OU's McMahon one of Michigan's best

Oakland University forward Will McMahon has been nominated as a top athlete in the state of Michigan by the Detroit Free Press for 2006.

"It is an unbelievable honor to be nominated for such a prestigious award and be listed with such accomplished athletes," stated McMahon. "I am excited about the nomination and for the Oakland hockey team, as this nomination is an honor for the entire organization."

McMahon was nominated for his efforts last season after scoring 116 points, including 76 goals in 40 games, and earning his third consecutive ACHA DII National Player of the Year and garnering the team's second ACHA DII National Championship in three seasons.

Full Freep article here.

MiCHO Power Poll 1.10.2007

On the heels of their GLI victory and split on the road at USCHO sixth-ranked Miami, the Michigan State Spartans have advanced to the top spot in this week's MiCHO Power Poll. The Green and White have won five of their last six games, all away from the friendly confines of Munn Arena. The Lake Superior State Lakers continue to play their best hockey in years and hold onto the second spot. The Michigan Wolverines have lost three of their last four games and have dropped down two slots to No. 3.

1) Michigan State, 12-8-1 (split at Miami)
2) Lake Superior State, 13-6-3 (took three points at UNO)
3) Michigan, 13-8-0 (idle, lost three of four)
4) Northern Michigan, 8-13-2 (split with FSU)
5) Michigan Tech, 8-12-2 (swept at UMD)
6) Western Michigan, 7-11-1 (split at BGSU)
7) Ferris State, 5-13-3 (split with NMU)
8) Wayne State, 4-16-0 (swept at No. 18 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.

Wolverines, Sauer blank Bowling Green Tuesday

Chad Kolarik's power-play goal 2:43 into the first period delivered Michigan the quick start it needed to defeat Bowling Green, 5-0, Tuesday night at Yost Ice Arena.

The Wolverines never lost the momentum, outshooting BGSU, 33-22, en route to a dominating performance.

Kolarik added a second tally in the third period and David Rohlfs also contributed two goals as Billy Sauer shutout the Falcons with 22 saves in net.

At the other end, Chesterfield native Jimmy Spratt stopped 28 for the Falcons.

Kevin Porter also scored for Michigan, who improved to 14-8-0 on the season and 9-5-0 in the CCHA.

"We haven't had our team together since early December and we haven't won a home game since late November," said U-M head coach Red Berenson. "It's a good feeling and we have to build on it. We don't have much time to enjoy it, we have to refocus for Northern Michigan (this Friday). It was a good step in the right direction."

Michigan will host Northern Michigan this weekend, starting with Friday's game at 7:35 pm. The game will be televised on Comcast Local. Saturday's game will close out U-M's lone series with the Wildcats and is scheduled to begin at 7:35 pm as well.

Spartans split with RedHawks on the road

A furious three-goal barrage in the first six minutes of the third period turned a 1-0 deficit into a Spartan lead, and Jeff Lerg put forth a fantastic 25-save effort as Michigan State salvaged the back end of a road series with a 4-1 victory over Miami on Saturday night.

Spartans' head coach Rick Comley captured his 700th career win, just the fifth NCAA coach to reach the plateau and the third active coach to reach the milestone.

"While 700 wins is certainly a nice thing personally, the way it happened tonight makes it really satisfying," admitted Comley after the game. "Everyone chipped in - we put people where we had to in the lineup, and guys just stepped up. This was a big win for us."

Tim Crowder scored twice for MSU and Bryan Lerg and Daniel Vukovic added singles. Chris Mueller added a pair of assists.

Friday night, the RedHawks took a 5-2 win over MSU.

Jim McKenzie and Brandon Warner were the Spartan goal scorers and Lerg finished with 20 saves through two periods. Bobby Jarosz played the third period and stopped all 14 shots fired his way.

"We allowed two goals of of faceoffs, and looked tired and sluggish at times," Comley said. "We knew it would be a tough series down here, so we need to separate the games from one another."

MSU (12-8-1, 8-6-1 CCHA) returns to action Friday with their first home game in nearly six weeks, hosting Alaska in a two-game set at Munn Ice Arena.

Comley photo (from the GLI) by Matt Mackinder

Beavers continue to dominate Warriors

Wayne State's brief one-game winning streak came to a swift end in Northern Minnesota over the weekend as the Warriors were swept by the 18th ranked Bemidji State Beavers.

The Warriors (4-16-0, 1-7-0 CHA) were in contention in Friday's game one before falling by a final of 3-2.

Tyler Lehrke scored a pair for BSU and Matt Boldt (pictured) and Jason Bloomingberg countered for Wayne State and the two teams were tied after at 2 after two periods of play.

Ron Sirianni continued his hot hand for the Beavers, scoring the eventual game winner just past the mid way point of the third period. Sirianni's goal was his third in four games and pushed his scoring streak to seven games.

Matt Climie stopped 22 of 24 shots in the BSU net to push his unbeaten streak to 11 games.

Wayne State's Will Hooper stopped 25 shots in the loss.

A third period let down doomed the Warriors in game 2 as they fell by a final score of 7-5.

Nate Higgins, Mark Cannon, Jared Katz, Derek Bachynski, and Mark Nebus each scored and the Warriors strolled into the third with a 5-4 lead.

The Beavers tied it up at 11:54 of the final period on a goal by Joey Moggach. Shane Holman scored the game at 18:45 and Blaine Jarvis added an empty netter to keep the Beavers in solid control of the recent series between the two teams.

Will Hooper stopped 25 shots in the loss. Matt Climie started in net for the Beavs but was pulled after giving up his fourth goal on 8 shots. Orlando Alamano relieved Climie and stopped 14 shots for the win.

The Warriors are now 0-4 against Bemidji this season and have not beaten the Beavers since November 23, 2004.

Courtesy of the CHA's pared down schedule the Warriors and Beavers will meet up again for two more games in Detroit on February 23 and 24.

The Warriors will return home this weekend for a pair of games at the Coliseum against the Ferris State Bulldogs (5-13-3).

Fetter earns 50th win in Warriors split

Wayne State head coach Jim Fetter earned his 50th career win on Saturday afternoon when the Warriors blanked visiting Colgate 5-0 before a crowd of over 400 fans in Taylor.

Fetter is the winningest coach in the program's history.

The Warriors' offense exploded early, with the team's first three goals coming in the first period. Ashley King scored an unassisted goal less than two minutes into the game. Later in the period, Sam Poyton and Melissa Boal (pictured) scored goals within three minutes of each other. Lindsay DiPietro assisted on both goals, bringing her total assists to a team-leading 17.

Poyton struck again five minutes into the third period with some help from Tegan Schroeder and Danielle Wilson. Laura Monk rounded out the Warriors' scoring, tapping in a Brandi Frakie pass with less than five minutes left in the game.

Tiffany Thompson stopped all 18 shots for the team’s first shutout of the season.

Saturday's win was particularly sweet after Friday's 4-1 loss to the Raiders. Schroeder scored the Warriors' only goal, with Frakie and Tina Vanderhoeven earning assists. Thomspon recorded 18 saves in Friday's game.

The Warriors' record now stands at 8-12-0. They remain in Detroit next weekend, when they face Mercyhurst at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Both games begin at 3:30, and are part of a double-header series with the men's team.

Michigan Tech swept by Minnesota-Duluth

Michigan Tech started the second half of the schedule on the wrong foot as the Huskies lost two hard-fought contests, 2-1 in overtime on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday against Minnesota-Duluth. This was the first time in three series that MTU lost at the DECC.

On Friday, the two teams each scored one in the second period. It was Malcolm Gwilliam who tied the game for the Huskies late in the middle stanza. That was all the Huskies could muster and UMD was able to beat Rob Nolan at the 1:50 mark in the extra session.

Nolan ended the game with 20 saves.

Friday, Nolan got the call again and, unlike the first period in the first game, Saturday saw four goals in the first, two for each team. It was Drew Dobson and Geoff Kinrade getting the goals for the Huskies. The tally was the first of Dobson's career.

MTU got the only goal of the second when senior co-captain Mike Batovanja tallied his first goal of the year. That was all they could muster and MTU lost the lead at the 12-minute mark. UMD added an empty netter to make the score 5-3.

Nolan ended the night with 24 saves.

MTU will be back home to host a non-conference series against Bemidji State. This is the first time MTU will host the Beavers.

LSSU takes 3 of 4 points from UNO

In CCHA competition last weekend, Lake Superior State University was able to rally back from early deficits both Friday and Saturday night to take three of four points from Nebraska-Omaha, including getting their first home victory over UNO since Nov. 4, 2000.

LSSU fell behind 3-0 early in Friday’s contest before Simon Gysbers, John Scrymgeour and Derek R. Smith scored goals in a 2:37 span during the third period to tie the game at 3-all.

UNO was able to retake the lead midway through the third period, before LSSU's Nathan Perkovich was able to tie the game back up at 4-4 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis totaled 34 saves in the game.

After trailing for two periods and most of the third period in Saturday’s game, thanks to a Scott Parse (Portage) goal midway through the first period, Dan Eves and Perkovich scored goals less than two minutes apart midway through the third period to give the Lakers a 2-1 lead. Parse was able to tie the game up at 2-2 with three minutes remaining in the game, leading to a second night of overtime play between the two teams. Josh Sim was able to finish off Saturday's game by scoring at 1:39 of overtime give the Lakers’s a 3-2 win.

LSSU freshman goaltender Pat Inglis totaled 26 saves to earn the win to improve to 5-1-0 on the season.

LSSU plays host to second-ranked Notre Dame on Jan. 12-13.

Photo courtesy of LSSUHockey.com