Feb. 7, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES

The Wayne State University men's hockey team (5-16-5, 2-6-4 CHA) begins its stretch drive of eight consecutive league games to conclude the regular season with a two-game College Hockey America series at Robert Morris (8-15-2, 4-7-1 CHA) this Friday and Saturday.

WSU completed the non-conference portion of its schedule last weekend with two losses (3-1, 2-1) at Northern Michigan.

The Colonials lead the Warriors by one point (9-8) for fourth place in the CHA standings.

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 413-416-76, while his mark at WSU is 100-115-23. He recorded his 100th victory at Wayne State with the Jan. 21 win over RMU.

RMU head coach Derek Schooley played for Wilkinson at Western Michigan and has a 16-36-6 mark in his second year as a collegiate head coach.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Wayne State leads the all-time series 3-1-2 versus Robert Morris. The Warriors recorded a tie (2-2 OT) and win (6-3) in Detroit on Jan. 20-21. WSU is 1-0-1 all-time at RMU.

IN THE POLLS

WSU was selected to finish third in College Hockey America, while Robert Morris was picked to finish fifth.

RADIO

Wayne State will broadcast both games this weekend at Robert Morris - Friday on WDTK and Saturday on Teamline.

ON THIS DATE

WSU is 0-1-0 on Feb. 10 with a 6-3 loss at Alabama-Huntsville in 2001.

The Warriors are 0-1-0 on Feb. 11 following a 5-2 loss at RIT in 2000.

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS

The Colonials have won three straight since their weekend series in Detroit.

Senior forward Kurt Wright leads the team with 17 points and nine goals including six on the power play. Junior forward Doug Conley has a team-high 14 assists. Sophomore forward Tom Biondich has scored two of RMU's three short-handed goals.

Sophomore Christian Boucher (7-14-2, 3.10, .906) has started 23 of RMU's 25 games.

RMU has scored 25 power-play goals in 143 chances (17.5%), while stopping 117 of its opponents 145 opportunities (80.7%).

NOTES

The five goals allowed at Northern Michigan is tied for the fewest allowed in a weekend series by WSU this season.

Wayne State has allowed three or less goals in five of the last six contests.

Mark Cannon scored on Friday extending his goal-scoring streak to two games. He had one goal in his first 18 games this season.

Stavros Paskaris had an assist on Saturday and has four points (1-3) in the last six matches.

WSU is 3-7-5 in games decided by two goals or less this year. Wayne State has allowed one power-play goal or less in five of the last six games.

The Warriors were assessed 12 penalties the entire weekend at NMU after recording double digit penalty totals in each of the three previous games.

WSU's power play is one for its last 20 and two for its last 49.

Freshman forward Steve Kinnie made his collegiate debut on Friday and was +1 with a shot on goal. He was even on Saturday. His only other appearance was an exhibition game in October.

The Warriors are 4-4-2 when scoring first, but 1-12-3 when the opponent scores first.

WSU's final eight regular-season games are all against College Hockey America foes.

Wayne State is 1-3-2 at home as well as on the road vs. league opponents with four home games (2-Niagara and 2-Air Force) and four road games (2 at Robert Morris and 2 at Alabama-Huntsville) remaining on the schedule. Even though WSU has been outscored 103-63 this year, the first period margin is only three (23-20).

Wayne State compiled a 3-10-1 mark in non-league games with wins in its only two home non-conference contests. The Warriors have played four games versus teams ranked in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top 15 poll.

The Warriors have lost 34-man games due to injury. WSU had either last season's top scorer (Stavros Paskaris) or the previous year's top scorer (Nate Higgins) missing for the first eight games. Wayne State went 3-2-1 for the six games with no injuries and are 1-6-3 since losing both Mike Forgie and Tylor Michel to injuries.