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 John Grubb scored the game-winner at Alabama-Huntsville. |
Feb. 29, 2004
Huntsville, Ala. - The Wayne State University men's hockey team (8-21-3, 4-13-1 CHA) completed its first road sweep in a weekend series since Feb. 8-9, 2002 (5-2 and 3-1 at Niagara) with a 4-1 victory at Alabama-Huntsville Sunday afternoon.
Referee Dan O'Neill earned his pay by calling 40 penalties for 187 minutes in the contest. Wayne State went one-for-four on the power play, while stopping all seven Charger man-advantage opportunities. It marks the second time in the last 11 games WSU did not allow a power-play goal.
The Warriors, despite being outshot 12-8, led 1-0 after 20 minutes on a goal by freshman Jason Baclig (Leamington, Ont./Leamington Flyers). Baclig's team-leading 10th goal of the campaign was assisted by classmate Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) and came on the first power play of the game.
In the middle stanza, UAH had a 17-15 advantage in shots on goal, but WSU won the battle on the scoreboard, 2-1. Twenty seconds after a squirmish put three players in the penalty box for each team, junior wing John Grubb (Burlington, N.D./Waterloo Black Hawks) scored the game-winning goal, his team-leading second of the year, off assists from Baclig and sophomore defenseman Greg Poupard (Jackson, Mich./Waterloo Black Hawks).
The Chargers cut the deficit to one at 2-1 at the 13:22 mark when Jeremy Schreiber scored his eighth goal of the season. Wayne State regained the two-goal advantage at the 17:58 mark when Poupard netted his third of the season off assists from Grubb and defense partner Steve Kovalchik (Riverview, Mich./Omaha Lancers).
UAH won the shots on goal battle in the third period, 20-4, but Wayne State scored the only goal as senior Travis Rycroft (Penticton, B.C./Merritt Centennials) lit the lamp for the fourth time this year. Rycroft's second goal in the last six games came just 18 seconds into the third period. Baclig earned his third point of the night with the lone assist.
WSU sophomore netminder Matt Kelly (Hull, Mass./Topeka Scarecrows) equaled the team and his season-high with 48 saves (also had 48 stops on Dec. 6 in a 5-2 loss at Bemidji State). Adam MacLean had 23 saves for UAH.
The Warrior win sets up a showdown next Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (3:05) at the Compuware Sports Arena between Wayne State and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Both teams enter the final week of the regular season with identical 4-13-1 league marks.
