Feb. 20, 2007

A pair of Wayne State men's hockey players earned awards from College Hockey America this week for their individual performances in last weekend's series against No. 17 Niagara. Jon Grabarek (Sterling Hts., Mich./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) earned his first career CHA Offensive Player of the Week Award, and Jared Katz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Baystate Breakers) was named CHA Rookie of the Week for the second straight time and fourth overall this season.

Grabarek, who had seven points over Wayne State's previous 28 games this season, amassed five points in the two games against Niagara, including two goals in Saturday's come-from-behind 4-4 tie. He assisted on Mike Forgie's game-winning goal on Friday and added another helper midway through the second period. Both helpers came on the power-play, as did two of his three points on Saturday.

His even-strength tally early in the middle stanza gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead, but it was his assist on Jason Bloomingburg's five-on-three tally and his subsequent game-tying power-play goal in the third period that helped Wayne State make up its two-goal deficit. Grabarek had a plus/minus rating of +2 for the series.

Jared Katz

Katz totaled three points in the Niagara series and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. The freshman forward recorded an assist on the first goal of the game and added a tally with 25 seconds remaining in the opening period of Friday's 6-1 victory. He scored the game's first goal, on the power-play, just 2:08 into Saturday's contest. Katz posted a plus/minus rating of +3 in the series.

He has a point in his last four games and 11 of his last 13 while leading all CHA rookies with 10 goals on the season.

Wayne State will host Bemidji State in its final home series of the season next weekend, Feb. 23-24, at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Tickets are available at the box office or by calling 1-866-WSU-TIKS.