Warriors Skate for the Cure tonight

Compiled by MiCHO staff

The Wayne State Warriors will welcome the top-ranked Mercyhurst Lakers to the City Sports Center in Detroit for the start of a two-game set this evening.

Tonight’s game will also be Skate for the Cure Night, continuing the CHA’s initiative to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research and treatment.

It is the fifth annual Skate for the Cure event at the City Sports Center. While it is a positive campaign from a philanthropic standpoint, past Skate for the Cure games have not been kind to the Warriors on the scoreboard - Wayne State is 1-3 when hosting this event.

The Warriors fell to then-No. 6 Mercyhurst, 4-2, in the first Skate for the Cure game on Feb. 10, 2006. Wayne State dropped a 6-1 result to Minnesota State on Nov. 10, 2006, and a 5-3 decision to then fourth-ranked St. Lawrence on Nov. 2, 2007.

Last season the team snapped its losing streak, however, with a 4-3 victory over 10th-ranked Northeastern on Nov. 14.

On Saturday, the Warriors will be sponsoring a canned food drive to help feed those in need through the upcoming holiday season.

Tonight’s conference home opener will face off at 7:00 p.m. Saturday’s game will feature a 2:00 p.m. start for the series finale.

MiCHO Power Poll 11.04.09

This week's MiCHO Power Poll has the Michigan Wolverines on top where they have been all season long.

Michigan went north last weekend and swept Lake Superior State on the road pretty convincingly.

The No. 2 Michigan State Spartans survived a scare in the first game of the series, but swept Western Michigan in a home-and-home set when all was said and done.

Changes in the poll this week see Northern Michigan drop to No. 7 and last week's cellar-dweller, Michigan Tech, move up to No. 6.

The rest of the poll is below.

1) Michigan (swept Lake Superior State)
2) Michigan State (swept Western Michigan)
3) Western Michigan (swept by Michigan State)
4) Ferris State (swept by Alaska)
5) Lake Superior State (swept by Michigan)

6) Michigan Tech (split with St. Cloud State)
7) Northern Michigan (swept by Miami)

Each week, MichiganCollegeHockey.com staffers will compile the MiCHO Power Poll. The poll will comprise the seven Division I teams in the state of Michigan.

MSU's Grant wins monthly CCHA award

The CCHA announced today that forward Derek Grant of Michigan State has been named the CCHA Rookie of the Month for October.

Grant is tied for first in the nation in scoring among rookies with 10 points, including four goals and six assists. His scoring line ties him for second place overall in the CCHA behind teammate Corey Tropp. Grant has also been effective on the Spartan power play with a 3-4--7 line, which ranks second in the conference behind Tropp as well. His 1.25 point-per-game average ranks fourth nationally among rookies who have appeared in more than one game. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound forward began the season on a six-game scoring streak to help MSU claim a 6-2-0 record overall.

Grant was named CCHA Rookie of the Week for Oct. 12 after helping the Spartans sweep Clarkson the opening weekend of the season. He tallied a goal and an assist in his first career game on Oct. 9 and finished with the same totals in the second game. The 19-year old forward followed that performance with two assists in MSU’s Oct. 16 road win at Maine , marking his third straight multiple-point game. Grant added a goal in each game of a series split with No. 1-ranked Miami, Oct. 23-24.

Alaska forward Andy Taranto, Lake Superior forward Domenic Mondardo, Miami forward Curtis McKenzie, Michigan forward Chris Brown, Nebraska-Omaha goaltender John Faulkner, Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson and Western Michigan forward Trevor Elias earned special mention for CCHA Rookie of the Month for October.

Wolverines sweep Lakers in the Sault

By Tom Balog/LSSU Beat Writer

The Lake Superior State Lakers (4-4-0, 1-3-0 CCHA) saw their losing streak stretch to three-games as the No. 5-ranked Michigan Wolverines came in to Taffy Abel and won two straight contests.

Friday’s opener wasn’t much of a contest as the Maize and Blue dominated in a 5-1 victory.

Scooter Vaughn, Carl Hagelin, Louie Caporusso, and Matt Rust all scored to give the Wolverines an insurmountable 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Senior Brad Cooper (pictured) finally got the Lakers on the board at 2:42 of the third period when he pounded in a puck from the side of the goal. Cooper’s 5-on-3 power-play goal was his third of the season.

Luke Glendening added his first of the season late in the third to seal Michigan’s third win in four games.

Brian Mahoney-Wilson stopped 27 shots for LSSU and Bryan Hogan turned away 24 for U of M.

Saturday’s game started much closer before the Wolverines pulled away for a 6-3 win.

"It was a completely different game [from last night], obviously”, said Michigan head coach Red Berenson. “They were all over us the first period and we knew they'd come out hard. They had us on our heels and I thought Hogan kept us in the game in the first period. Fortunately, we got the goals back that they scored and we kept the game on an even keel.”

The two squads traded goals in the first, starting with LSSU’s leading scorer Chad Nehring scoring his fifth goal of the season just 1:52 into the game.

Michigan (4-2-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) countered with a Ben Winnett breakaway goal just 18 seconds later to tie the score at 1.

Fred Cassini posted the Lakers back to a one-goal lead at 5:41 with his second of the campaign.

That was the last lead the Lakers would enjoy as the Wolverines blitzed the Lakers with four straight goals by Chris Brown at 13:38 of the first, Rust at 18:32 of the first, Brown’s second on the power play at 13:42 of the third, and then Tristin Llewellyn's first of the season into an empty net at 17:53 of the third period.

Will Acton cut the Wolverines lead to 5-3 with an unassisted goal with 1:01 left on the clock.

Winnett added his second of the game at 19:50 to cap the win for Michigan.

Mahoney-Wilson stopped 30 shots for LSSU and Hogan turned away a season-best 35 blasts for Michigan.

LSSU will now begin a four-game road trip beginning with a pair of games against the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo next weekend.

Michigan will return to Yost to begin a showdown with top-ranked Miami on Nov. 6-7.

Photo courtesy of LSSU Athletics

Bulldogs falter twice to Alaska

By Tom Morelli/Ferris State Beat Writer

For some strange reason, traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska been a bit of a challenge for Ferris State. With two losses over the weekend, the mystery of Alaska continues, as the Bulldogs are now 2-12-0 in their last 14 encounters out west.

Friday’s game looked to be different for Ferris State, as forward Blair Riley tipped in the puck from just outside the crease to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with 14:31 gone by in the opening period.

The Nanooks answered back with a second remaining in the frame, when Joe Sova’s one-timer bounced off the pads of Ferris State goaltender Taylor Nelson and onto the stick of Nik Yaremchuk for the finish.

Alaska’s dominance on the power-play carried over into the second period, where they were able to notch their second goal of the evening with the extra attacker. The goal came at the 15:08 mark, as Carlo Finucci and Dion Knelsen helped set-up Aaron Gens in the slot, where he fired a shot through traffic to notch the game-winner.

In the final minute of the game, Bulldogs’ head coach Bob Daniels looked to generate some offense by pulling Nelson, but his plan backfired. With nine seconds left, Adam Cardwell put the game out of reach by tallying an empty-netter.

Nelson racked-up 27 saves, while counterpart Scott Greenham finished with 25.

It was more of the same for Ferris State the following night, as they lost a 3-2 decision in overtime.

Andy Toronto put the Nanooks on the board first when he lit the lamp for a power-play goal with just under three minutes left in the opening stanza.

The lead would be short-lived, thanks to an equalizer by the Bulldogs’ Aaron Lewicki (pictured left) just two minutes later. Tallying assists on the power-play marker were freshman Travis Ouellette and junior Zach Redmond.

Alaska regained control midway through the first period, thanks to another goal while on the man-advantage. After Taranto fired a shot from the right faceoff dot, the puck trickled off Ferris State defenseman Matt Case, where an opportunistic Sova finished the job.

Junior Mike Embach tied the game at two goals apiece with 18:14 gone by in the period, thanks to a nifty set-up by sophomores Brett Wysopal and Derek Graham.

Following a scoreless third period, it came down to sudden death, where the Nanooks’ Ron Meyer scored with 15.6 seconds remaining in the extra frame.

Netminder Pat Nagle made 31 stops in for the Bulldogs, compared to Greenham’s 22.

The pair of losses drop Ferris State to 5-3-0 overall and 0-2-0-0 in the CCHA.

The Bulldogs return home this weekend, where they will host Bowling Green for a two-game set, beginning Friday at 7:05 pm.

Photo courtesy of Paul McCarthy

Spartans sweep aside Western Michigan

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan State Beat Writer

Michigan State earned their first sweep in CCHA play in more than a year by taking both ends of a home-and-home set last weekend from Western Michigan.

"I thought we played well tonight, better than we did last night," MSU head coach Rick Comley told MSUSpartans.com after Saturday night's 5-3 win in Kalamazoo. "I'm happy with our results, and it was great to get the fourth line on the board, too. I'd like to see us cut down on the penalties, but they are hard-work penalties, not ones that we're taking out of laziness.

"Our kids are working hard every week, and its nice to see them being rewarded."

Anthony Hayes and Dean Chelios, two-thirds of the freshmen fourth line, scored their first NCAA goals Saturday night with Chelios' early in the second staking MSU to a 2-1 lead. Andrew Rowe, CCHA scoring leader Corey Tropp and Dustin Gazley (empty net) added goals for the Spartans to back Bobby Jarosz's 21-save outing.

Jared Katz scored twice for WMU, while Chris Clackson also tallied. Riley Gill stopped 26 shots in net.

Friday night in East Lansing, Michigan State held on for a 2-1 win when a Max Campbell shot at the final buzzer was ruled to not have fully crossed the goal line before time expired.

Chris Forfar and Gazley tallied to put MSU up, 2-0, before Trevor Elias made it 2-1 late in the third period to extend his scoring streak to six games. That set the stage for the late flurry with Gill on the bench for the extra attacker.

"I had no clue," Palmisano told MSUSpartans.com on what he thought about during the final seconds. "I knew the ref wasn't pointing behind me, and everyone went to check it out and I was just hoping it wasn't a goal. And luckily things went our way tonight."

Palmisano finished with 23 saves, while Gill made 19.

The Spartans (6-2-0 overall, 3-1-0 CCHA), will host Nebraska-Omaha this Thursday and Friday, while Western Michigan (4-2-0 overall, 0-2-0 CCHA) hosts Lake Superior State this weekend for a pair.

The game Saturday night will be Military Appreciation Night at Lawson Ice Arena and the Broncos will pay special tribute to who are currently serving or have served in the United States military.

Wildcats drop both to No. 1 RedHawks

By Susannah Nichols/Northern Michigan Beat Writer

Despite three goals by Mark Olver, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats (1-4-1, 0-2-0 CCHA) lost twice to the top-ranked Miami RedHawks (6-1-1, 3-1-0 CCHA) last weekend by scores of 4-3 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday.

On Friday, the teams played evenly in the first period, each recording 12 shots. In the second, Miami started to run away with the game. Justin Vaive scored twice, and the RedHawks added two more goals, one on the power play, to take a 4-0 lead going into the third period.

Reid Ellingson took over in goal for Brian Stewart, and the team made his job a little easier by outshooting the RedHawks, 12-4, in the last period. Less than a minute into the period, Kyle Follmer started the comeback effort. Olver and Justin Florek were credited with assists. Florek and Billy Smith then combined to set up Olver's power-play goal at 7:12. Olver scored again, assisted by Erik Spady, to bring the 'Cats within one. Ellingson left the net for the final minute, but the RedHawks hung on for the victory.

Stewart finished with 25 saves; Ellingson with four.

On Saturday, Northern hoped to even the series, and Olver did his part by getting the 'Cats on the board midway through the first. Erik Gustafsson and Ray Kaunisto earned assists on the play.

In the second period, penalties hurt Northern, as Miami scored two power-play goals to take the lead.

Neither team scored in the final period when Miami outshot Northern by a 10-8 margin.

Ellingson, in net for the 'Cats, recorded 24 saves.

The team hits the road next weekend when they will take on Ohio State in Columbus.

MTU splits with the "other" Huskies

By Andy Bourdeau/MTU Beat Writer

Michigan Tech (2-4-0, 1-3-0) came into the weekend looking to improve on their penalty kill and looking for their first win in WCHA play.

They earned their first win Friday night, posting a 3-1 win over the visiting St. Cloud State Huskies, who then returned the favor the next night with the same score.

Friday, MTU scored first with a John Kivisto shot from the blue line that somehow found its way in.

The visiting Huskies tied it up late in the second. In the third, MTU sophomore and leading scorer Brett Olson, scored a shorthanded goal, which was the eventual game winner. MTU's Alex Macleod put an empty-net goal in with seven seconds remaining to seal the deal.

Kevin Genoe started his first collegiate game and earned his first win with 26 saves.

"We wanted to win the special teams battle,” said Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell. “We still have some areas to improve. Every game is close and our guys rose to the occasion tonight."

Saturday night, Genoe got his second start in a row, and the team was unable to stop the power play of SCSU, giving up two power-play goals early in the game.

Malcolm Gwilliam was able to cut the lead in half in the second, but MTU could not get any closer.

Genoe ended with 27 saves.

Russell was a little disappointed in his teams play on Saturday, stating that “discipline got the better of us.”

Michigan Tech will be at home again next weekend, hosting North Dakota for a two-game series.