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 Jeff Caister has seven points in his last six games. |
Nov. 27, 2007
GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (3-7-2, 1-3-0 CHA) will battle Bowling Green State University (6-4-0, 5-3-0 CCHA) in a home-and-home series this weekend. Both Friday's game at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit and Saturday's meeting at the BGSU Ice Arena are slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Wayne State came away from its trip to St. Lawrence last weekend with a 3-2 win on Friday, its first road victory of the season, and a 2-2 tie on Saturday. Bowling Green, which was idle from competition last weekend, split a series against Northern Michigan two weeks ago, winning 4-2 on Nov. 16 but falling 3-2 the next night. The Falcons also dropped a 2-1 decision at then ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Nov. 20.
Saturday's contest at BGSU opens a nine-game road trip for Wayne State, as the Warriors will close out the 2007 portion of their schedule at Western Michigan (Dec. 7-8) and at league rival Niagara (Dec. 14-15).
BEHIND THE BENCH
Bill Wilkinson, a former BGSU assistant (1979-82), is in his ninth season as Wayne State's head coach and his 26th year as a collegiate head coach. Wilkinson's overall record stands at 429-451-81, while his mark at WSU is 116-150-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.
In his sixth season with the Falcons, head coach Scott Paluch has a career record of 61-115-20.
THROUGH THE YEARS
BGSU holds a 3-1-1 advantage in the series, but these two teams have not met since November 2004. The Falcons won three straight games in the series until the most recent meeting in Bowling Green (Nov. 20, 2004), in which Wayne State tied a school record with nine goals in a 9-3 victory.
IN THE POLLS
WSU was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while BGSU was tabbed for 12th in both the Central Collegiate Hockey Association preseason coaches and media polls.
ON THIS DATE
On November 30, the Warriors suffered a 2-1 defeat against Bemidji State in 2001 and a 7-4 loss at Michigan Tech the following season.
Wayne State is 1-1-1 on December 1 in its history, with a 4-1 win at Mercyhurst in 2000, a 2-2- tie versus Bemidji State in 2001, and a 1-0 loss to BSU last year.
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN STATE
Despite having their five-game winning streak snapped Nov. 17 against Northern Michigan, the Falcons are in fourth place in the CCHA and on the verge of breaking into the top 20 of the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I poll. With six wins through just 10 games, BGSU is one victory away from matching last season's total of seven.
Forward and co-captain Derek Whitmore, one of five BGSU seniors, leads the team and is tied for second in the CCHA with 12 goals. He also has team-highs of 15 points, seven power-play goals, and two game-winners.
Junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt is tops on the squad with nine assists and ranks tied-for-second among CCHA blueliners with 12 points.
Freshman Nick Eno and junior Jimmy Spratt have evenly split time between the pipes for the Falcons. Eno is 4-1-0 with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage, while Spratt has a 2-3-0 record with a 2.81 GAA and a .891 SV%.
The Falcons have a 23.3 power-play percentage, fourth-best in the CCHA and eighth in the nation.
LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Jordan Inglis made his first career goal a memorable one, netting the game-winner on Friday. WSU earned its first road victory of the season despite being outshot 44-15 including a 17-4 mark in the third period. Mike Forgie and Tyler Ruel also scored for Wayne State, and Jeff Caister set a career high with three assists.
Brett Bothwell made 42 saves, his third career game with over 40 saves and his highest total since posting 53 saves in his second career start last October at Alabama-Huntsville.
The Warriors overcame a two-goal deficit on Saturday, as Matt Krug and Stavros Paskaris scored 1:37 apart in the third period. Kyle Funkenhauser made 37 saves for Wayne State, including three in overtime. He also held SLU scoreless in four power-play chances, as the Saints went 0-for-11 with a man advantage on the weekend.
Caister added another assist in Saturday's game, marking the first time a Warrior has totaled four assists in a series since Krug accomplished the feat Dec. 9-10, 2005 against Merrimack.
WSU NOTES
The Warriors are led in scoring by Caister (1-9--10), who is fifth in the CHA in points and first among league defensemen. He has recorded a point in each of the last three games and five of the last six. Caister is sixth all-time at Wayne State in both points (26) and assists (23) by a defenseman.
Forgie, who is tied with Jon Grabarek for team-high honors with four goals, has recorded a point in all six series this season. Half of Forgie's 10 points have come on power plays.
Ruel leads the Warrior freshman class and ranks tied-for-second in the CHA in rookie scoring (2-4--6). He has notched a point in each of the last four series for Wayne State. Collectively, the WSU freshmen have accounted for 14 of the team's 67 points this season (20.9 percent).
Paskaris, Wayne State's active leading scorer, is in 10th place all-time at WSU with 66 career points and needs one more to tie Steve Kovalchik (2002-06) for ninth place. Paskaris also ranks seventh all-time with 44 assists and is tied with Forgie for 14th place with 22 goals.
After averaging just 1.56 goals per game through its first nine contests, Wayne State has averaged 3.33 goals over its last three games. However, only two teams - Alabama-Huntsville (1.80) and Union (1.67) - have a lower overall scoring output than Wayne State (2.00) this season.
It will be imperative for the Warriors to get off to a fast start against the Falcons, as WSU has been the first team to score just twice - a 2-1 triumph over Lake Superior State on Nov. 10 and Friday's 3-2 victory at St. Lawrence. Bowling Green, meanwhile, has outscored its opponents, 11-4, in the first period.
This weekend is Wayne State's third of five series against teams from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. WSU traveled to Ferris State and hosted Lake Superior State, while remaining on the schedule are road matchups against Western Michigan and Northern Michigan. Wayne State is 9-35-3 all-time against CCHA opponents including a 1-2-1 mark this season.
LOOKING AHEAD
Wayne State will close out the 2007 portion of its schedule at Western Michigan (Dec. 7-8) and at Niagara (Dec. 14-15). The Warriors' nine-game road trip continues in 2008 at Minnesota (Jan. 4-5) and Northern Michigan (Jan. 11-12). They will return home to host the Purple Eagles (Jan. 18-19), the latter of which will be played at the Palace of Auburn Hills as part of a doubleheader also featuring CCHA action pitting Michigan against Notre Dame.
