On the ice this weekend 1.17.08

FRIDAY

Quinnipiac at Wayne State (women)
Taylor SportsPlex, 3:30 p.m.

Niagara at Wayne State (men)
Taylor SportsPlex, 7:05 p.m.

Western Michigan at Bowling Green
BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.

Michigan State at Ohio State
Value City Arena, 7:05 p.m.

Northern Michigan at Ferris State
Ewigleben Arena, 7:05 p.m.

Lake Superior State at Miami
Steve Cady Arena, 7:35 p.m.

Notre Dame at Michigan
Yost Ice Arena, 8:05 p.m.


SATURDAY

Quinnipiac at Wayne State (women)
City Sports Center, 2:00 p.m.

Niagara at Wayne State (men)
Palace of Auburn Hills, 3:30 p.m.

Michigan at Notre Dame
Palace of Auburn Hills, 7:05 p.m.

Michigan State at Ohio State
Value City Arena, 7:35 p.m.

Lake Superior State at Miami
Steve Cady Arena, 7:35 p.m.

Bowling Green at Western Michigan
Lawson Arena, 7:35 p.m.

Northern Michigan at Ferris State
Ewigleben Arena, 8:05 p.m.

MiCHO Power Poll 01.16.08

The top three spots remain the same in the MiCHO Power Poll.

The Michigan Wolverines are on top again with a near-perfect record of 20-2-0. The Wolverines are also ranked No. 1 nationally. The Maize and Blue swept Western Michigan in a home-and-home set last weekend.

Michigan State comes in the second spot after beating and tying Notre Dame last weekend in another home-and-home series.

The Michigan Tech Huskies went on the road and were swept by North Dakota last weekend. Still, MTU holds on to the No. 3 spot in the Power Poll, but just barely, as No. 4 Ferris State has been improving lately.

Wayne State, by virtue of their sweep at Northern Michigan, moves up to the seventh spot and knocks Lake Superior State to the basement.

Complete Poll
1) Michigan, 20-2-0 (swept WMU)
2) Michigan State, 14-5-4 (beat, tied #6 Notre Dame)
3) Michigan Tech, 9-11-2 (swept at #8 North Dakota)
4) Ferris State, 9-9-2 (tied, lost to Alaska)
5) Northern Michigan, 9-14-1 (swept by WSU)
6) Western Michigan, 6-15-0 (swept by #1 UM)
7) Wayne State, 5-15-2 (swept NMU)
8) Lake Superior State, 3-13-4 (split with BGSU)

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

Wayne State picks up weekly awards

The Wayne State Warrior hockey teams had one of their best weekend’s in recent history and were rewarded with three honors from College Hockey America.

Wayne State sophomore defenseman Jeff Caister was named the College Hockey America Defensive Player of the Week as recognition for his role in Warriors road sweep of Northern Michigan.

Caister, Wayne State's leading scorer with 17 points, notched four more against the Wildcats. He assisted on the first and last goals of the game in Friday's 4-1 victory and the following night, he assisted on a power-play goal in the second period and scored the game-winner in overtime to give the Warriors the sweep.

Goaltender Mike Devoney earned CHA Rookie of the Week honors after posting both victories over the Wildcats.

Devoney stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced in his first collegiate start on Friday, and followed that with a 19-save performance as WSU rallied from a two-goal deficit on Saturday.

Wayne State will return to Detroit to host Niagara next weekend, with the Jan. 19 game being housed at the Palace of Auburn Hills as part of a doubleheader also featuring 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.

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Boal records third CHA award

The Wayne State Women’s team had an equally impressive weekend with a sweep of Maine at the City Sports Arena in Detroit.

Junior forward Melissa Boal was named College Hockey America (CHA) Offensive Player of the Week after recording three points (two goals, one assist) in WSU's sweep of visiting Maine marking the first time the Warriors defeated the Black Bears in eight previous attempts.

In Friday's contest, Boal assisted on WSU's second goal en route to a 5-0 shutout victory. In the second game, she led the Warriors with two goals in the 4-3 triumph.

The Wayne State Warrior Women concludes its six-game home stand with a series against Quinnipiac Friday and Saturday Jan.18-19. The first game will be part of part of a double-header with the WSU men's team and will be played at the Taylor SportsPlex at 3:30 p.m. in Taylor, Mich. Game two is at 2:00 p.m. and will be played at the City Sports Center.

Warriors sweep NMU in Marquette

By Tom Balog/ Wayne State Beat Writer

Wayne State ended a long history of futility as they went on the road over the weekend and swept the Northern Michigan Wildcats.

Prior to the series, the Warriors were 0-7 all-time versus the ‘Cats and hadn’t swept a road series since beating division rival Robert Morris in Pittsburgh March 2-3 of last season.

The Warriors were ready to erase some history beginning on Friday as they never trailed en route to a surprising 4-1 win over the Wildcats at the Berry Events Center.

Mike Forgie started the fun for WSU, scoring just 11 seconds into the game for his team-high sixth goal of the year.

Tylor Michel bested Forgie with an even quicker goal, scoring just eight ticks into the second period to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats fought back and Mark Olver made it a 2-1 game when he scored at 17:19 of the second period.

Jared Katz and Derek Punches put any questions on the outcome to rest, both scoring in the third to help Wayne State snap an eight-game losing skid.

In his first collegiate start, Mike Devoney registered 35 saves for the victory. Reid Ellingson totaled 22 saves for the Wildcats.

Saturday night, it was the Wildcats turn to come out on fire.

The ‘Cats posted a 2-0 lead on goals by Olver and Mark Butcher to lead after 20 minutes of play.

Derek Bachynski scored a power-play goal for WSU just over two minutes into the second period and then Stavros Paskaris scored at 11:22 of the third to tie the score and send the game to the extra frame.

NMU’s Matt Siddall picked up an unneeded penalty at the 20:00 mark of the third period and just :59 into overtime, WSU’s leading scorer, defenseman Jeff Caister, scored with the man-advantage to give Wayne the win and shock the crowd of over 2,100 at the BEC.

Devoney made his second straight start for WSU and stopped 19 shots. Brian Stewart turned away 28 of 31 for NMU.

Wayne State (5-15-2, 1-5-0 CHA) returns to Detroit to host Niagara next weekend, with the Jan. 19 game being housed at the Palace of Auburn Hills as part of a doubleheader also featuring 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.

Northern Michigan (9-14-1, 6-10-0 CCHA) will head south to stop off at Ferris State for a pair of games with the Bulldogs.

MSU beats, ties Notre Dame

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan State Beat Writer

Michigan State took three points from Notre Dame last weekend with a win on Friday and settling for a tie Sunday afternoon.

On Friday night, Michigan State earned its first victory of the season over a ranked team, posting a 3-1 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame at Munn Ice Arena.

Justin Abdelkader got the game-winner with under two minutes remaining in regulation for the Spartans, who got a 30-save effort from goalie Jeff Lerg.

"These two teams are good teams and evenly matched,” noted MSU head coach Rick Comley. “When we play each other, they are going to be those types of games. This was our best game I think. There have been so many games we have gone into with that expectation that we are going to win - by everybody. This one, it was a toss-up going in and I think it had good emotion.”

Matt Schepke and Nick Sucharski scored the other goals for the Spartans.

Sunday in South Bend, Ryan Thang scored at 19:22 of the third period to pull the Irish into a 1-1 tie.

Sucharski netted MSU’s goal and Lerg finished with 34 saves.

The Spartans managed just 15 shots on goal – a season low – and their fewest shots on net since a 1-0 victory over Michigan on Nov. 4, 2000 in which they had just 13 shots.

Michigan State (14-5-4, 10-2-2 CCHA) continues its four-game road swing this weekend with a set at Ohio State.

Huskies swept at North Dakota

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Michigan Tech could only muster two goals over the weekend and were swept at North Dakota.

Friday night, Peter Rouleau scored the lone goal and Rob Nolan made 23 saves in net in a 4-1 loss.

The next night in another 4-1 defeat, Drew Dobson was the goal scorer and Nolan finished with 17 saves.

The Huskies (9-11-2, 5-8-1 WCHA) are off this weekend before hosting Colorado College Jan. 25-26.

Bulldogs tamed by Nanooks

Compiled by Micho Staff

The Ferris State Bulldogs started the New Year on a low note, losing three of four points to the Alaska Nanooks in Big Rapids.

Despite outshooting the visitors by a wide 52-23 margin, the Bulldogs lost 4-3 in the Friday's opener at the Ewigleben Arena.

Mike Fillinger, Brendan Connolly, and Zach Redmond scored for FSU. Pat Nagle started in net, but got an early night after giving up 3 goals on 5 shots. Mitch O'Keefe came in in relief and stopped 15 of 16 shots.

Saturday night, the Bulldogs gave up a two goal lead and were forced to settle for a 2-2 tie.

Connolly and Chris Zarb lit the lamp for FSU and O'Keefe made 26 saves.

The Bulldogs (9-9-2, 6-7-1 CCHA) will welcome the Northern Michigan Wildcats to Big Rapids for a pair of conference games next weekend.

Top-ranked Wolverines sweep WMU

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan Beat Writer and
By Tom Morelli/Western Michigan Beat Writer

The Michigan Wolverines continued their dominance of the CCHA with a two-game home-and-home sweep of Western Michigan last weekend.

FRIDAY

The No. 1-ranked Wolverines earned a decisive 6-1 victory over Western Michigan in front of a sellout crowd of 6,924 Friday at Yost Ice Arena. Seniors Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik each tallied a goal and two assists, while Billy Sauer made 21 saves for the win.

Porter notched his 20th marker of the campaign, giving the captain back-to-back 20-goal seasons.

"(Western Michigan is) a physical team and they took it to us pretty hard,” said Porter. “But we came right back at them and we were physical with them.”

Travis Turnbull, Chris Summers, Carl Hagelin and Kevin Quick scored the other goals for U-M. For Quick, it was his first collegiate tally.

“Chad (Kolarik) passed me the puck and it was a great pass,” Quick said. “I kind of froze – I wanted to pass, but I saw an opening, so I shot it. It was my first career goal, so I got that out of the way. But more importantly, the team played pretty well tonight.”

Matt Rust added two assists for Michigan.

For WMU, Steve Silver scored his first of the year seven seconds into the third period. Riley Gill made 26 saves through 40 minutes and took the loss before Jerry Kuhn played the third period and stopped 12 shots.

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SATURDAY

For the second consecutive night, Western Michigan struggled to make some noise in conference play, losing to the University of Michigan, 5-1.

Chad Kolarik solidified his presence in the game early for the Wolverines, scoring a pair of goals with the opening period halfway through. Kolarik scored an unassisted goal at the 3:17 mark of the second period and added to his hat trick with a power-play goal in the final stanza.

Helping out on three of Kolarik’s four lamp-lighters was U-M captain Kevin Porter.

The Broncos scored their only goal in the first period, as senior defenseman Nathan Ansell fired the puck past goaltender Billy Sauer on the power play. Assisting on the efforts were forward Dave Krisky and Kevin O’ Connor.

Just 19 seconds later, the Wolverines’ Kevin Quick answered back with a goal of his own while on the man-advantage.

Sauer accumulated 31 saves on the game, while Western Michigan netminder Riley Gill had 33.

Michigan put together a strong effort on special teams, scoring on three of four power-play opportunities.

Up next for the Broncos (6-15-1, 2-12-0 CCHA) is a home-and-home series with CCHA rival Bowling Green this upcoming weekend. Western Michigan will face the Falcons on the road Friday night, before returning to Kalamazoo the following evening. In their previous series, Bowling Green swept the Broncos, with both wins coming in overtime.

Michigan (20-2-0, 13-1-0 CCHA) is back in action Friday when they host Notre Dame at Yost Ice Arena. Faceoff will be at 8:05 p.m. and the game will be televised by CSTV.

Warriors cage Black Bears

For the current squad of the Wayne State women’s team, the past doesn’t mean a whole lot. The Warriors forgot all about an 0-8 all time mark against Maine as they handily swept the Black Bears in a two-game set at the City Sports Arena.

There’s still room for improvement, though, said WSU assistant coach Nicolette Frank after Saturday’s series clincher.

“We didn’t have three consistent periods and we’re trying to work towards that," Franck said. "We have come out aggressive against Quinnipiac (this weekend). Everyone is battling hard and playing well and we want to keep that up. Six good periods in a row is what we’re shooting for.”

Friday night, the Warriors got 12 saves from Val Turcotte and shutout the Bears, 5-0.

The game featured a little bit of everything including separate ejections to both team’s captains, an injured head referee and goals scored even strength, on the power play and shorthanded.

Newcomer Sammi Bowers, in just her third WSU game, started the scoring with the eventual game-winner on the power play at 12:03 of the second period.

Just under six minutes later, Sam Poyton scored an even-strength marker to put the Warriors up by a 2-0 score after 40 minutes of play.

Brandi Frakie scored her first of the year, shorthanded, at 13:42 of the third to widen the gap. Bowers and Poyton scored back-to-back again about two minutes later to close the night’s scoring.

WSU outshot the Black Bears, 39-12, for the game.

The shutout was the second of the year and seventh all-time for Turcotte.

The final score was closer in Saturday’s afternoon finale, but the Warriors still prevailed by a final of 4-3.

Wayne State’s power line scored all four goals with Lindsay DiPietro scoring the opener, Melissa Boal (pictured) the next two, and Poyton finishing it up by registering her third marker of the weekend.

Turcotte turned aside 21 of 24 shots to bump her season record to 5-4-1.

Wayne State (10-6-2 0-0-0 CHA) concludes its six-game homestand with the aforementioned series against Quinnipiac this weekend. The first game will be part of part of a double-header with the WSU men's team and will be played at the Taylor SportsPlex at 3:30 p.m. in Taylor, Mich. Game two is at 2:00 p.m. and will be played at the City Sports Center.

ICE CHIPS….

+ WSU head coach Jim Fetter missed the last two series against Minnesota and Maine as he helped guide Hockey Canada's Under-18 team to a silver medal at the IIHF World Women’s U18 Championships In Calgary.

+ Poyton (21-18—39) and Boal (22-16—38) rank second and third in the county in points.

+ DiPietro (6-29—35) is ranked first in the nation with 29 assists.

+ Since winning their opener on Sept. 29 against Sacred Heart, Maine (1-18-2) has gone winless in their last 20 games.