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 Jordan Inglis scored his first career short-handed goal Saturday at Minnesota. |
Jan. 9, 2008
GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (3-15-2, 1-5-0 CHA) wraps up its nine-game road trip with a series at Northern Michigan (9-12-1, 6-10-0 CCHA). Both Friday's game and Saturday's rematch at the Berry Events Center are slated to begin at 7:35 p.m. ET.
Wayne State was swept by scores of 5-1 and 5-2 last weekend at 16th-ranked Minnesota, extending the Warriors' losing streak to eight. Northern Michigan split a series at home against sixth-ranked Notre Dame, as the two conference rivals exchanged 2-1 results Friday and Saturday.
The Warriors will open a four-game homestand Jan. 18-19 against College Hockey America rival Niagara, with the latter game being held at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
BEHIND THE BENCH
Bill Wilkinson is in his ninth season as Wayne State's head coach and his 26th year as a collegiate head coach. Wilkinson's overall record stands at 429-459-81, while his mark at WSU is 116-158-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.
In his sixth season at the helm of the Wildcats, head coach Walt Kyle has a career record of 111-96-18.
THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State is looking for its first win against Northern Michigan this weekend, as the Wildcats won all seven of the previous meetings. Four of those games were played in Marquette, including the first-ever series in January 2002 and the most recent in February 2006.
IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while Northern Michigan was predicted to finish eighth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association preseason coaches poll and 10th in the media poll.
ON THIS DATE
On January 11, the Warriors earned a 4-3 victory against Air Force in 2002 and a 4-3 overtime win against American International the following season.
Wayne State is 2-1-0 on January 12 in its history, including a 9-6 win at Niagara in 2001 (setting a school record for goals in a game), a 5-3 loss to Air Force in 2002, and a 2-1 overtime victory against Ferris State last year.
SCOUTING NORTHERN MICHIGAN
After an eight-game losing streak following their season-opening win Oct. 12 against Michigan Tech, the Wildcats have recovered to post an 8-4-1 record since Nov. 10 and are in a three-way tie for sixth place in the CCHA as they enter their final non-conference series of the season against the Warriors.
Junior forward Nick Sirota leads the team in points (22) and goals (12), while sophomore forward Matt Butcher and rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson have matched Sirota's team-best 10 assists. Seven Wildcats have double-digit point totals this season, four of which are freshmen including Mark Olver (6-9--15), who is tied for sixth in scoring among CCHA rookies. Olver notched his first career game-winning goal in last Friday's 2-1 upset of Notre Dame.
Attempting to strike early could prove to be sound strategy for the Warriors this weekend, as the Wildcats have been outscored 27-14 in the first period this season.
Northern Michigan's young goaltending unit is led by sophomore Brian Stewart, who has a 5-8-1 record with a 2.94 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage in 15 games. Freshman Reid Ellingson and sophomore Derek Janzen have a combined nine starts between them this season, with Ellingson winning four of those starts.
LAST TIME OUT
The Warriors, in their first game since Dec. 15, were held to a single goal for the fifth time in seven games in Friday's 5-1 loss to the Golden Gophers. Jared Katz, with an assist from Ryan Bernardi, produced that tally for the Warriors in the second period, tying the game at one apiece, but Minnesota proceeded to net four unanswered goals.
Warrior netminder Kyle Funkenhauser totaled 36 saves over the first 50 minutes before giving way to fellow rookie Mike Devoney, who made 10 saves in his first action of the season.
Saturday night's 5-2 setback gave Minnesota its second home sweep against Wayne State in as many years. Mike Forgie and Jordan Inglis lit the lamp for the Warriors, who saw their losing streak reach eight games.
Minnesota scored four straight over the first two periods before Forgie spoiled the shutout bid for Gopher goaltender Alex Kangas. Brock Meadows and Jeff Caister assisted on the power-play goal at 3:21 of the third period, the first allowed by the Gophers' penalty-killing unit in eight games. An unassisted short-handed goal by Inglis, his second tally of the season, at 14:13 made it a 4-2 game, but UM's Tony Lucia completed the scoring exactly 100 seconds later.
WSU starting goaltender Brett Bothwell allowed four goals on 13 shots before being relieved midway through the second period by Devoney, who stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced.
WSU NOTES
Caister leads the Warriors and all CHA blueliners in scoring (1-12--13), while ranking tied-for-eighth overall in points and third in assists. He is sixth all-time at Wayne State in both points (29) and assists (26) by a defenseman.
The Warrior rookies have accounted for 20 of the team's 95 points this season (21.1 percent). Tyler Ruel leads the class and is fourth among CHA freshmen with eight points. He has notched a point in six of the last eight series.
Stavros Paskaris, Wayne State's active leading scorer, is second on the team in scoring this season (4-7--11). He is tied with Chris Vail (2000-04) for eighth all-time with 70 career points. Paskaris also ranks seventh all-time with 45 assists and 13th with 25 goals. Additionally, as a testament to his discipline, his minor penalty last Saturday was his first trip to the box in 30 games dating back to last season.
After missing six games due to injury, Forgie returned to action in Minnesota and scored his fifth goal of the season Saturday. It also marked his 10th career power-play tally, putting him in a tie with junior Jon Grabarek and alum Jason Baclig (2003-07) for eighth all-time in school history.
Katz missed Saturday's game at UM, snapping his career-long streak of 54 games played. Fellow sophomores Caister and Bernardi have yet to miss a game in their careers (55 games each), but the current "ironman" on the team is junior Derek Punches, who has played in 60 straight games and missed just four in his three-year career.
Scoring offense continues to be a problem for the Warriors, as they have been held to two goals or less in 18 games this season and have a 1-15-2 record in those games. The penalty-killing unit has struggled as well, ranking second-to-last in the country while allowing a power-play goal in 18 of 20 games.
This weekend is Wayne State's fifth and final series against a CCHA opponent this season. WSU traveled to Ferris State, hosted Lake Superior State, played a home-and-home series with Bowling Green, and faced Western Michigan on the road. Wayne State is 9-39-3 all-time against CCHA opponents including a 1-6-1 mark this season.
LOOKING AHEAD
Wayne State will return to Detroit to host Niagara next weekend, with the Jan. 19 game being housed at the Palace of Auburn Hills as part of a doubleheader also featuring Michigan against Notre Dame. The Jan. 18 contest as well as the following weekend's series against Alabama-Huntsville (Jan. 25-26) will be played at the Taylor SportsPlex.