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 Derek Punches had three points in last year's 7-5 win over WMU. |
Dec. 5, 2007
GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's hockey team (3-9-2, 1-3-0 CHA) will complete the first third of its nine-game road trip this weekend with a series at Western Michigan (4-10-0, 2-8-0 CCHA). Both Friday's game and Saturday's rematch at Lawson Arena are slated to begin at 7:35 p.m. ET.
Wayne State, which entered last weekend's home-and-home series with Bowling Green State on a three-game unbeaten streak, was swept by scores of 3-1 and 6-1, the former of which was at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit. Western Michigan is coming off a pair of losses (4-0 and 3-2) in a home-and-home series against Ferris State.
The Warriors will close out the 2007 portion of their schedule Dec. 14-15 at CHA rival Niagara.
BEHIND THE BENCH
Bill Wilkinson 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 429-453-81, including 17 years at Western Michigan (313-301-53), while his mark at WSU is 116-152-28. He entered the 2007-08 season ranked 23rd on the NCAA all-time wins list.
In his ninth season with the Broncos, head coach Jim Culhane has a career record of 132-165-30.
THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State holds a 2-1-0 advantage in the series against Western Michigan, but this weekend marks the first time these two teams have meetings scheduled on consecutive days. WSU won the first game, 6-3, at the Bank One Badger Showdown in Madison, Wis. on New Year's Eve in 2005. The Broncos blanked the Warriors, 4-0, in Kalamazoo last November but Wayne State earned a 7-5 victory in Detroit a month later.
IN THE POLLS
WSU was selected to finish fourth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll, while WMU was tabbed for seventh in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association preseason media poll and 10th in the coaches poll.
ON THIS DATE
On December 7, the Warriors defeated Alabama-Huntsville, 4-3, in 2001 and suffered an 8-2 loss at Alaska Fairbanks the following season.
Wayne State is 1-1-1 on December 8 in its history, with a 7-0 win over AIC in 2000, a 3-3 tie versus Alabama-Huntsville in 2001, and a 4-0 loss at Niagara last year.
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
After a season-opening sweep of Bentley College, the Broncos have won just two of their last 12 games. Three of those 10 losses have come in overtime, including two against Bowling Green last month. Western Michigan is tied with Ohio State for ninth place in the CCHA.
Junior forward Patrick Galivan (2-12--14) leads the squad in points and assists, while sophomore Cam Watson has a team-high six goals, four of which have come on power plays.
Western Michigan has a young team with only five seniors on its roster. Those seniors have contributed just 15 of WMU's 85 points this season (17.6 percent). Forward Jeff Pierce tops the class with five points.
Sophomore netminder Riley Gill has seen the majority of ice time between the pipes for the Broncos. He is 4-8-0 with a 3.09 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage in 13 starts.
LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State was swept in a home-and-home series last weekend against Bowling Green State, falling 3-1 in Detroit on Friday and 6-1 at BGSU on Saturday.
Special teams were the key to the series, as the Falcons scored six power-play goals including all three of their tallies on Friday. The Warriors, meanwhile, were 0-for-11 on the power play in the two games.
Junior Jon Grabarek scored the lone goal for the Warriors in Friday's meeting with assists from freshman Tyler Ruel and sophomore Jeff Caister, who extended his point streak to four games but had it snapped in Saturday's setback.
Senior Stavros Paskaris' tally with 28 second remaining in the first period, assisted by Ryan Bernardi and Jordan Inglis, made it a 2-1 game on Saturday but the Falcons proceeded to score four unanswered goals.
WSU NOTES
Caister, who leads the Warriors in scoring (1-10--11) and has at least one point in six of the last eight games, tops all CHA defensemen and is fifth overall in scoring (11 points) while ranking second in the league with 10 assists. He is sixth all-time at Wayne State in both points (27) and assists (24) by a defenseman.
Ruel leads the Warrior freshman class and is third among CHA rookies with seven points. He has notched a point in each of the last five series for Wayne State. Collectively, the WSU freshmen have accounted for 16 of the team's 73 points this season (21.9 percent).
Paskaris, Wayne State's active leading scorer, is tied with Steve Kovalchik (2002-06) for ninth place all-time at WSU with 67 career points. Paskaris also ranks seventh all-time with 44 assists and 14th with 23 goals.
Tylor Michel will become the second Warrior this year (Paskaris) to play in his 100th career game. Michel ranks 20th all-time at WSU in points (46), tied for 14th in power-play goals (7), and tied for fifth in short-handed goals (4). This season, he is tied for fourth on the team with seven points.
Alabama-Huntsville (1.80) is the only team in Division I with a lower scoring offense than Wayne State (1.86). The Warriors have been held to two goals or less in 12 games this season and have a 1-9-2 record in those games.
The second period may be the ideal time for the Warriors to strike against the Broncos, as Western Michigan has been outscored, 20-6, in the middle 20 minutes this season.
This weekend is Wayne State's second consecutive and fourth of five series against teams from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. WSU traveled to Ferris State, hosted Lake Superior State, and played its home-and-home series with BGSU, while remaining on the schedule is a road matchup against Northern Michigan. Wayne State is 9-37-3 all-time against CCHA opponents including a 1-4-1 mark this season.
The upcoming series in Kalamazoo is also the third straight series against a team with direct ties to the career of WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson. The Warriors were at St. Lawrence two weeks ago, Wilkinson's alma mater (1960-70) where he also served as an assistant coach from 1971-78. After working as an assistant at BGSU from 1979-82, Wilkinson was at the helm of the Broncos from 1982-99, averaging just over 18 wins a season and earning three CCHA Coach of the Year awards (1983-84, 1985-86, 1995-96).
LOOKING AHEAD
Wayne State's nine-game road trip continues in 2008 at Minnesota (Jan. 4-5) and Northern Michigan (Jan. 11-12). The Warriors will return to Detroit to host Niagara (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. The Jan. 18 contest as well as the following weekend's series against Alabama-Huntsville (Jan. 25-26) will be played at the Taylor SportsPlex.
