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 Matt Kelly earned his second career shutout with 33 saves against UAH. |
March 5, 2005
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (14-15-4 overall, 7-8-4 College Hockey America) recorded its first shutout since March 7, 2003, with a 4-0 whitewash of the University of Alabama-Huntsville (16-9-4, 13-5-1 CHA) Saturday afternoon at the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth.
In a game that saw both school record 33 shots on goal, the Warrior special teams were the difference as WSU scored two power-play goals and added an empty-net short-handed goal in the final minute.
Junior left wing John May (Livonia, Mich./Springfield Junior Blues) opened the scoring 3:02 into the contest as he banged in a rebound of a Dan Iliakis (Scarborough, Ont./Georgetown Raiders) shot. The scoring play started when May created a turnover in WSU's defensive zone by UAH's Jared Ross. Iliakis gathered the puck and feed May in the neutral zone. May skated into the offensive end and sent a pass around the boards to Iliakis at the right point, his shot was stopped by Charger goalie Scott Munroe but May was there to net his 11th goal of the season.
The next 27 minutes were scoreless until freshman right wing Tylor Michel (Sudbury, Ont./Owen Sound Greys) redirected Adam Krug's (Livonia, Mich./Sioux City Musketeers) centering pass behind Munroe at the 10:38 mark of the second period. Sophomore left wing Jason Baclig (Leamington, Ont./Leamington Flyers) earned his team-leading 21st assist of the season on the power-play marker.
The score remained 2-0 until the mid-point of the third period when freshman center Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians) scored a five-on-three power-play goal as both Todd Bentley (major for contact to the head-elbowing) and Bruce Mulherin (unsportsmanlike conduct) were in the penalty box. Paskaris' 11th of the season came at the 11:26 mark and was assisted by freshman defenseman Mark Bradshaw (Stony Plain, Alb./Humboldt Broncos).
Sophomore forward Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) completed the scoring with a short-handed empty-net goal at the 19:04 mark off an assist from Krug.
Warrior junior netminder Matt Kelly (Hull, Mass./Topeka Scarecrows) earned his first shutout since Dec. 28, 2002, when he made 36 saves in a 7-0 victory over Princeton at the Rensselaer Holiday Classic. Munroe was credited with 29 saves in the UAH cage. Wayne State went two-for-nine with the power-play, while the Chargers were zero-for-four.
The teams conclude the regular season with a 2:05 start on Sunday at the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth.
The loss by UAH secures the league title for Bemidji State (30 points) since the Chargers have 27 points entering the final day of the regular season.
Wayne State is tied with Niagara for third place in the CHA entering Saturday night's contest for the Purple Eagles against Robert Morris. Niagara owns the tiebreaker by virtue of its 2-1-1 mark against the Warriors.
Notes:
Wayne State improves to 8-6-2 at home this year overall and 4-3-2 against CHA schools.
WSU is 9-4-2 when scoring the first goal and 9-1-1 when leading after 40 minutes.
The game marked the first time this year that WSU and its opponent were even in shots on goal.
The Warriors are 10-1-0 this year when scoring at least four goals.
Wayne State had its ninth multiple power-play goal game of the season. WSU is 8-1-0 when scoring at least two power-play goals in a game.
Adam Krug recorded his third multiple-point game of the season and first career multiple-assist game of the year.
