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 Derek Bachynski has six points in the last three games. |
Jan. 23, 2008
GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (5-17-2, 1-7-0 CHA) hosts league foe Alabama-Huntsville (3-13-2, 0-6-2 CHA) at the Taylor SportsPlex this weekend. Both Friday's game and Saturday's rematch are slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Wayne State suffered a pair of tough losses to Niagara last weekend, having held a lead in both contests. Friday's game was a 3-2 setback at the SportsPlex, while last Saturday's meeting at the Palace of Auburn Hills resulted in a 6-5 loss. UAH wrapped up a six-game homestand by splitting a pair of 3-2 scores against Yale, with last Saturday's victory snapping a seven-game winless streak and marking UAH's first win at home this season.
With only conference games remaining, the Warriors play three of their last five series of the season on the road, beginning with a trip to Bemidji State next weekend (Feb. 1-2).
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 431-461-81, while his mark at WSU is 118-160-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.
Head coach Danton Cole is in his first season with the Chargers.
THROUGH THE YEARS
Alabama-Huntsville holds a 21-13-3 lead in the all-time series which dates back to 1999. The teams split their four regular-season meetings last year, but UAH earned a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory in the quarterfinals of the 2007 CHA Tournament, which they eventually won overall. Wayne State has won just two of the last 11 meetings with Alabama-Huntsville.
IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while Alabama-Huntsville was predicted to finish fifth.
ON THIS DATE
Wayne State has played just one regular-season game on January 25 in its history, a 3-0 win at Findlay in 2003. WSU also met the U.S. National Development Team in an exhibition contest in 2001, a 4-3 loss.
On January 26 last season, the Warriors suffered a 4-2 defeat at then 16th-ranked Niagara.
SCOUTING ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE
The Chargers have struggled all season long, posting the second-lowest winning percentage in Division I (.222). They rank last in scoring offense (1.67) and scoring defense (3.94), while only one team has a lower penalty-killing average and three have worst power-play conversion rates.
Junior forward Joe Federoff leads the team with 10 points (5 G, 5 A). Junior forward Matt Sweazey has six goals, and sophomore defenseman Brandon Roshko has a team-best nine assists. Sweazey and Federoff have combined to score seven of UAH's nine power-play goals.
Sophomore Blake MacNicol and freshman Cameron Talbot have shared time between the pipes this season. MacNicol has a record of 2-6-2 with a 3.35 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage in 10 starts. Talbot is 1-7-0 with a 4.73 GAA and a .863 SV% in eight starts.
LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State suffered a pair of losses to league for Niagara over the weekend, both of which saw the Purple Eagles come from behind to defeat the Warriors, who have lost all four meetings with Niagara this season.
In Friday's matchup at the Taylor SportsPlex, Tylor Michel tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period, and Brock Meadows gave the Warriors the lead five minutes later. The advantage was short-lived, however, as Niagara tied it at 2-2 with under a minute to go in the stanza, and took a 3-2 lead with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
After building a 4-1 lead, Wayne State surrendered five straight goals en route to a 6-5 defeat Saturday afternoon in WSU's first-ever game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The two teams combined for their highest scoring output in the series since a 9-6 Wayne State win in its first-ever meeting with Niagara on Jan. 12, 2001.
Stavros Paskaris totaled a career-best four points including two goals, and Derek Bachynski contributed three points.
Four minutes into the game, Tyler Ruel put WSU on the board and, after Niagara quickly tied it up at 4:53, the Warriors regained the lead just 34 seconds later when Derek Punches lit the lamp.
The two sides settled down for the remainder of the opening period, but Paskaris scored two goals 2:17 apart - the third-shortest individual two-goal span in school history - to build a 4-1 lead for the Warriors. The floodgates soon opened for the Purple Eagles, however, as they turned a three-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.
A power-play goal by Bachynski with 1:44 remaining kept it close, but WSU could not net the equalizer despite playing the final 52 seconds with an extra attacker.
Shots on goal favored the Warriors both nights, and they held the Purple Eagles to just two power-play goals in 11 chances, including an 0-for-6 mark on Friday. Freshman Mike Devoney totaled 31 saves in the series.
WSU NOTES
Jeff Caister, who is in the midst of a five-game point streak, leads all CHA blueliners in scoring (2-17--19) and ranks in a tie for ninth nationally among defensemen averaging 0.79 points per game. He is also sixth and fifth, respectively, all-time at Wayne State in points (35) and assists (31) by a defenseman.
Paskaris, WSU's active leading scorer, is tied with Caister for the team lead and fifth in the league with 19 points. He has eight points in his last three games and ranks sixth all-time with 78 career points, seventh with 50 assists and 12th with 28 goals. Saturday marked his third career multiple-goal game and the first since March 3 last season at Robert Morris.
After missing the first 18 games of the season, Bachynski has played in six games in 2008 and has six points in his last three contests. He needs one more point to reach 50 for his career.
Punches has tied his career-high with 10 points this season and needs one more goal to match his previous career-best of five from his freshman season. With two assists he will exceed his career-high in that category, set last season.
Three Warriors this season have reached the century mark in career games. Paskaris played in his 100th game against Robert Morris on Oct. 13 at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, while Michel accomplished the feat Dec. 7 at Western Michigan as did Bachynski on Jan. 12 at Northern Michigan. All three players recorded a point in their 100th game as well. With 12 regular-season games remaining, three more players could potentially hit the mark - Forgie (96), Matt Krug (92), and Punches (90).
Ruel's goal on Saturday snapped an eight-game scoreless streak. With nine points this season, he leads a WSU freshman class which has accounted for 23 of the team's 135 points (17 percent). Added to the list of contributors was Eric Roman, who achieved his first career point with an assist on Saturday.
Heading into this weekend, the Warriors are 2-2 all-time in four games at the Taylor SportsPlex, including last Friday's 3-2 loss to Niagara. Wayne State swept AIC in 2003, earning a 6-2 win on Jan. 10 and a 4-3 overtime victory the following night. WSU and Niagara also faced off at the SportsPlex on Nov. 8, 2003, with the Purple Eagles edging the Warriors, 4-3.
Last Saturday marked only the fourth time this season WSU has been the first team to score, and the first that has resulted in a loss. The Warriors have been held to two goals or less in 19 games this season and have a 1-16-2 record in those games.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following their trip to Bemidji, the Warriors return to host Robert Morris at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. A weekend off is sandwiched between trips to UAH and BSU leading up to the final home series March 7-8 against Niagara.
