saves for Wayne State, while Barton totaled 24 saves for Niagara.
Wayne State will host Bemidji State in its final home series of the season next weekend, Feb. 23-24, at the Coliseum.
