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 Senior defenseman Dan Iliakis had two goals in the loss to UAH. |
March 9, 2007
Des Moines, Iowa - The Wayne State University men's hockey team (12-21-2 overall) had its seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) and 2006-07 campaign come to an end Friday night with a 4-3 overtime loss to the University of Alabama-Huntsville (11-19-3) in a CHA quarterfinal playoff game at the 95KGGO Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Warriors started strong in the opening stanza by scoring twice and outshooting UAH 11-6.
WSU grabbed a 1-0 advantage at the 15:27 mark on a lamp-lighter by senior blueliner Dan Iliakis (Scarborough, Ont./Georgetown Raiders). Sophomore forward Derek Punches (Manchester, Mich./Texas Tornado) won an offensive zone face-off to the right of Charger starting netminder Blake MacNicol back to senior defenseman Taylor Donohoe (Richmond, B.C./Powell River Kings) who fed Iliakis for his fifth goal of the year.
Wayne State increased its lead to 2-0 in the final 50 seconds of the period on a power-play marker by senior Jason Baclig (Richmond, B.C./Powell River Kings). Freshman Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers) and senior Nate Higgins (Calgary, Alb./Green Bay Gamblers) earned helpers on Baclig's eighth of the season.
Iliakis' second of the evening gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead and chased MacNicol at the 7:23 mark of the middle period. Junior forward Derek Bachynski (Belle River, Ont./Leamington Flyers) dug the puck out of the corner and passed to junior center Stavros Paskaris (Dearborn, Mich./Kewadin Indians), who found a streaking Iliakis down the slot for the goal.
Just past the mid-point of the contest, UAH's Tyler Hilbert carried the puck into the offensive zone and his pass deflected to Tom Train. Train fed Cale Tanaka along the side boards, Tanaka was able to thread a back-door pass to Train for the Chargers first goal of the game.
Wayne State had just one shot on goal in the first 10 minutes after MacNicol was replaced by Marc Narduzzi and UAH held a 15-9 advantage in shots on goal in the middle frame.
The Chargers pulled within a goal just 1:48 into the third period on a goal by Dominik Rozman, off an assist from Brett McConnachie.
During a four-on-four situation two-and-a-half minutes later, Rozman was able to net the equalizer.
WSU held a 13-11 lead in shots on goal in the third period despite playing the final 1:44 of regulation on the penalty kill.
The Warriors were able to kill of the final 16 seconds of the penalty in overtime but at the 6:54 mark, Tylor Michel was assessed a slashing minor which was followed by a UAH timeout. With 15 seconds left in the man-advantage, UAH's Grant Selinger was able to put a rebound past WSU goaltender Will Hooper (Woodbridge, Ont./Wexford Raiders).
This marks the second straight year that UAH ended Wayne State's season in the CHA playoffs, and the second time in three seasons that the Warriors campaign ended with an overtime setback (Air Force defeated WSU 4-3 on March 11, 2005, in Grand Rapids, Minn.).
WSU has lost its last four CHA playoff games by a total of five goals (13-8) since winning its third consecutive CHA playoff crown in 2003.
