Warriors split with the Purple Eagles

The year 2006 has not been kind so far to the Wayne State Warriors (6-18-6, 3-8-5 CHA). Injuries, tie games, and bad breaks have plagued the former champs. Now instead of the former role of preparing to defend their title, this year’s squad is struggling to stay out of the CHA cellar.

Friday-- Wayne State welcomed the Niagara Purple Eagles into a chilly Coliseum on Friday night for the start of a two game set.

Adam Krug and Derek Bachynski each scored on the power play for the Warriors in the first period. The Eagles countered with markers by Jason Williamson and Sean Bentivoglio and the two rivals skated off with a 2-2 tie after twenty minutes of play.

Williamson scored the lone goal of the second period to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.

Steve Kovalchik tied it up with his second of the year at 9:22 of the third, but then with just 1:21 remaining Pat Oliveto finished off the Warriors with the game winning goal and a 4-3 NU win.

Will Hooper got the call in net for WSU and stopped 35 shots.

Jeff Van Nynatten stopped 21 of 24 for the Eagles.

WSU finished the night with a perfect 2-2 effort on the power-play and 0-6 advantage on the penalty kill.

For the full story, please read Matt Mackinder’s recap on uscho.com.

Saturday-- The Warriors finally got some good luck in the finale as the pulled off a 3-2 win at the Coliseum.The win was the Warriors first since a 6-3 drubbing of Robert Morris in Detroit on January 21st and only the second “W” of the New Year.

Derek Bachynski continued his solid weekend with a goal and two assists. Bachinski had a goal and assist on Friday giving him a total of five points in the two-game set.

Adam Krug and Jason Baclig also scored for the Warriors.

Freshman sensation Les Reaney tallied both goals for the Eagles. Reaney’s 34 points on the year ties the all-time CHA rookie record.

Matt Kelly started for the Warriors and stopped 20 of 22 shots.

Jeff Van Nynatten turned away 18 of 21 in the Eagles net.

WSU finished the night 2-8 on the power-play, while NU went 2-for-6.

Up Next-- The Warriors will hit the road for the final time next weekend as they head south to face off with the conference leading Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. The Chargers took three of four points from the Warriors at the Coliseum in late January.

Photo by Matt Mackinder

Warriors earn one point against Mercyhurst

The Wayne State women's team faced a challenge in CHA rival Mercyhurst. While the Warriors lost 4-2 on Friday, they skated to a 2-2 tie Saturday. Their record now stands at 10-13-5 overall and 2-2-2 in the CHA.

Mercyhurst struck first in Friday's contest, but freshman Sam Poyton (pictured) was quick to retaliate. Picking up a pass from Amanda Hungle, Poyton netted her 20th of the season.

Mercyhurst regained the lead at 6:47 of the second period, and it took a power play for the Warriors to secure the tie again. This time, Peyton Patterson and Danielle Wilson set up Melissa Boal for a top-shelf goal. The teams stayed even through the second intermission.

Mercyhurst seized the lead for good early in the third, and put the game away with a late-period goal at 18:28. Coach Jim Fetter pulled goaltender Tiffany Thompson with just under a minute remaining, but the score did not change.

Thompson finished with 34 saves.

The Warriors looked to even the series on Saturday, and looked to have the mission accomplished. They held a 2-1 lead with three minutes remaining in the game, but a late-game strike by Mercyhurst sent the game to overtime.

Once again, Poyton and Boal were critical offensive factors in the game. Poyton scored the Warriors' first goal of the night late in the first period, her 21st of the year and school record. Hungle and Laura Monk earned assists on the play. And early in the second, Boal notched a power-play tally with some help from Sarah Campbell and Tina Vanderhoeven that looked to be the go-ahead goal. But Mercyhurst outshot Wayne State 11-6 in the third period, and one of the shots snuck past Valery Turcotte at 17:42 of the third.

Overtime would be fruitless for both teams.

Turcotte stopped 33 shots, including four in overtime, in Saturday's contest.

The Warriors continue CHA action next weekend as they face Niagara on Friday and Saturday at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Both games begin at 4:05 and are part of double-headers with the men's team, who play Niagara at 7:05 both nights.

Michigan splits with gritty LSSU squad

Even though Michigan outscored Lake Superior State last weekend, 6-5, both teams scratched out victories at Yost Ice Arena.

Lake Superior captain Steve McJannet's second goal of the game 3:01 into overtime gave the Lakers a 3-2 win Friday night. Trent Campbell also scored for LSSU and goaltender Jeff Jakaitis made 36 saves.

For Michigan, Jason Dest and T.J. Hensick scored and Noah Ruden stopped 34 shots.

"It was disappointing for a lot of reasons," said Ruden of the OT goal. "I'm thinking about that last goal and I should have had it, it went off my glove. And then the first goal, I should have had it, too. I'm thinking about the repercussions of that. We had games in hand going into this weekend, and this is one of them, at home against a team that is behind us."

Michigan's loss to LSSU was its first in the series since Mar. 8, 2002, ending a 10-game winning streak for U-M against the Lakers. The 10 straight wins were the most strung together by Michigan in the series history. The Lakers 12-game winning streak in the mid 1980's is the longest by either team.

The Wolverines made up for Friday with a 4-2 win and a split of the series.

Ruden made 18 saves for the win. Brandon Kaleniecki had two goals and an assist and captain Andrew Ebbett (pictured) scored once with two helpers.

As a result of the win, Michigan (28 points) moved into second place in the CCHA standings, ahead of idle Michigan State (27 points). Both teams have four regular-season games left.

Tyler Swystun also scored for Michigan.

Kory Scoran and Dan Eves scored for LSSU. Jakaitis stopped 20 in a losing effort.

"We talked about it before the game, how it was a must-win game for us," Ebbett said. "We only have one home game left now and it's crunch time. When you're looking at the rankings, both nationally and in the CCHA, it's a playoff chase right now. We've got to win the home games, so we were definitely desperate in that first period."

The Wolverines (18-11-3, 13-8-3 CCHA) head out on their first weekend road trip since early December when they travel to Nebraska-Omaha. The Lakers (15-9-6, 11-9-4 CCHA) play a home-and-home with Northern Michigan with the series starting with Friday's game at home.

Photo by Eric Bronson, © Wolverine Photo

Finlandia splits with Minnesota-Crookston

Finlandia took two points over the weekend at Minnesota-Crookston as the Lions lost 5-4 Saturday night and scored two goals in the third period for a 5-4 win of their own Sunday.

On Saturday, Keith Johnstone scored a pair and Jamie Leffler and Josh Paquette added singles for FU. Joe Welgos chipped in with three assists and Joe Juntilla made 24 saves.

At the other end, Jaden Isakson stopped 44 for the Eagles.

Sunday, Joe Lewis recorded a hat trick and Ryan Sullivan's goal at the 16-minute mark of the third period won it for Finlandia. Paquette also scored for the Lions while Lukas Alberer stopped 22 shots for the victory.

Finlandia is at the Milwaukee School of Engineering this weekend. The Finlandia women were idle and host Wisconsin-Eau Claire this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Minnesota-Crookston.

Western seizes Saturday win against Bemidji

After recording a disappointing 6-1 loss against Bemidji State on Friday night, the Western Michigan Broncos battled back to a 5-4 overtime win on Saturday.

Friday's game was a Bemidji scoring showcase, as the team scored two goals per period to decimate the Broncos. A lone bright moment for Western was Brian Bicek's second period goal as he redirected a Reid Yantzi shot into the net. In his second start of the season, goalie Eric Marvin made 20 saves for the Broncos.

Saturday's game didn't start much better for the Broncos, who found themselves down 2-0 heading to the locker rooms after the first period. However, a trio of power-play goals in the second period kept Western in the game. Paul Szczechura and Dave Krisky set up Brent Walton for his 22nd goal of the season, closely followed by a Mike Erickson goal, with Yantzi and Nathan Ansell picking up the assists. Though Bemidji struck back to momentarily regain the lead, Krisky scored in the last minute to even the score for the Broncos heading into the last 20 minutes of play. Walton and Erickson earned assists on Krisky's goal.

In the third, Bemidji once again wrestled away the lead, and Western once again managed to score. This time, Ryan Mahrle got some help from Jason Moul (pictured) with under four minutes left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Just 1:37 in overtime, a Moul wrist shot was deflected and dribbled past Bemidji goalie Layne Sedevie.

WMU coach Jim Culhane praised Moul's efforts after the game.

"Jason is pretty deserving of that game-winning goal," said Culhane. "He has played hard for us all year and is a tremendous worker. We got down, but did a good job of battling back tonight."

Daniel Bellissimo finished with 32 saves for the Broncos.

WMU (7-21-4, 6-15-3 CCHA) is on the road at Alaska-Fairbanks this weekend.

Spartans upend Buckeyes on Thursday

Michigan State reclaimed second place in the CCHA standings with a 4-3 win over Ohio State last Thursday in Columbus.

Only problem is Michigan won Saturday night to leapfrog the Spartans, who are now one point back of the Wolverines and two ahead of Lake Superior State, who split with Michigan last weekend, and Nebraska-Omaha.

Bryan Lerg potted his team-best 11th goal of the season and cousin Jeff Lerg made 31 saves as Michigan State (17-12-7, 11-7-6 CCHA) picked up a critical road victory.

Justin Abdelkader (pictured) earned first star honors with his goal and assist in the contest.

"It's that point of the season where every win is so important," noted MSU head coach Rick Comley. "These are two big points for us and any time you can collect points on the road, it's even better. We'll enjoy this for a short time, but we have to have our focus on the remaining games. Every point is precious."

The victory pushed MSU's unbeaten streak to five games, (3-0-2) and was the Spartans' ninth win in its last 13 outings.

Tim Kennedy and David Booth also scored for MSU.

The Spartans are now idle until this weekend's showdown with first-place Miami at Munn Arena.

Ferris State swept by the Fighting Irish

Last weekend, the Ferris State Bulldogs suffered a sweep at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Bulldogs lost 4-1 on Friday in South Bend, and dropped a 3-2 decision on home ice on Saturday.

On Friday, Notre Dame lit the lamp twice before captain Adam Welch (pictured) scored his first of the season to get the Bulldogs on the board at 14:27 of the second period. However, Welch's power-play tally, assisted by Matt Verdone and Adam Miller, was followed by two unanswered Irish goals in the third period.

Ferris State netminder Mitch O'Keefe finished with 20 saves.

Coming home on Saturday, the Bulldogs once again fell behind early; they were facing a 2-0 deficit heading into the second period. Power plays would be the key to a Ferris surge. Mark Bomersback capitalized on an extra-man opportunity at 12:23 to net his 13th of the season with some help from Dan Riedel and Greg Rallo. About four minutes later, Eric Vesely nailed the tying goal for the Bulldogs on another power play. Miller and Jeremy Scherlinck were credited with assists.

However, in the waning seconds of the period, Notre Dame netted a power-play goal of their own and wrestled back the lead. In the third period, despite outshooting the Irish 12-4 and pulling O'Keefe in the final minute, the Bulldogs could not re-tie the score.

O'Keefe again finished with 20 saves.

FSU (14-12-6, 9-10-5 CCHA) is on the road at Ohio State this weekend.

ACHA Weekend Round-Up, Feb. 13

By Chris Moore

Mt. Pleasant, Michigan - The Grand Valley State hockey team traveled to Mt. Pleasant to take on Central Michigan University on Saturday. CMU is ranked No. 8 in the Central Region and fell to GVSU 6-2 earlier in the year.

The Lakers started the game off slow on Saturday, falling down 2-0 on two quick goals. GVSU fought back however, with Travis Bravata tipping in a pass from Matt Burns to make it 2-1. Andrew Dykstra then fired a slapshot past the netminder to tie the game. The "Flying C's" would add another goal off a GVSU turnover to take the lead 3-2 after one.

The Lakers would fight back in the second as Mike Kadzban (pictured) broke up the middle and scored five-hole to tie the game. Neither team was able to get much going for the rest of the period.

Tied 3-3 early in the third, Adam Zobl received a pass from Tim Hillebrand and fired it into the net for a 4-3 lead. CMU was unable to beat the Laker goaltender during multiple power plays against GVSU in the last ten minutes as GVSU held onto the 4-3 lead.

Goalie Chris Moore won his 13th game making 34 saves out of 37 shots.

Next Week - The Lakers finished the year with a No. 5 ranking the the Central Region earning them a spot in the regional playoffs in Chicago next weekend. GVSU faces off in the tournament against No. 8 CMU on Friday at 1:00 p.m. CST. The top two teams in the tournament head to the national championship in Rochester, New York.

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Grizzlies split at Leamington tourney

By Matt Mackinder

Oakland traveled to Leamington, Ontario, last weekend to take on some of the strongest competition in the ACHA in a two-day tournament and came away with a win and a loss.

On Saturday, OU was paired up against No. 1 Davenport University and it was the Panthers that would take it to the Grizzlies from the drop of the puck in a 7-2 beating.

"We were not ready to go,” OU head coach Sean Hogan said. “Everyone gets up to play us and we have to be ready every night. Tonight we were flat and uninspired.”

Will McMahon and Brent Cooper scored and Chris Joswiak and Andrew Hansen combined for 30 saves in net.

Sunday proved to be a different story for OU as the Grizzlies fired on all cylinders in beating Michigan State, 8-3.

McMahon and Cooper each had two goals and two assists. Dan Oleksy tallied a pair with Jeff Einheuser and J.P. Ferrari adding singles.

Hansen made 29 saves in the win.

OU will travel to the GMHL playoffs at Davenport the weekend of Feb. 24-25. OU opens up with Michigan at 4:00 p.m. Friday at Georgetown Ice Arena, the home of Grand Valley State.

Warriors pick up single point at RMU

The game they should have lost, they tied. They game they could have tied, they lost. For the Wayne State Warriors (5-17-6, 2-7-5 CHA) their strange season continued over the weekend on the road at conference rival Robert Morris.

Friday- The Warriors could have given up anytime on Friday, but they never did and were rewarded with a football like 7-7 tie.

Wayne State was down 3-0, 5-2, and 6-3 to the Colonials and despite a season-long rash of injuries and bad breaks, give the Warriors credit as they refused to give in.

Adam Krug led the Warriors charge back with a career-best five points on a goal and four assists. Krug also assisted on Jason Bloomingburg’s game tying goal that was recorded at the 19:59 mark of the third period.

Krug tied the Wayne State record for assists in a game (four) set by Jason Durbin on Nov. 26, 1999, in a 5-4 Warrior loss to Mercyhurst in the Findlay (Ohio) Classic during WSU's inaugural season.

Krug also set the WSU record for points in game (5). Nine times a Wayne State played had four points in a game (most recently Marc St. Jean on March 15, 2003, vs. Niagara in a 6-4 CHA semifnal win for WSU).

Matt Kelly started in net was shelled for 6 goals on 21 shots. Will Hooper replaced Kelly, coming in cold near the midway point of the second period and stopped 13 of 14 shots.

Christian Boucher stopped 30 of 37 for the Colonials.

Saturday- The Warriors were forced to play catch up in the series finale too, but this time Colonials got the big shot and picked up a 5-4 win.

Wayne State led 2-0 very early in the first on goals by Bloomingburg and John May, but the Colonials scored the next 3 to take a one goal lead.

Jon Grabarek tied it up just past the midway point of the second, but Logan Bittle responded a little over three minutes later to give the home team another lead.

Matt Krug scored at 18:21 of the second to tie the score at four and that’s where the score stayed until 11:30 of the third period when Aaron Clarke scored an unassisted 4-on-4 goal that turned out to be the eventual game winner.

Hooper started in net for Wayne and stopped 28 of 33 shots.

Boucher got the call again for the Colonials, but got the quick hook from coach Derek Schooley after giving 2 goals on 2 shots in the first 1:26 of play. Joe Tuset recorded the win in the RMU net stopping 27 of 29 shots.

The win moves the Colonials to 4-0-1 in their last five games and fourth place in the CHA.

Since beating Robert Morris, 6-3, in Detroit on January 21^st, Wayne State is 0-4-2 in their last six and have plummeted to fifth place in the CHA, just a slim point ahead of cellar dwelling Air Force.

Wayne State will welcome third-place Niagara to the State Fair Coliseum for a pair of games next weekend. The Purple Eagles took three of four points from the Warriors at Niagara in early November and are coming off a split with Air Force last weekend.

(Wayne State Sports Information Department assisted in portions of this story)