Feb. 22, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES

The Wayne State University men's hockey team (6-18-6, 3-8-5 CHA) will play its final regular-season road series this weekend at league-leading Alabama-Huntsville (16-10-2, 10-5-1 CHA).

The Warriors split at home (3-4, 3-2) last weekend vs. Niagara, while UAH was swept at Air Force (3-1, 5-0).

WSU trails Robert Morris and Air Force by one point for fourth place while the Chargers are tied for the top spot in the CHA with Bemidji State. The Warriors host Air Force to conclude the regular-season with UAH traveling to Bemidji on March 3-4.

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 414-418-77, while his mark at WSU is 101-117-24.

Doug Ross is in his 24th season at UAH after previous coaching stints at Ohio University and Kent State. His overall coaching record is 515-267-43, while his mark at UAH is 362-232-39.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Alabama-Huntsville leads the all-time series, 15-11-3, but the Warriors are 5-7-1 in games played at UAH.

The teams played to a 2-2 (OT) tie on Jan. 27 in Detroit, with the Chargers prevailing, 6-2, the following evening.

WSU is 2-0-3 in overtime contests against UAH.

IN THE POLLS

WSU was selected to finish third in College Hockey America, while Alabama-Huntsville received three first-place votes and was selected first by the CHA coaches.

ON THIS DATE

WSU is 0-0-1 on Feb. 24 after a 1-1 tie vs. Bemidji State in 2001.

The Warriors are 1-0-0 on Feb. 25 following a 4-3 win over Alabama-Huntsville in 2000. WSU defenseman Tyler Kindle had two goals including the game-winner.

SCOUTING UAH

The Chargers had a five-game winning streak snapped with last Friday's 3-1 loss at Air Force. The two setbacks in Colorado (5-0 loss on Saturday) was the first time UAH had been swept since Oct. 21-22 at Maine.

Senior forward Bruce Mulherin leads the team in goals (11) and points (25). Junior defenseman Shaun Arvai has a team-best 18 assists.

Senior Scott Munroe (14-8-2, 3.14, .913) has started 25 of UAH's 28 games. Huntsville has scored 25 power-play goals in 154 chances (16.2%), while stopping 179 of its opponents 221 opportunities (81.0%).

NOTES

Wayne State snapped a seven-game (0-5-2) winless streak with last Saturday's win over Niagara.

WSU went 1-2-1 vs. the Purple Eagles this year but were only outscored 14-13.

The Warriors are 2-4-2 in home CHA games and 1-4-3 in road league games with a road series this weekend at Alabama-Huntsville followed by a home weekend vs. Air Force.

Wayne State had back-to-back multiple power-play goal games for the first time since Dec. 30-31. WSU went 2-for-2 on Friday and 2-for-7 on Saturday.

WSU penalty killers were six-for-six on Friday, only the fifth game this year the Warriors did not allow a power-play goal. Niagara's power play was eighth in the country before this past weekend.

Steve Kovalchik had an assist each game to extend his assist streak to five games, tying a personal best set earlier this year.

Derek Bachynski had two points (1-1) on Friday and three points (1-2) on Saturday giving him three multiple-point games during his four-game point streak.

Jason Baclig extended his point streak to four games with an assist on Friday and the game-winning goal on Saturday.

Adam Krug had a goal and an assist each night against Niagara giving him nine points (3-6) in the last four games.

The eight overtime games (1-1-6) in a season is the second-most in school history. Wayne State played 11 overtime affairs during the 2000-01 campaign.

The six ties in a season is a school record (WSU had four overtime draws in both 2001-02 and 2004-05).

The Warriors have lost 50-man games to injury this year. Wayne State went 3-2-1 for the six games with no injuries.

WSU senior goalie Matt Kelly has four of his 24 career victories versus Alabama-Huntsville. In six appearances, Kelly has a 2.35 goals-against average with a .941 save percentage.