Purps sweep Warriors

Things haven't looked this glum for the Wayne State Warriors in, well, forever.

Over the weekend the Warriors were swept on the road by the Niagara Purple Eagles to fall to 3-14-0 overall with just one game remaining before the merciful holiday break.

Last season when the Warriors set a low water mark with a record of 6-23-6, the team still had 4 wins and a pair of ties before the break.

The latest round of misery began at the Dwyer Arena on Friday night when the Warriors were shut out 4-0. The defeat was third time in the last four games and sixth time this season that the Green and Gold were unable to light the lamp.

WSU outshot Niagara 41-27, but a 0-7 power-play doomed the offensive effort.

Warriors' senior goaltender Will Hooper stopped 23 of 27 shots in the loss.

The Warriors had their chance to steal a win on Saturday night and entered the third period with the Purps tied at 1 goal each. The conference leading Eagles wasted no time through, scoring three straight goals to cruise to a 4-2 victory.

NU outgunned WSU 35-30 and Ted Cook led the Purple Eagles with a pair of goals.

Jason Bloomingburg opened the scoring with a power-play goal, his fourth of the season, at 6:45 of the opening period.

Tylor Michel added a shorthanded marker at 9:35 of the third period.

Will Hooper made 31 saves in the loss.

The losing streak for the Wayne State now stands at a season high five games.

Wayne State will return home to face Western Michigan in a single game at the Coliseum next Saturday night.

Former MTU star Conner recalled by Dallas

Former Michigan Tech forward Chris Conner was called up today by the Dallas Stars and could make his NHL debut tonight at home.

Conner, 22 (turns 23 on Dec. 23), has appeared in 23 games with the Iowa Stars of the AHL this season, collecting five goals and six assists for 11 points with 14 penalty minutes and one shorthanded goal. He ranks tied for second on Iowa in shorthanded tallies this season. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound right wing appeared in one preseason game with Dallas, going scoreless on Sept. 19 at Colorado.

Signed by Dallas as a free agent on July 13, 2006, Conner appeared in 15 games with Iowa last season following his collegiate career at Michigan Tech (2002-2006). During his senior year at Michigan Tech, he tallied 29 points (17-12-29), good for the team-lead in goals and points.

The Westland native ended his career with Michigan Tech as the school's all-time leader in shorthanded goals (15) and ranks 19th among goal scorers (69).

Dallas hosts Edmonton tonight. Conner will wear No. 65.

Three state collegians World Junior-bound

Three college players from Michigan are off to the World Junior Hockey Championship later this month as two Wolverines and one Spartan have made the cut, or in one's case, should make the cut.

Michigan sophomore defenseman Jack Johnson was picked to play for Team USA, while classmate and forward Andrew Cogliano received a return invite to Canada's National Junior Team Selection Camp. He won a gold medal with the team in 2006. The Canada camp goes next week in Calgary.

Michigan State sophomore forward Justin Abdelkader was also named to Team USA.

"It's a great honor to make such a prestigous team," noted Abdelkader, notified on Tuesday of his selection. "I'm looking forward to a great experience in Sweden."

Keith McKittrick, who is the Spartans' video coordinator and assistant to head coach Rick Comley, will serve as the video coordinator for the U.S. World Junior squad.

The World Junior tournament this year is in Leksand and Mora, Sweden, and runs Dec. 26, 2006 - Jan. 5, 2007.

MiCHO Power Poll 12.5.06

The Michigan Wolverines lost Friday night to Western Michigan, but rebounded for a win Saturday to stay atop the MiCHO Power Poll for the fifth straight week. There is a new No. 2 team as Lake Superior State swept Northern Michigan, who dropped to No. 6. Michigan State moves down to No. 3 and Michigan Tech climbs to No. 4.

1) Michigan, 12-5-0 (split with Western)
2) Lake Superior State, 10-5-1 (swept Northern Michigan)
3) Michigan State, 7-7-1 (split with Ohio State)
4) Michigan Tech, 6-6-2 (swept by St. Cloud State)
5) Western Michigan, 6-7-1 (split with Michigan)
6) Northern Michigan, 7-8-2 (swept by Lake Superior)
7) Ferris State, 4-10-1 (swept at Miami)
8) Wayne State, 3-12-0 (swept by Bemidji State)

Each week, MichiganCollegeHockey.com editors Matt Mackinder and Tom Balog will compile the MiCHO Power Poll. The poll will comprise the eight Division I teams in the state of Michigan.

Lakers sign three, lose George to UHL

After focusing on speed and finesse during last season's recruiting process, Lake Superior State has signed three players who will add size and strength to the lineup in 2007-2008.

Tyson Hobbins, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound right wing from Nipawin, Sask., Zac MacVoy, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound right wing from Livonia and Will Acton, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound left wing from Stouffville, Ont., will add much-needed depth at the forward position for the Lakers.

Hobbins is currently 13th in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in scoring with 12 goals and 23 assists in 23 games with the Nipawin Hawks. He has impressive statistics despite playing as many as 13 fewer games than the players ranked above him on the SJHL scoring leaders list.

"I've only seen Hobbins on TV," said LSSU head coach Jim Roque. "(Assistant coach) Joe Shawhan compares him to Sandy Moger - strong on the puck and good offensively."

Moger was a tough 6-3, 200-pounder who totaled 74-67--141 for the Lakers from 1988-1992.

Acton and Laker defenseman Simon Gysbers were teammates with the Stouffville Spirit last season and will reunite in 2007-2008. This year, Acton has 11 goals and 11 assists through 24 games for Stouffville, an Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League team.

"We wanted to find the Colin Nicholson/Steve McJannet-type player," Roque said. "Acton is a good all-around player like Nicholson or McJannet. He's good on the penalty kill and can defend the other team's best player, and he still skates well."

MacVoy is a transfer from Michigan who is playing this season for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League. He has four goals and eight assists through 19 games with Omaha. As a U-M freshman in 2005-06, he appeared in 20 games and totaled one goal and three assists.

"He's a Detroit kid, and it's always good to get kids from that area up here," Roque said. "They tend to do well here. Zac went to Michigan as a real young freshman and went back to juniors for a year. That year of college hockey experience will really help us. It will help with the pain of losing Michael George, who would have been a sophomore next year."

George, denied eligibiluty by the NCAA, left school and signed with the Fort Wayne Komets of the United Hockey League. Roque was disappointed to lose a recruited player, but understands George's pursuit of an opportunity to play immediately.

"He wants to play, and I understand that," Roque said. "I'm disappointed that we lost a really good player. I do know that Michael and his family can't leave here saying that Kris (Dunbar, director of athletics) and Tom (Boger, faculty athletics representative) didn't do everything they could to help him through this process."

In George's case, the NCAA questioned the protocol his high school followed in regard to repeating classes. The NCAA has strict guidelines for that process.

The departure of George, who was the fourth-leading scorer in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League last season, leaves the Lakers with only one extra forward on its roster.

Lake Superior State takes two from NMU

Lake Superior State won the battle of the U.P. this past weekend as the Lakers took a pair from Northern Michigan in a home-and-home series.

Friday night, LSSU goalie Jeff Jakaitis (pictured right) pitched his school-record tenth career shutout in a 2-0 win at Taffy Abel Arena. Jakaitis, who tied the record with his ninth shutout on Nov. 17, totaled 31 saves as he held an opponent scoreless for the third time this season. He broke the career record set by former Laker Blaine Lacher, who played at LSSU from 1991-1994.

Dominic Osman and Steven Kaunisto scored for Lake Superior.

Bill Zaniboni made 21 saves for the Wildcats.

In Marquette Saturday night, LSSU made it a sweep with a 5-2 win.

More importantly, LSSU ended its power-play scoring drought. After going 0-for-9 with the man-advantage in Friday's 2-0 victory and coming up empty on five tries through the first two periods on Saturday, the Lakers scored three power-play goals on four chances in the third period.

Trent Campbell scored twice and Derek A. Smith, Derek R. Smith and Pat Aubry added goals for LSSU. Jeff Rainville and Troy Schwab each recorded two assists.

Darin Olver and Matt Maunu tallied for NMU.

LSSU freshman goaltender Pat Inglis made 37 saves to earn the win. His effort included 18 saves in the scoreless second period. Zaniboni finished with 16 saves for Northern Michigan.

Lake Superior State (10-5-1, 5-4-1 CCHA) travels to Ferris State this weekend for two games, while the Wildcats (7-8-2, 4-5-1 CCHA) host Michigan State for a pair.

Bulldogs swept by Redhawks on the road

The Ferris State Bulldogs struggled on the road this past weekend as they lost a two-game set to the Miami RedHawks in Oxford, Ohio.

The Bulldogs fell 5-3 on Friday as the RedHawks' Ryan Jones scored a hat trick to help overcome an early Zac Pearson power-play goal that gave Ferris State a 1-0 first period lead.

Miami scored three consecutive second period powerplay goals to jump ahead 3-1. The Bulldogs responded with two even strength markers, the first by Joe Van Culin at 17:25 and the second less than two minutes later by Dan Riedel at 19:06 to send the game into the locker room for the second intermission at 3-3.

Jones scored at 4:05 and 11:16 of the third to earn his hat trick and the victory for the RedHawks.

Jeff Zatkoff (Chesterfield) had 23 saves for Miami, while Mitch O'Keefe stopped 30 shots for the Bulldogs.

Saturday night it was all Redhawks as they steadily forged a 5-0 lead after two periods on goals by Alec Martinez (Rochester), Matt Christie, Nino Musitelli (Macomb) and two more by the sharpshooting Jones. Cody Chupp (pictured) ended the RedHawks' scoring string with a tally at 2:28 of the third period. After two more Miami goals making it 7-1, Brendan Connolly ended the night's scoring with a power-play goal at 14:19 for a 7-2 defeat

O'Keefe and Derek MacIntyre combined for 34 saves in the FSU cage. Zatkoff stopped 15 shots for Miami.

Jones had a five goals over the two-game span to help lead the RedHawks to 12 for the weekend.

Ferris State (4-10-1, 2-8-1 CCHA) hosts Lake Superior State this weekend.

Warriors bested by Beavers again

Wayne State's Christmas list might be very short. Just give them some goal scorers and they should be happy.

Wayne State (3-12-0, 1-3-0 CHA) was shutout again on Friday, scored only a pair on Saturday and was swept at the Coliseum over the weekend by the Bemidi State Beavers.

One shot was all Bemidji State needed on Friday night as the Beavers stole a 1-0 victory.

Matt Pope made amends for being stopped on a first period breakaway by going top corner over Warrior goalie Brett Bothwell at 2:31 of the third for the only score of contest.

Bothwell was solid, stopping 26 shots in the loss.

Matt Climie was perfect on the other end, blocking all 21 shots he faced for his second shutout of the year.

Wayne State's power-play was blanked as well, going 0-for-7 for the night. BSU finished 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.

The loss also set a school record as they Warriors were blanked for the fifth time this year.

Saturday night, the Warriors spotted the Beavers a four-goal lead and paid for it by falling by a final score of 4-2.

Luke Erickson scored the first two goals of the night and was rewarded by moving past Andrew Murray as BSU's all time leading scorer with 117 points.

Pope and Ryan Miller also scored to put the Beavers up 4-0 by the 3:49 mark of the second period.

Derek Bachynski (pictured) scored on a rebound at 12:47 of the second on the power play to put Wayne State on the board.

Matt Krug added a shorthanded marker at 16:32 to cut the Beavers lead in half, but that's as close as the Warriors would get.

Climie slammed the door from there and stopped 29 shots in net for the victory.

Bothwell started his second straight game between the pipes for Wayne State, but didn't survive the second period. "BB" was lifted after surrendering four goals on 14 shots and was replaced by senior Will Hooper.

Wayne State's defense was impenetrable for the remainder of the contest and Hooper was not forced to make a single save.

Wayne State will continue CHA play on the road with a pair of games at conference leading Niagara next weekend.

ICE CHIPS...

- Wayne State has not beaten Bemidji State since defeating the Beavers 6-4 in Detroit on November 23, 2004.

- Baychinski's power-play marker on Saturday night snapped a 0-for-57 skid against BSU.

- The Green and Gold are 0-4 and have scored just three goals in the chilly confines of the Coliseum this season.

Photo courtesy of WSU Athletics and Mark Hicks / Westside Photography

Finlandia men sweep, women swept

Both Finlandia teams were in action last weekend and the men came out with two league wins over Lawrence on home ice.

The women were swept at home by Wisconsin-Superior.

Saturday, the FU men took a 5-4 win over Lawrence on the strength of a goal and two assists from Josh Paquette. Joe Juntilla made 14 saves, while Ryan Sullivan, Travis Hanson and Joe Welgos added goals for the Lions.

Sunday, Paquette recorded two goals and an assist in the 5-2 victory. Sullivan, Joe Beaudry and Jason Aldrich also scored to back Lukas Alberer's 22 saves in goal for the Lions.

FU (5-3-0, 5-1-0 MCHA) is at Minnesota-Crookston this weekend for two MCHA games.

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On the other side of the coin, the Finlandia women could only muster one goal in their two losses to Superior.

Danielle Syrowik scored 5:24 into the first game Saturday and the Lions wouldn't find the back of the net again all weekend. FU lost that game, 3-1, and then were blanked, 3-0, on Sunday.

Corinne Czekaj stopped 16 shots Saturday and Katie Markovich turned aside 18 yesterday.

Finlandia (3-5-2, 0-3-1 NCHA) travels to Wisconsin-River Falls this weekend for two more NCHA league games.

Wolverines and Broncos split home-and-home

Michigan and Western Michigan each won in the other team's building in their home-and-home series last weekend.

The Broncos won Friday night, 6-3, in Ann Arbor, while U-M came back with a 6-5 win Saturday in Kalamazoo.

Andrew Cogliano's first career hat trick was not enough as Michigan lost to Western Michigan on Friday. Tyler Ludwig had a goal and two assists for WMU and Mark Letestu added a pair of goals for the Broncos.

"Our goals weren't going in," U-M head coach Red Berenson said. "Some nights they go in, and some nights they don't. That's why defense is so important. That's why we can't give up those easy goals. In the meantime, we're giving up too many quality chances. From our standpoint, it wasn't a good game. From their stand point, it was a great game."

"Michigan has a lot of speed and skill and we wanted to minimize their opportunities," said WMU head coach Jim Culhane. "I think we did a pretty good job of that while playing a puck possession game. For the most part we made good decisions with the puck."

Pat Galivan, Paul Szczechura and Jeff Pierce scored the other Western Michigan goals.

Riley Gill made 30 saves for WMU and Billy Sauer stopped 12 at the other end for Michigan. Gill became the first freshman Bronco goaltender since Marc Magliarditi to defeat the Wolverines at Yost Ice Arena.

Saturday at Lawson Ice Arena, the Wolverines trailed 3-1 in the second period until they exploded for three goals, two on the power play, over a 4:12 span late in the frame.

T.J. Hensick had assists on each of the markers. He later added his career-best fourth assist in the third period. Cogliano scored twice, including the eventual game-winner.

Chad Kolarik chipped in with a career-high three helpers.

"It was a hard-fought game," said Culhane. "I thought our guys battled hard and did a great job of creating opportunities. Riley Gill also kept us in the game late in the third period with some great saves. We would have like the win at home, but we'll settle with the split."

Kevin Porter, Brian Lebler, David Rohlfs and Brandon Naurato also scored for the Wolverines. Freshman Steve Jakiel made 24 saves for the win in net.

Galivan, Pierce, Letestu, Jason Moul and Brett John scored for WMU. Gill stopped 28 shots in his eighth straight start.

Western Michigan (6-7-1, 5-7-1 CCHA) is off this week for final exams before returning to the ice on Dec. 16 for a road contest at Wayne State. Michigan (12-5-0, 8-3-0 CCHA) concludes the first half of the 2006-07 campaign this weekend with a home-and-home series against Notre Dame. Game one will be on Friday at Yost Ice Arena, while the second game will take place on Sunday in South Bend, Ind.

MSU and Ohio State split at Munn

The Michigan State Spartans won Friday night, but Ohio State rebounded for a win Saturday night to split their series.

MSU got a pair of goals and an assist from Tim Kennedy, two goals from Chris Mueller and a 24-save performance from Jeff Lerg in the 4-1 victory on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena.

"I've had a little bit of a drought this year and I'm just trying to help the team out," said Mueller. "If I can help them out on the scoreboard, that's an even bigger plus. Two good plays by guys on our team gave me the puck and I was able to put them home."

Saturday night, Ohio State scored twice shorthanded on a single minor penalty and tacked on a pair of power play tallies for their own 4-1 win. Bryan Lerg scored MSU's only goal on a power play early in the third period.

Jeff Lerg allowed three goals on 21 shots through 30:28. Freshman Bobby Jarosz (pictured) made his first home appearance and stopped 14 of 15 shots the rest of the way.

"As up as we were, I had a real good feeling after last nights game," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "I thought we'd come in and really have some juice going but they (OSU) have a tendency to play that way and really bring everything right down. I didn't like our emotion in the first period. The play itself was OK. I think we forced things tonight. We turned the puck over more and we didn't establish things that I wanted to try to establish."

The Spartans (7-7-1, 5-5-1 CCHA) play at Northern Michigan this weekend for two CCHA contests.

Battle of Huskies goes to St. Cloud State

Michigan Tech came into this past weekend three points behind St. Cloud State in the WCHA, hoping to make ground in the conference. Instead, MTU lost all four points as they were swept by SCSU 4-1 and 3-2 in overtime on home ice.

Friday was probably the worst game the MTU Huskies played all year. When asked, head coach Jamie Russell said the turnovers "were unforgiveable." SCSU took advantage of nearly all the turnovers Tech committed. The lone goal for MTU came in the first as Tyler Schworchinski netted one to tie the game.

Michael-Lee Teslak made 17 saves for Tech.

Saturday, MTU played better until the third period. Michigan held a 1-0 lead after the second period as freshman Ryan Bunger buried his first goal as a Husky, then committed a 5-minute major penalty, which the home Huskies were able to kill off.

The third started and that was when all went wrong with Tech. SCSU netted two goals to take a 2-1 lead, but then Ryan Angelow tied it, giving the home Huskies life.

The game went to overtime and it was SCSU Huskies carring the play. Just when it looked like one point a piece would be the outcome, SCSU scored with 12 seconds remaining.

Rob Nolan stopped 20 shots in the MTU net.

The series do not get any easier for Michigan Tech as No. 1 Minnesota comes to town this weekend brandishing a 12-game unbeaten streak.