Playoff recaps 3.15.2008

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

MICHIGAN 2, NEBRASKA-OMAHA 1: The Wolverines had a tighter game on Saturday night at the Yost Arena in Ann Arbor, but still skated away with a Quarterfinals sweep over Mavericks. Brandon Naurato and Carl Hagelin scored first period goals for the Maize and Blue and Billy Sauer made 26 saves. Michigan will now advance to the CCHA semifinals next Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN 2, MICHIGAN STATE 1 : The Wildcats kept their season going by shocking the defending National Champions on their home ice in East Lansing. Ray Kaunisto scored the game winner at 8:13 of the third period and Brian Stewart made 41 saves to force a game 3 on Sunday evening at the Munn Arena.

NOTRE DAME 6, FERRIS STATE 3: The Fighting Irish forced a game three in their CCHA Quarterfinal match-up with the Bulldogs. Ian Cole scored a pair for ND and Zach Redmond had a goal and assist for FSU. Game 3 will hit the ice back at the Joyce Center on Sunday night.

MICHIGAN TECH 3, NORTH DAKOTA 2 (OT) : The Huskies stayed alive in the first round of the WCHA playoffs after surprising the Fighting Sioux at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks. Tyler Shelast tied the game with a short-handed goal with six seconds remaining in regulation and then scored the game-winner on the power-play at 1:59 of overtime. The Huskies and Sioux will meet in game three back in North Dakota tonight at 7:05 CT.

BEMIDJI STATE 4, WAYNE STATE 1: The Warriors reached the end of the road, falling to the Beavers in the CHA semifinals at the Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY. Chris Kushneriuk scored the last goal in WSU history and Brett Bothwell made 26 saves between the pipes for the Green and Gold.

Playoff recaps 3.14.2008

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

MICHIGAN 10, NEBRASKA-OMAHA 1: Chad Kolarik notched the hat trick as the #1 Wolverines blitzed the Mavericks in game 1 of the CCHA Quarterfinals at the Yost Arena in Ann Arbor.

MICHIGAN STATE 5, NORTHERN MICHIGAN 1: The Spartans got goals from 5 different players in downing the Wildcats in game 1 of the CCHA Quarterfinals at the Munn Arena in East Lansing. Jeff Lerg stopped 24 shots in net and also picked up an assist for the Green and White.

FERRIS STATE 2, NOTRE DAME 1: The Bulldogs stayed hot, winning for the seventh time in their last nine in an upset of the Fighting Irish at the Joyce Center in South Bend. Justin Menke scored the game winner on the PP and Mitch O’ Keefe made 25 saves in game 1 of the CCHA Quarterfinals.

WAYNE STATE 4, ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE 0: Brock Meadows picked up a goal and an assist and Brett Bothwell stopped all 21 shots he faced as the Warriors shutout the Chargers in the CHA play-in game at the Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY. Wayne State will face top-seeded Bemidji State in a semifinal game Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET.

NORTH DAKOTA 4, MICHIGAN TECH 0: The Huskies were outshot 31 to 14 in their first round WCHA game against the Fighting Sioux at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, ND. Michael-Lee Teslak stopped 27 shots for MTU.

MiCHO's 2007-2008 awards announced

The staff of Michigan College Hockey is excited to announce their selections for the first-annual MiCHO Awards.

Teams were voted on by the MiCHO staff.

MiCHO 2007-2008 First Team
F – Kevin Porter, Michigan, Sr.
F – Chad Kolarik, Michigan, Sr.
F – Tim Kennedy, Michigan State, Jr.
D – Mike Ratchuk, Michigan State, So.
D – Daniel Vukovic, Michigan State, Sr.
G – Jeff Lerg, Michigan State, Jr.

MiCHO 2007-2008 Second Team
F – Justin Abdelkader, Michigan State, Jr.
F – Matt Siddall, Northern Michigan, Sr.
F – Nick Sirota, Northern Michigan, Jr.
D – Chris Summers, Michigan, So.
D – Jeff Petry, Michigan State, Fr.
G – Billy Sauer, Michigan, Jr.

First and Second Team – Also Receiving Votes
F – Tim Crowder (MSU), Max Pacioretty (UM), Tyler Shelast (MTU), Aaron Palushaj (UM), Peter Rouleau (MTU), Bryan Lerg (MSU), Pat Galivan (WMU), Stavros Paskaris (WSU)
D – Chad Langlais (UM), Tyler Ludwig (WMU), Jeff Caister (WSU), Geoff Kinrade (MTU), Mark Mitera (UM)
G – Riley Gill (WMU), Michael-Lee Teslak (MTU), Brian Stewart (NMU)

MiCHO 2007-2008 All-Rookie Team
F – Max Pacioretty, Michigan
F – Aaron Palushaj, Michigan
F – Mark Olver, Northern Michigan
D – Jeff Petry, Michigan State
D – Zach Redmond, Ferris State
G – Pat Nagle, Ferris State

All-Rookie Team - Also Receiving Votes
F - Justin Menke (FSU)
D - Erik Gustafsson (NMU)
G - Brian Mahoney-Wilson (LSSU)

MVP: Kevin Porter, Michigan
Top Defenseman: Daniel Vukovic, Michigan State
Coach of the Year: Red Berenson, Michigan
Rookie of the Year: Jeff Petry, Michigan State

Bicek signs with ECHL's Jackals

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

The Elmira Jackals announced yesterday that they have signed forward Brian Bicek to an ECHL contract.

Bicek just completed his final season with Western Michigan. In his four-year career in Kalamazoo, Bicek tallied 29 goals and 54 points in 145 career contests. His best season came in his junior campaign (2006-07) when he potted 15 goals and 26 points in 37 games, finishing fifth in team scoring.

Skating in just one season of junior hockey with the Cleveland Barons in 2003-04, Bicek picked up a league-leading 45 assists as part of a 71-point campaign that saw him finish second in the NAHL scoring race.

Mason to be honored at MSU banquet

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Ron Mason, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA hockey history and former Michigan State athletic director, has been selected to receive the Spartan Hockey 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Mason will be honored at the Hockey Awards Banquet on Tuesday, April 15 at the Kellogg Center.

Mason’s 36-year coaching career, 23 seasons of which were spent as the Michigan State mentor, concluded in 2002, when he announced his retirement from coaching and assumed the leadership of the 25-sport department. Mason finished his coaching career with a record of 924-380-83. In 23 years at Michigan State, he posted a 635-270-69 mark. His career highlights include an NCAA championship in 1986 and an NAIA championship with Lake Superior State in 1972. He led MSU to 17 CCHA regular-season and playoff titles and guided 23 teams to the NCAA Tournament, an all-time record. In addition, he coached 35 All-Americans and 50 former Spartans who went onto to establish careers in the National Hockey League.

“Ron Mason’s name is synonymous with Michigan State hockey,” noted current MSU head coach Rick Comley. “Ron’s records and reputation speak for themselves - he is a very deserving recipient of this honor.”

“I established this award to recognize former players who played for Amo Bessone,” noted Mason. “We really have some unbelievable alumni with impressive accomplishments not only in hockey, but in life. So now, to be the recipient, it’s very special to me, and I could not have accomplished what I did without the assistance of so many people along the way. I’m very honored that they have selected me as the recipient.”

Tickets for the banquet are available for $35 and additional information can be obtained by calling the hockey office at 517-355-1639 or by emailing hockey@msu.edu.

Lakers ousted by Bowling Green

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Lake Superior State's disappointing season has finally come to a close with a loss in the first round of the CCHA playoffs to Bowling Green.

But the Lakers made it interesting only to have the Falcons take the deciding third game in overtime Sunday.

Steven Kaunisto scored twice with an assist and Nathan Perkovich also scored in a 4-3 loss Friday at BGSU. Brian Mahoney-Wilson made 32 saves in the loss and Troy Schwab tacked on two assists.

Saturday night, Will Acton and Dan Eves each potted a pair for LSSU in a huge 6-1 win to even the series. Pat Aubry and Simon Gysbers tallied the other markers to back Pat Inglis' 34-save outing. Gysbers, Perkovich and Rick Schofield added two helpers as well.

Jacob Cepis' goal 26 secods into OT yesterday sent the Lakers home.

Acton, Schwab and Perkovich scored to give LSSU a 3-2 lead late into the third period. Northville native Todd McIlrath scored at the 17-minute mark to tie the game for BGSU to set the stage for the overtime session.

Kaunisto chipped in two assists for the Lakers and Inglis finished with 49 saves.

Perkovich finished the season with a team-leading 17 goals, tying the previous best by a Laker in more than a decade (Terry Marchant, 1997-1998).

LSSU ends the campaign 10-20-7 overall and 7-15-6 in the CCHA, good for a 10th-place finish in the standings.

Wildcats move on in CCHA tourney

By Lee Hampden/Northern Michigan Beat Writer

After dropping the opening game Friday night to Ohio State, Northern Michigan rallied to win two straight on home ice and advance in the CCHA tournament to face Michigan State this weekend.

Jared Brown, Matt Siddall and TJ Miller scored in Friday night's 4-3 loss to the Buckeyes and goalie Brian Stewart made just 14 saves on 18 shots. Erik Gustafsson added two assists.

Saturday night, Nick Sirota tallied two goals and an assist to lead the Wildcats to a 4-2 win. Phil Fox and Mark Olver also scored and Stewart finished with 25 stops.

Northern Michigan then exploed for six goals in the clincher yesterday, taking a dominating 6-1 win over OSU. Stewart made 35 saves for NMU and Olver scored a pair to pace the attack. Fox, Brown, Siddall and Billy Smith chipped in single goals for the Wildcats and Gustafsson and Brown each had two helpers.

“It was a great performance by the whole team,” said Olver, who also had an assist. “We just wanted to get pucks at the net."

NMU now has to face Michigan State in the quarterfinals, also a best-of-three series, in East Lansing beginning on Friday. NMU is 2-2-0 against the Spartans this season.

Fri., March 14 – 7:35 p.m., FSN Detroit
Sat., March 15 – 7:05 p.m.
Sun. March 16 – 7:05 p.m. (if necessary)

Both Friday and Saturday’s games will air on WJIM 1240 AM – Sunday, if necessary, is TBA.

Ticket prices are $22 for chairback seats, $20 bench seats, and $10 for MSU students (two per ID).

Fans are reminded that due to the MHSAA basketball championships at the Breslin Center, extra traffic and parking congestion is to be expected. Please allow extra time to park and reach the arena.

On Friday only, the parking ramp on Trowbridge will charge the customary $7 to park, with a free shuttle bus to the arena.

WSU women drop title game in heartbreaker

By Susannah Nichols/ Wayne State Women's Beat Writer

The Wayne State Warriors tallied a school-record 22 wins this season, but came up short in Saturday's CHA final as the team lost a 2-1 overtime thriller to No. 7 Mercyhurst College.

Despite surrendering the game-winner, senior goalie Valery Turcotte (pictured) stopped 28 Mercyhurst shots, particularly impressive since the Lakers entered the contest with a 4.06 goals-per-game average.

Tournament MVP Meghan Agosta notched Mercyhurst's only goal to put the Lakers on the board, but Sam Poyton was able to redirect a shot by Tina Vanderhoeven to knot the score heading into overtime.

Both Turcotte and junior Sammi Bowers were named to the all-tournament team.

The Warriors advanced to the final after beating Robert Morris 4-0 on Friday. Turcotte earned her fourth shutout of the season and the ninth of her career.

Tegan Schroeder and Lindsay DiPietro set up Melissa Boal to put the Warriors on the board late in the first period. Janet Babchishin added a goal early in the second stanza to widen the Warriors' lead and Chelsea Burnett and Bowers helped Katrina Protopapas make the most of a power-play situation to put the team up 3-0. Babchishin added an empty-net goal in the final two minutes.

Bowers also assisted on both of Babchishin's goals and Turcotte made 15 saves for the shutout.

The Warriors end their magical season with a record of 22-9-3.

Photo by Mark Hicks/West Side Photographic

WSU earns split with Niagara in final home series

By Karl Henkel/Wayne State Men's Beat Writer

While the finale may not have been the fairy-tale ending for Wayne State's final regular-season home game, the Warriors could at least take solace in that they were able to knock off No. 20 Niagara on Friday night.

The opener, a tight, highly physical affair, which was tied at the end of regulation, ended with Derek Punches firing home the game winner 79 seconds into overtime for a 3-2 victory.

“It was a good confidence builder (for the tournament),” WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson said. “The last two times we lost to them 6-5 and 3-2, two one-goal games, and tonight another one goal game. It was good to have us come out on the right end of it.”

Back in the first period, Brock Meadows got the scoring started when he sped down the left wing and fired a shot past Purple Eagles netminder Adam Avramenko. Niagara knotted the game in the second, with Ted Cook one-timing a pass from Tyler Gotto past Warrior goalie Brett Bothwell on the power play.

Mike Forgie and Egor Mirinov then traded goals, sending the two squads into the final period tied up at two apiece.

After a scoreless final frame, the game proceeded into an extra session, where just over a minute in, Stavros Paskaris fired a shot that was blocked, but Punches alertly gathered the ricochet and buried the game-winner, sending Wayne State home winners – for one final time.

“Our record doesn’t say much, we have a great team here,” Tylor Michel said after the game. “They are a great team as well, we just worked hard and it was a good night for us.”

WSU defeated a nationally-ranked team for the first time this season, and ironically, the last time they beat a ranked opponent was last February, when Niagara was ranked 17th.

Saturday night’s emotional contest started off with Niagara jumping out to a 3-0 lead after just twenty minutes of action. Paul Zanette and David Ross sandwiched a power play goal by Cook for the trifecta of first period Purple Eagle goals.

The second period, however, was a completely different story, as Wayne State would fire 24 shots at goaltender Juliano Pagliero, one shy of the team-record 25 they fired in one session against Bowling Green back in 2004.

Three of those shots would find their way in, with the first coming on the power play, courtesy of Derek Bachynski. After Punches added another power play goal, Niagara’s Mirinov fired a long slapshot that trickled though Bothwell, putting the Purple Eagles up 4-2.

“The excitement was high on the bench; we thought we were going to come back,” Punches said of the team’s emotion after his goal brought them within one. “Then the long shot goes in and it kind of put us back down.”

Late in the period, with Wayne State on a 5-on-3 man advantage, Michel took the puck from the top of the left circle, dragged it across to the right circle, then drew it back to his left before launching a slapper through a crowd, pulling WSU to within one.

Just 1:18 later, though, Zanette deflected home a Derek Foam shot, once again putting Niagara up two goals.

“It seemed like we scored a goal and they came right back down and put another in the net,” Paskaris said after the game, “That’s going to kill you – when you score a goal and they come back the next shift and put one back in.”

Ross and Cook (empty-net) added third period markers, and the Purple Eagles took the last game for WSU at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum, 7-3.

The Warriors (10-24-2, 6-14-0 CHA) head off to Niagara next weekend for the CHA Tournament, and will take on fifth-seeded Alabama-Huntsville (6-20-4, 3-13-4 CHA) Friday night. WSU took three of four regular-season games from the Chargers. The winner of that game will take on CHA regular-season champion Bemidji State the following afternoon.

Photo of WSU's seniors (l-r Derek Bachynski, Mike Forgie, Stavros Paskaris and Tylor Michel) by Matt Mackinder

Ferris State advances over Broncos

By Tom Morelli/WMU Beat Writer

Any hopes for Western Michigan to salvage their season through the CCHA Tournament were denied last weekend as the Bulldogs won in consecutive nights to advance to the quarterfinals round.

The Broncos had a strong chance to steal a win on the road Friday night, but fell in overtime to Ferris State 4-3.

Jeff Pierce gave Western Michigan the early lead just seven minutes into the opening period, as he rifled the puck past Bulldogs goaltender Mitch O’ Keefe. The marker was Pierce’s eighth of the season and came courtesy of Max Campbell and Kevin O’ Connor.

A mere five minutes later, Ferris State evened-up matters as they made full-use of their extra attacker. While Jonathan Lupa sat in the penalty box on a holding call, Blair Riley battled for the puck along the boards in the Broncos’ defensive zone. Riley made a quick pass to Justin Menke, who fed it to forward Cody Chupp for a one-timer.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the following period thanks to another goal coming on the man-advantage. Scott Wiethca made a pass from the blue line across ice to Brendan Connolly, who then blasted the puck behind Western Michigan’s net. Riley scooped up the loose puck in front of the crease and banged-in his 13th goal of the campaign at 11:12 elapsed.

Momentum shifted sides once again when the Broncos scored with five minutes left in the period. Sophomore Chris Clackson sped down ice on the wing and chipped the puck to Cam Watson, who finished the job with a back-handed shot.

With Western Michigan once again short a player, the Bulldogs scored their third power-play goal of the night in the third period as Justin Lewandowski set-up Adam Miller for the go-ahead goal at 11:02.

O’ Connor put the Broncos back in contention by crashing the net with the period halfway through. Junior winger Patrick Galivan and Watson both tallied assists on the game-tying goal.

Chupp sealed the deal for Ferris State with his winning goal at 8:32 of sudden death, which came courtesy of Riley and Menke.

Getting the decision in net for the Bulldogs was O’ Keefe (9-6-5), who stopped 28 of 31 shots.

Sophomore Riley Gill had a slightly busier time between the pipes on the other end, finishing with 34 saves.

Saturday night saw similar results, as Western Michigan scored the first goal, only to surrender the lead and play catch-up the rest of the game in a 6-3 loss.

Senior defenseman Nathan Ansell added one to the scoreboard for the Broncos less than six minutes into the opening period, as Campbell and freshman Travis Paeth assisted on the play.

A high-sticking penalty by Tyler Ludwig minutes later proved to be fatal for Western Michigan as Ferris State’s special teams came through once again. With help from Miller and Jim Jorgensen, Lewandowski scored on the power-play to set the tone for the Bulldogs’ offense.

Just before the end of the period, Corey Couturier and Mike Fillinger helped set-up a goal for Aaron Lewicki to take the lead.

Riley added an insurance goal two minutes gone by in the middle stanza, and Casey Haines notched the game-winner shortly thereafter.

Pierce and Paeth both generated lamp-lighters for the Broncos in the final period, but Connolly answered back with a pair of goals.

Pat Nagle extended his record to 8-7-0 between the pipes for Ferris State, and walked away with 27 saves.

Despite his 39 stops, Gill fell to 6-18-2 on the year.

With their 2007-2008 season in the books, Western Michigan finishes with an overall record of 8-27-3 (4-22-3 CCHA).

The Bulldogs improve to 17-14-5 overall (12-12-4 CCHA) and will venture off to South Bend, Indiana for a best-of-three series with the University of Notre Dame next Friday night.

Tech splits another ranked team

By Joseph Lakeland / MTU Beat Writer

Can anyone explain the play of the Michigan Tech Huskies this season?

Games they should win, they lose. And games they should lose, they win.

It’s been an up and down season for head coach Jamie Russell and the Huskies and it was on display again over the weekend as the Black and Gold split a two-game set on the road at #9 Minnesota State.

The Huskies gave up four, second period goals and were shellacked 5-2 by the Mavericks at the Alltel Center on Friday night.

Mick Berge led the Mavericks with a pair of goals and Mike Zacharias made 31 saves in net.

Malcolm Gwilliam and Mark Malekoff scored the goals for MTU.

Michael-Lee Teslak started in net for the Huskies, but was yanked after giving up 5 goals on 23 shots. Rob Nolan played the final 20 minutes and stopped all 13 shots he faced.

It was a different Huskies team that showed up on Saturday night as MTU outplayed Minnesota State en route to a 3-2 squeaker win.

“Our play tonight was a stark contrast to last night,” said Russell. “We played well in front of both nets.”

Eric Kattelus, Alex Gagne, and Geoff Kinrade all scored by the 13:22 mark of the second period to spot Tech a 3-0 lead.

Jason Wiley and Kael Mouillierat lit the lamp in the third for the Mavericks, but Teslak shut the door from there to preserve the victory.

Teslak stopped 23 shots for his 7th win of the season.

Zacharias made 30 stops on the other end for Mankato.

With the split, Michigan Tech (13-18-5, 9-15-4 WCHA) finished the season as the # 9 team in the WCHA. The Huskies will travel to North Dakota next weekend for a best-of-three series with the top-ranked Fighting Sioux at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Ice Chips...

Thanks Wayne State for nine great years and good luck in your CHA tourney.