WSU recruits list growing

Text courtesy of USCHO (and MiCHO staffer Matt Mackinder)...

After getting a commitment from Surrey Eagles' goalie Kyle Funkenhauser a couple weeks ago, Wayne State reportedly got two more this week from Bridgewater Bandits' forward Jeremy Tejchma and Alberni Valley Bulldogs' forward Tyler Ruel.

All three recruits are 20 years old and join 19-year-old forward Christian Hmura, currently with the Springfield Jr. Blues, as future Warriors.

Ruel leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 24 goals and 69 points and is also tied for fifth in British Columbia Hockey League scoring.

Tejchma is a Michigan native, calling Muskegon home. He played the past two years in the United States Hockey League with Indiana and Waterloo before going out east to play in the Eastern Junior Hockey League. He is the younger brother of Massachusetts-Lowell senior forward Jason Tejchma.

MiCHO Power Poll 1.17.07

Michigan State continued their winning ways over the weekend by sweeping Alaska at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing. The Spartans have won eight of their last 10 games and hold on to the top spot in the MiCHO Power Poll for the second straight week. The Michigan Wolverines rebounded by beating Bowling Green and splitting with Northern Michigan to move up a slot to No. 2. The Lake Superior State Lakers slip down to No. 3 after losing a pair to the Fighting Irish in the Sault.

1) Michigan State, 14-8-1 (swept Alaska)
2) Michigan, 15-9-0 (beat BGSU, split with NMU)
3) Lake Superior State, 13-8-3 (swept by No. 3 Notre Dame)
4) Michigan Tech, 10-12-2 (swept Bemidji State)
5) Northern Michigan, 9-14-2 (split with No. 13 Michigan)
6) Western Michigan, 8-12-1 (split with No. 9 Miami)
7) Ferris State, 6-14-3 (split with WSU)
8) Wayne State, 5-17-0 (split with FSU)

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. (rankings in parentheses reflect the USCHO/CSTV Division I Men's Poll)

Michigan splits with Northern Michigan

The Michigan Wolverines handed Red Berenson his 600th win as U-M's head coach with a 5-2 triumph over Northern Michigan Friday at Yost Ice Arena. The victory gives Berenson -- in his 23rd season at the helm of the program -- a career record of 600-286-63.

Brandon Naurato's goal 4:50 into the contest gave the Wolverines the early lead, Anthony Ciraulo notched his first career tally and Kevin Porter, Tim Miller and Andrew Cogliano also scored.

"T.J. Hensick and Matt Hunwick gave me this puck as a memento of 600," said Berenson. "I told them that my favorite win was 300 if you put numbers on things. I had no idea it was number 300, but the win in Cincinnati when we played Colorado College was my favorite. I don't know if they have pucks like this in St. Louis, but it would be nice to have one. Anyway, that's over and it was a good game for our team. We saw Northern as a dangerous team, and they are a physical team. We had some valid scoring tonight, which was good. We had a shorthanded goal, a power-play goal, and we had a good effort in net. When we broke down, Billy Sauer was sharp."

Sauer made 33 saves and Bill Zaniboni 26 for the Wildcats, who got goals from Mike Santorelli and Nick Sirota.

Saturday, Zaniboni lost his shutout with seven seconds left on a goal by Cogliano as NMU took a 2-1 victory on a pair of goals by Santorelli, his 19th and 20th this year.

Sauer finished with 28 stops for U-M (15-9-0, 10-6-0 CCHA).

"Tonight should have been our strongest game," said Hunwick. "Some of our players took Wednesday off and got their legs back on Thursday. And last night we were definitely going and we should have had a lot more momentum. It is just preparation and knowing what to expect out there. I think some of our guys tonight thought that this would just be the same Northern team that we played last night and you know that is not going to happen."

Michigan ventures to Alaska this weekend, while Northern Michigan (9-14-2, 6-11-1 CCHA) hosts Bowling Green.

Spartans get CCHA sweep with Alaska

Lost in the post-game scuffle Friday night was the fact Michigan State beat Alaska, 3-2 in overtime, and then defeated the Nanooks Saturday night for a two-game sweep at Munn Ice Arena.

Tim Kennedy won it for MSU on Friday with a goal at the 2:04 mark of overtime. Then, during the post-game handshake, Alaska head coach Tavis MacMillan pointed his finger repreatedly at MSU head coach Rick Comley. Two fights escalated and Spartans' captain Chris Lawrence and defenseman Brandon Gentile were assessed fighting majors and sat out Saturday's game with mandatory one-game suspensions.

"We took a big penalty going into overtime and got a big goal in overtime to win," said Comley. "I think they played their game and I don't know this, but I think they played okay. It was a very hard-fought game and it is unfortunate that we had the incident after the game."

Justin Abdelkader tied the game in the third period for the Spartans and Chris Mueller scored in the first. Jeff Lerg finished with 26 saves in goal for MSU.

Saturday, despite a fantastic 44-save effort by Alaska netminder Wylie Rogers, Michigan State got a goal and two assists from Tyler Howells and two-point nights from three players to post a 4-3 victory over the Nanooks and record the two-game series sweep. A two-goal third period for MSU was the difference.

The Spartans have now won six of their last seven contests to improve to 14-8-1 and 10-6-1 in the CCHA.

Tim Crowder, Nick Sucharski and Jim McKenzie scored for MSU to back Lerg's 25-save outing.

"It seems like when we're playing the body and being in physical games like tonight, that's when we play our best," said McKenzie. "I think we did a really good job positioning ourselves on their breakout."

Michigan State will play at home again this weekend, hosting Lake Superior State in a CCHA set.

Broncos split with No. 6 Miami

Western Michigan surprised then-No. 6 Miami at home on Saturday with a 5-3 win just a day after losing by the same score.

On Friday at Lawson Ice Arena, the Broncos got two goals from Steve Silver and a single from Jeff LoVecchio to go along with 31 saves from goalie Riley Gill.

"When you're playing a quality team like Miami, you have to play 60 minutes of solid hockey," said WMU coach Jim Culhane. "I thought we competed hard tonight, but a few mistakes cost us."

Saturday, Western Michigan received a pair of goals each from LoVecchio and Mark Letestu and Daniel Bellissimo stopped 25 shots for the win. Jeff Pierce scored the game-winner at 15:11 of the third period on a 4-on-3 power play.

"I thought we rebounded well from last night's game and played well down the stretch when it counted," Culhane said. "It was a hard-fought game on both sides and this was an important two points for us to get at home."

WMU (8-12-1, 7-9-1 CCHA) continues its home stand this weekend, playing host to Notre Dame.

Finlandia men, women both split

Both Finlandia teams split their series last weekend with the men winning and losing at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the women going .500 at home against Augsburg.

The men (10-5-0, 8-2-0 MCHA) fell 2-1 on Friday, but rebounded for a 6-1 win on Saturday.

Friday, Ryan Sullivan scored and Lukas Alberer made 16 saves in the loss.

Saturday, Alberer made 33 saves and Mike Parks scored twice. Sullivan, Josh Paquette, Keith Johnstone and Marc Marcotte also scored to go along with two assists from Joe Beaudry.

The Lions are at Marian this weekend for a pair.

On the women's end, FU (4-10-2, 0-5-1 NCHA) lost 2-1 on Friday as the Lions could only muster a goal by Danielle Syrowik and 16 saves from Katie Markovich.

But on Saturday, five different goal scorers - Chaslyn Duffek, Amy Danielson, Kendra Benson, Jessica Jones and Sara Sleik - gave Finlandia the win. Markovich made 22 saves to boot. Sleik, Brenda Peterson and Syrowik also added two helpers apiece.

Finlandia is at Wisconsin-Superior this Saturday.

#1 Mercyhurst sweeps Wayne State

Top-ranked Mercyhurst swept the Wayne State Warriors last weekend at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. The Lakers earned an 8-0 victory on Friday and a 7-5 win on Saturday.Friday's game was an 8-0 drubbing, the Warriors' worst loss since 2004. The Lakers outshot the Warriors 39-12.

Tiffany Thompson made 10 saves in the first period before being replaced by fellow junior Valery Turcotte, who made 21 saves in the final two periods.The Warriors played a much tighter game on Saturday night, and pleasantly surprised the Coliseum proud by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

Christine Jefferson put the Warriors on the board with an unassisted goal, and Sam Poyton added a pair of goals with some assistance from Lindsay DiPietro and Tegan Schroeder.The Lakers snuck in a goal in the final minute of the first period, and added two more in the second to knot the score at three. DiPietro then set up Katrina Protopapas (pictured) for her first collegiate goal to give the Warriors the edge back.

The Lakers again retaliated with three straight goals before Ashley King scored halfway through the third period and cut the Warriors' deficit to one. DiPietro and Emily Berzins earned assists on King's goal.

But Valerie Chouinard, an offensive threat all weekend for the Warriors, scored to put the Lakers ahead 7-5, the score that stood until the final horn.Turcotte turned in a strong performance with 34 saves.

The Lakers again significantly outshot the Warriors--this time 40-18--but the five Warrior goals were the most Mercyhurst had given up in nearly two years.

The Warriors (8-14-0, 1-3-0 CHA) begin a long road trip this weekend, when they face Quinnipiac.

Lakers drop pair to Notre Dame

Despite battling back to tie the game three times Friday night, Lake Superior State dropped an overtime game to Notre Dame, 4-3.

LSSU got goals from Nik Sellers, Barnabas Birkeland and Dan Eves in the loss. While Notre Dame was able to capitalize on goals by Evan Rankin (Portage), Ryan Thang, Jason Paige (Saginaw) and Erik Condra (Livonia) to pull off their 18th win of the season. Notre Dame’s David Brown recorded 21 saves for the win in net while LSSU’s Jeff Jakaitis recorded 25 saves in a losing effort.

Saturday night, the Lakers where lacking a jump in their step as evidenced in being out shot 33-14 in the first two periods of the game. Notre Dame was able to capitalize on goals from Josh Sciba (Westland), Condra, Thang, and Garrett Regan, while LSSU’s lone goal came from John Scrymgeour when head coach Jim Roque pulled one of out Frank Anzalone’s old playbook and pulled the goaltender with over five minutes remaining in the game.

Next weekend LSSU (13-8-3, 7-6-3 CCHA) will travel to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans.

MTU continues streaky play, sweeps Bemidji

Michigan Tech came into the weekend on a four-game slide, but turned it around with a sweep of the 16th-ranked Beavers from Bemidji. MTU won the games, 4-1 and 3-2 in the first-ever meeting of the two teams in Houghton.

Friday saw the two teams skate to a 0-0 tie at the end of one. MTU recorded the only goal of the second, when Ryan Angelow tipped home a puck on a shot from Drew Dobson. MTU went into the third with a one- goal lead.

In the third, MTU added three, one an empty-netter to seal the deal. It was Tyler Skworchinski who scored for MTU while on a power play for a five-minute major to the Beavers. Alex Lord knocked in the third of the game and second of the period to give the home team a 3-0 lead. Micheal-Lee Teslak (pictured) saw his shutout disappear with three minutes remaining, when Bemidji scored on the power play. Malcolm Gwilliam added the empty netter with 25 seconds remaining to secure the win for the Huskies.

MTU head coach Jamie Russell said after the game that Tech "did a great job tonight of staying aggressive, going after it. The guys did a good job. They stayed aggressive with their foot on the gas."

Teslak looked to regain some of the confidence he had early in the year. He ended the game with 22 saves and earned his first win in 2007.

Saturday, it was the visiting team that started the scoring, getting one goal in each of the first two periods, while the home team could get nothing. It was 2-0 going into the third when the home team decided to get the offense going.

Tyler Shelast scored on the power play just 40 seconds into the period when he tipped home a shot from the point by Lars Helminen. It was Helminen with the first assist on the second goal as well, as he found Alex Gagne who was able to beat the netminder to tie the game. The final goal came in the 12th minute and was by Skworchinski with his second game-winning goal of the weekend.

The Beavers tried to tie it up in the third, but Rob Nolan proved to be too strong in net as he stopped all four shots in the third he faced. Nolan ended the night with 15 saves and recored his first win of 2007 as well.

The Huskies (10-12-2, 5-9-2 WCHA) now have a long road trip up north against the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. MTU were the victors earlier in the season when Anchorage was in Houghton, getting the sweep, including a 9-0 outing.

Warriors and Bulldogs split in Motown

The Wayne State Warriors and Ferris State Bulldogs played a pair of almost even games over the weekend at the Coliseum in Detroit with each squad being able to enjoy a victory.

Wayne State drew first blood on Friday night as they stole a 2-1 overtime win from Ferris State.

After two scoreless periods, the Bulldogs finally got on the board when Aaron Lewicki knocked in a rebound at 6:20 of the third.

The lead almost held up for the remainder of the contest, but Warrior head coach Bill Wilkinson pulled goaltender Brett Bothwell late in the game for the extra attacker.

The move paid off and with just 29 ticks left on the clock, blueliner Matt Krug ripped in a shot to send the game into overtime.

The Green and Gold kept the pressure on in the extra frame and at 1:42 freshman forward Jared Katz (pictured) smacked in his first game-winner of the season.

Bothwell finished the night with 23 saves.

FSU netminder Mitch O'Keefe stopped 28 on the other end.

Saturday's game was close for the first forty minutes and then the Bulldogs exploded for four unanswered goals in the third period en route to a 7-3 victory.

The teams went back and forth in the first and second with Mike Forgie, Jason Baclig and Katz scoring for the home team. The visiting Bulldogs got a pair from Cody Chupp and another from Eric Vesely.

The third was all FSU with goals coming from Aaron Lewicki, Adam Welch, Chris Zarb and a late empty netter from Jeremy Scherlinck.

Derek MacIntyre started in net for FSU and stopped 25 of 28 shots.

Bothwell got the call again for WSU and turned aside 26 of 32 shots.

Ferris State is now 4-2-0 all time versus Wayne State.

The Bulldogs (6-14-3, 3-10-2 CCHA) will return to CCHA action next weekend as they host the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks at the Ewigleben Arena.

Wayne State (5-17-0, 1-7-0 CHA) will close out their four game home stand with a pair against CHA rival Robert Morris.

Photo courtesy of Wayne State Athletics & Mark Hicks Westside Photography