Jan. 25, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES

The Wayne State University men's hockey team (5-13-4, 2-5-3 CHA) concludes its four-game College Hockey America homestand this Friday and Saturday versus the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (11-8-1, 7-3-0 CHA). Face-off both nights at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

WSU moved into fourth place in the CHA standings with a tie (2-2 OT) and a victory (6-3) over visiting Robert Morris last weekend. The Chargers are third in the CHA three points behind league-leading Bemidji State (8-3-1). UAH will make up its two-games in-hand over BSU this weekend.

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 413-413-75, while his mark at WSU is 100-112-22. He recorded his 100th victory at Wayne State with last Saturday's win over RMU.

Michigan native Doug Ross is in his 24th season as head coach at Alabama-Huntsville. The former Lake Superior and Bowling Green player has 489 career victories including stops at Ohio University and Kent State.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Wayne State trails the all-time series versus Alabama-Hunstville 11-14-2.

The Warriors are 4-7-1 against the Chargers after a split last March 5-6 (4-0, 5-6).

IN THE POLLS

WSU was tabbed for third in College Hockey America. Alabama-Huntsville received three first-place votes and was voted first in the Coaches Preseason poll.

ON THIS DATE

WSU has never played on Jan. 27.

The Warriors are 0-1-0 on Jan. 28 following a 3-2 loss at Nebraska-Omaha in 2005.

SCOUTING ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE

The Chargers had their five-game CHA winning streak snapped at Niagara last Saturday.

Senior forward Bruce Mulherin leads the team with 17 points. Junior forward Daivd Nimmo has a team-best nine goals, while junior defenseman Shaun Arvai has a team-high 13 assists.

Senior Scott Munroe (10-6-1, 3.41, .912) has played over 86 percent of the minutes this season.

UAH has scored 18 power-play goals in 105 chances (17.1%), while stopping 125 of its opponents 158 opportunities (79.1%).

NOTES

Head coach Bill Wilkinson recorded his 100th win at Wayne State last Saturday, and 413th overall.

Nate Higgins scored the fourth fastest goal to start a game in school history on Saturday, scoring 31 seconds into the contest.

Derek Bachynski, who had two goals in his first 19 games of the season, recorded his first collegiate multiple-goal game by scoring once in the first period and the game-winner in the third period. It was Bachynski's first GWG since Oct. 31, 2004. He also had a career-best three points in Saturday's game.

Jason Bloomingburg equaled a career-high with three points in Saturday's match, while Adam Krug tied a personal- best with two assists in Saturday's game. Bloomingburg ended WSU's 0-for-28 streak on the power-play with a third period man-advantage marker on Saturday.

Mark Nebus scored WSU's final goal on Saturday with an assist from Taylor Donohoe. It was Donohoe's first helper since March 6, 2005.

WSU junior goalie Will Hooper made 16 saves to earn his second win of the season on Saturday. In Hooper's first seven starts, the Warriors scored 10 goals with WSU scoring six times in his start last Saturday.

WSU tied a team season-best by allowing only two goals on Friday, the third time this year Wayne State has held an opponent below three goals.

RMU's 19 shots on goal on Saturday was a season-low allowed by the Warriors. The 42 shots on goal allowed for a series is a season-low for WSU.

WSU is 5-5-2 in its last 12 games after starting the year 0-8-2.

WSU's penalty killing units went 10-for-11 versus Robert Morris, only allowing a man-advantage marker during a major penalty (2:25 into the major).

The six goals scored by WSU on Saturday ties a season-high.

Wayne State has scored six goals in a game four times in the last 11 contests.

The Warriors are 4-4-1 when scoring first but 1-9-3 when the opponent scores first.

Wayne State is 4-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes, 0-13-3 when trailing and 1-0-1 when tied after two periods.