March 6, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES

The Wayne State University men's hockey team (6-22-6) looks to improve upon its 8-2 all-time CHA tournament record against the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (18-12-2) in Friday's second quarterfinal contest. Air Force and Robert Morris begin the men's tournament at 3:35 p.m. on Friday.

WSU is seeded sixth, the same position it was in 2004 when the Warriors posted a 5-3 victory over UAH in a quarterfinal match in Kearney, Neb.

The winner of Friday's WSU-UAH game will face second seeded Bemidji State at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday.

Both the CHA men's and women's tournaments are being held at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

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 414-422-77, while his mark at WSU is 101-121-24.

Doug Ross, a native of Michigan, is in his 24th season at Alabama-Huntsville. His record at UAH is 440-248-40.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Alabama-Huntsville leads the all-time series, 17-11-3, including a 3-0-1 mark during the 2005-06 season.

Wayne State has a 4-8-2 mark at home against the Chargers.

IN THE POLLS

WSU was selected to finish third in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while UAH was picked first.

TELEVISION

Sunday's CHA Championship game will be televised live nationally by CSTV.

ON THIS DATE

WSU is 1-0-0 on March 10 after a 4-1 CHA championship game win over Alabama-Huntsville in 2001.

The Warriors are 0-1-0 on March 11 following a 4-3 overtime loss to Air Force in 2005.

SCOUTING ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE

The Chargers were swept (3-1, 5-0) at Bemidji State last weekend to drop into a second-place tie with BSU. The Beavers won the tiebreaker giving UAH the No. 3 seed for the CHA tournament.

Senior forward Bruce Mulherin leads the team in goals (15) and points (33) and is tied with junior defenseman Shaun Arvai for the team lead in assists (18). Junior forward Steve Canter has a team-best four game-winning goals.

Senior Scott Munroe (16-10-2, 3.05, .914) has started 29 of UAH's 32 games.

Alabama-Huntsville has scored 31 power-play goals in 186 chances (16.7%), while stopping 208 of its opponents 254 opportunities (81.9%).

NOTES

Senior defenseman Steve Kovalchik will equal the school record for career games played (141) in Friday's contest against Alabama-Huntsville. Dustin Kingston (1999-03) originally set the mark.

WSU will face Alabama-Huntsville (No. 6 vs. No. 3) for the second time in CHA playoff history. The last time they squared off as similar seeds, the Warriors posted a 5-3 victory on March 12, 2004, in Kearney, Neb., behind a hat trick from Billy Collins. Current WSU senior John May scored in the opening period to tie the game at one.

Wayne State is 8-2 all-time in CHA tournament history including three consecutive championships (2001-02-03). Only once, 2005, has WSU not won at least one playoff game.

Stavros Paskaris had an assist each game against Air Force and has three helpers in his last five games.

Senior John May had a goal and an assist on Senior Night for his third multiple-point game of the season and second versus Air Force.

Adam Krug's goal on Saturday was his fifth in the last eight games after scoring twice in the first 23 contests.

Junior defenseman Dan Iliakis had a goal and an assist on Saturday for his second multiple-point game in the last seven contests.

Wayne State scored three goals on Saturday after scoring three goals in the previous three games combined.

The Warriors scored first in 12 of 34 contests, recording a 5-5-2 mark when taking a 1-0 lead. WSU went 1-17-4 when the opponent held a 1-0 lead.

Wayne State was 5-0-1 when leading after two periods but 0-21-4 when trailing after 40 minutes. Entering the third period tied, the Warriors were 1-1-1.

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 56-man games to injury this year. Wayne State went 3-2-1 for the six games with no injuries.

In Will Hooper's 15 starts this year, WSU has scored 30 goals and more than two goals in only four starts.