Jan. 17, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES

The Wayne State University men's hockey team (4-13-3, 1-5-2 CHA) will play its first College Hockey America home contests in over two months this Friday and Saturday when the Robert Morris Colonials (5-14-1, 2-6-0 CHA) invade the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. The series is part of a men's and women's hockey doubleheader each day.

WSU is 0-2-0 in league home games, while RMU is 0-4-0 in CHA road contests after being swept at Alabama-Huntsville (3-1, 8-1) this past weekend.

Wayne State rallied for a 3-3 overtime tie at Bemidji State last Friday before falling 6-2 on Saturday.

BEHIND THE BENCH

Bill Wilkinson is in his seventh season as Wayne State's head coach and his 24th year as a collegiate head coach. Wilkinson's overall record stands at 412-413-74, while his mark at WSU is 99-112-21.

Former Western Michigan defenseman Derek Schooley is in his second year at RMU and has an overall mark of 13-35-5. He played four years (1989-94) for Wilkinson, helping the Broncos to the 1994 NCAA tournament.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Wayne State leads the all-time series versus Robert Morris 2-1-1.

The Warriors split at home (4-1, 3-4 OT) on Jan. 22-23, 2005. WSU recorded a win (3-2) and a tie (1-1 OT) in the first two meetings between the schools.

IN THE POLLS

Wayne State was tabbed for third in College Hockey America. Robert Morris was voted fifth in the CHA Coaches Preseason poll.

ON THIS DATE

WSU is 1-0-0 on Jan. 20 following a 3-1 win over Findlay in 2001.

The Warriors are 0-2-0 on Jan. 21. WSU lost 3-1 at Alaska Fairbanks in 2000 and 4-3 versus Bowling Green at Joe Louis Arena in 2003.

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS

The Colonials are tied with WSU for fifth place in the CHA after being swept at Alabama-Huntsville last weekend.

Junior forward Doug Conley leads the team with 13 assists and is tied with senior Kurt Wright for the team lead in points. Sophomore forward Brett Hopfe has a team-best seven goals.

Sophomore Christian Boucher (5-13-1, 3.14, .904) has played nearly 90% of the minutes this season.

RMU has scored 21 power-play goals in 116 chances (18.1%), while stopping 88 of its opponents 112 opportunities (78.6%).

NOTES

WSU allowed three power-play goals in a game on Saturday for the second time this season. The first was the season-opener on Oct. 8 versus Michigan State.

John May had a career-high three assists on Friday and scored WSU's first short-handed goal since Feb. 26, 2005, on Saturday.

Greg Poupard's goal on Friday was his first in 364 days (since Jan. 14, 2005, at Niagara). He has three points (1-2) in his last four games.

Derek Bachynski ended a 14-game goalless streak with WSU's first goal of the game on Friday. He assisted on WSU's short-handed goal on Saturday for his first back-to-back games with a point this season.

Steve Kovalchik leads all CHA blueliners with nine power-play points which is tied for eighth among all skaters.

Nate Higgins is in the top 10 in three different league categories: tied-for-sixth in goals (9), tied-for-eighth in power-play points (9) and tied-for-second in power-play goals (5). He is tied-for-13th in points (15).

Stavros Paskaris is scoreless in his last seven games after recording six points (4-2) in his first seven contests.

WSU went 0-for-7 on the power play each night last weekend. The last time WSU went back-to-back games without a power-play goal was Nov. 11-12 against Bemidji State. The Warriors were 0-for-27 with the man-advantage versus the Beavers this year.

Saturday's setback was the worst league loss of the season. In the two games at Niagara, WSU lost in overtime and tied the next night. When Bemidji played in Detroit, both games were 2-1 in the final minute before BSU scored an empty-net goal. In the series at Air Force, WSU won the opener and lost 7-6 the next night and had the goalie on the bench for the final 78 seconds. WSU rallied for a tie on Friday at BSU.

After playing four home games in the first three months of the season, WSU will play its next four games at home, and eight of its final 14 regular-season contests.

Wayne State is playing home men's and women's hockey doubleheaders this Friday and Saturday at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. The women skate against RPI at 4 p.m. each day with the men's game versus Robert Morris to follow at 7:05 p.m. each evening.

Bill Wilkinson has 99 career wins at WSU and 412 for his career.