March 11, 2003

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2002-03 - GAME 37 ~ CHA TOURNAMENT

WAYNE STATE MEN'S HOCKEY (18-16-2, 11-7-2 CHA)
vs. Air Force (10-23-3, 2-15-3 CHA)
Friday, March 14 * Kearney, Neb.

MATCH-UP AT A GLANCE:

Arena -- Tri-City Arena (4,520)
Surface -- 200' x 85'
Face-off -- 4:05 p.m. EST
Site -- Kearney, Nebraska
Series Record -- Wayne State leads 8-3-2

THE GAME

The Wayne State University men's hockey team will be the No. 3 seed for this weekend's College Hockey American tournament being held at the Tri-City Arena in Kearney, Nebraska. The Warriors will skate against Air Force, the No. 6 seed, in the first quarterfinal game slated for 4 p.m. EST on Friday, March 14.

The WSU - Air Force winner will play Niagara, the No. 2 seed, at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, March 15. The CHA Championship game, with an automatic NCAA bid on the line, will start at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 16.

Alabama-Huntsville, the No. 1 seed, will play the Findlay (No. 5 seed) versus Bemidji State (No. 4 seed) winner at 8 p.m. EST on March 15. UF and BSU play at 8 p.m. EST on March 14.

INTERVIEW POLICIES

Media representatives should contact the Sports Information Office for all player and coach interviews. Players and coaches may be interviewed prior to or directly after practice during the season, but requests must be made through the Sports Information Office ahead of time.

THE COACHES

WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson, a 1970 graduate of St. Lawrence, has a 69-57-11 mark in his fourth season as the Warriors bench boss. His overall varsity collegiate record stands at 382-358-64 in his 21st season. His 382 victories rank him tied-for-28th on the NCAA all-time win list.

Frank Serratore is in his sixth season at the helm of the Air Force Falcons. A 1982 graduate of Bemidji State, Serratore has compiled a 91-112-13 record at the USAF Academy. His overall collegiate record of 140-203-22 includes four seasons (1990-94) at Denver.

THE SERIES

Wayne State holds an 8-3-2 advantage in the all-time series. WSU is 7-1-1 in the last nine games versus the Falcons with the lone loss coming on January 12, 2002. The Warriors were 3-1 victors on March 15, 2002, in a CHA semifinal game at Niagara in the only previous netural site meeting in the series.

IN THE POLLS

Wayne State received all five possible first-place votes in the College Hockey America Coaches Preseason poll. Air Force was tied-for-fifth with Findlay in the CHA Coaches Preseason poll with seven points.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE

The Falcons have lost their last five games to fall to 10-23-3 overall.

Senior forward Andy Berg, who leads the league with 15 power-play goals, has a team-high 21 goals and 38 points. Senior forward Scott Zwiers leads the squad with 20 assists and has 33 points. Zwiers and sophomore forward Ryan Wiggins are tied-for-second on the team with 13 goals.

Junior Mike Polidor (9-20-3, 3.90, .880) has started 32 of Air Force's 36 games. Freshman David Goodley (1-3-0, 3.68, .865) has four starts.

The Falcon power play has converted 37 times in 204 opportunities (18.1%), while stopping 146 of their opponents 189 chances (77.2%).

FINDLAY SERIES NOTES

Wayne State concluded the regular-season with a home-and-home sweep (3-0, 6-3) of CHA rival Findlay.

The March 7 contest featured a post-game ceremony honoring WSU's 12 seniors. Warrior senior netminder David Guerrera turned aside all 35 Oiler shots to record his second shutout of the season (both against Findlay; other was a 3-0 win on Jan. 25 at Findlay) and his seventh career blanking.

UF, after being outshot 10-8 in the opening period, outshot the Warriors 27-9 over the final 40 minutes with Guerrera stopping everything. Ten of Findlay's 35 shots came during its six power-play chances.

Billy Collins scored the first two goals of the game, both on deflections for his first career multiple-goal game. The two lamp-lighters also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.

Just 71 seconds into the contest Collins deflected in Marc St. Jean's blueline shot past Findlay goalie Jamie VandeSpyker. The assist gave St. Jean seven points (two goals, five assists) in the last eight games.

With 2:43 remaining in the opening period, Collins redirected in Tyler Kindle's shot from the left point.

Early in the second period, Nick Stodgell's shot from the left point was deflected out front to Nathan Rosychuk, who slid the puck under VandeSpyker for his 10th of the campaign. Findlay pulled VandeSpyker twice in the final 1:57, during a power play for a total of 1:45, but could not get the puck past Guerrera.

In Saturday's contest at Findlay, the Warriors trailed by a goal three different times, but tallied the final four goals for the victory.

After falling behind 1-0 on a power-play goal, Wayne State tied the game as Nathan Rosychuk netted his 11th of the season with 4:31 remaining in the opening period. Linemates Jack Redwood and Maxim Starchenko assisted on the goal.

The Oilers took a 2-1 lead on another power-play goal 4:51 into the middle stanza. WSU battled back to tie the game at the 7:41 mark on Keith Stanich's fourth of the season. Rosychuk and Redwood earned assists on the scoring play. UF's Lee Arnold scored his second goal of the period at the 8:30 mark to complete the Oiler scoring.

Jon Brink scored with 8:28 left in the second period to knot the game at three. Brink's fifth of the campaign was assisted by Steve Nichols. Derek MacKay scored the game-winning goal on a WSU power play with seven seconds left in the period. MacKay's 14th goal, which ties him with Dustin Kingston for the team lead, was assisted by Kingston and Tyler Kindle.

Jason Durbin scored a power-play goal at the 11:04 mark of the third period off assists from Kingston and MacKay, while Kindle completed the scoring with 6:23 left in the game off assists from Kingston and Marc St. Jean.

WSU goalie David Guerrera made 26 saves to earn his 53rd collegiate victory. Jamie VandeSpyker started between the pipes for Findlay and turned aside 29 Warrior shots, while allowing six goals. Jon Horrell stopped six shots in just over five minutes of action.