Wayne State announces captains

WSU Press Release

Wayne State has announced the student-athletes who will serve as team captains for the 2011-12 season.

Senior forward Alyssa Baldin will wear the 'C' for the second straight year. Baldin is WSU's active scoring leader (seventh all-time in career points), a five-time honor roll student-athlete and has served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Senior defenseman Ciara Lee, senior forward Veronique Laramee-Paquette and junior forward Gina Buquet were named assistant captains.

“We are excited about our leaders for the upcoming season,” said WSU head coach Jim Fetter. “We feel that we have a great combination of captains and we are looking for them to step up and do even a better job at leading this year."

Wayne State will begin its 13th season of women’s hockey in September.

Baldin photo by Mark Hicks/WSU Athletics

A pair of Warriors take home awards

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Two Wayne State University defensemen received All-College Hockey America honors Thursday night at the 2011 CHA Tournament Banquet, held at the Genesee Grand Hotel in Syracuse.

Junior Jill Szandzik (pictured) was selected to the All-CHA Second Team for the second year in a row, and Cari Coen was voted to the CHA All-Rookie Team.

Szandzik entered Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Robert Morris ranked 17th in the nation in points per game by a defenseman (0.67). She ranks fourth in points by a blueliner overall (20) and sixth in terms of conference points only (8). Szandzik is a key contributor on specialty teams, particularly evident by her 12 power-play points during the regular season.

Like Szandzik, Coen has also played in every game this season. She came into Thursday tied for eighth among CHA rookies in points. Coen also had a goal and an assist in Thursday afternoon’s CHA quarterfinal game against Robert Morris.

Photo Courtesy of Mark Hicks/ Westside Photography & Wayne State Athletics

A pair of Warriors bring home awards

Compiled by MiCHO Staff
Two Wayne State University defensemen received All-College Hockey America honors Thursday night at the 2011 CHA Tournament Banquet, held at the Genesee Grand Hotel in Syracuse.

Junior Jill Szandzik (pictured) was selected to the All-CHA Second Team for the second year in a row, and Cari Coen was voted to the CHA All-Rookie Team.

Szandzik entered Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Robert Morris ranked 17th in the nation in points per game by a defenseman (0.67). She ranks fourth in points by a blueliner overall (20) and sixth in terms of conference points only (8). Szandzik is a key contributor on specialty teams, particularly evident by her 12 power-play points during the regular season.

Like Szandzik, Coen has also played in every game this season. She came into Thursday tied for eighth among CHA rookies in points. Coen also had a goal and an assist in Thursday afternoon’s CHA quarterfinal game against Robert Morris.

Photo Courtesy of Mark Hicks/ Westside Photography & Wayne State Athletics

Wayne State signs two from Ontario

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Wayne State University has announced that two prospective student-athletes have signed National Letters of Intent to enroll at WSU in the fall of 2009.

Lauren Coxon, a forward from Kitchener, Ont., has four goals and 12 points through 19 games this season with the Waterloo KW Rangers in the Provincial Women's Hockey League. She helped her team to a gold medal at the Rochester Fire on Ice Tournament earlier this season. As assistant captain of the Waterloo Ravens Midget AA team last year, she capture the league bronze medal and led the team in points (46-24--70). Coxon also participated in the 2008 Ontario Winter Games.

Due to graduate in June from Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, Coxon was named MVP of her varsity high school squad after totaling 17 goals and 10 assists during the 2007-08 season. This year she has 10 goals and 19 points through the first six games. She guided the team to the OFSAA Provincial Girls Hockey Championships after winning the county and regional championships in 2006-07. Coxon is interested in studying criminal justice at Wayne State University.

Julie Ingratta, a forward from Markham, Ont., attends the North American Hockey Academy and competes with the currently undefeated NAHA White squad in the JWHL. Last season, she led the NAHA Red team to a third consecutive NAPHA championship in 2008, scoring a power-play goal in the championship game.

Prior to her career at NAHA, she collected 17 points (10 G, 7 A) in 32 regular-season games during the 2006-07 PWHL campaign with the Markham-Stouffville Stars.

Ingratta, who also plays varsity basketball and volleyball, will graduate from St. Thomas of Villanova College in June. She plans to study psychology at WSU.

"I believe that both Lauren and Julie are excellent athletes and will give our team a tremendous boost next season," said Wayne State head coach Jim Fetter. "I appreciate their work ethic and skill and look forward to adding them to the mix in the fall."

Wayne State has eight seniors set to graduate following the 2008-09 season.

Kimball leaves WSU for North Dakota

The University of North Dakota announced Tuesday that Grant Kimball has been hired as an assistant coach for the women's hockey team.

Kimball comes to UND from Wayne State University, where he was the associate head women’s hockey coach this past season and assistant coach and recruiting coordinator since 2003. During his four years at Wayne State, Kimball helped coach the Warriors to 57 wins and a College Hockey America conference championship game appearance in 2007.

“Grant brings a proven recruiting track record with him to UND," Sioux head coach Brian Idalski said. "His work ethic and desire to succeed will be valuable assets to our program as we move forward.”

As Wayne State’s recruiting coordinator, Kimball helped recruit the most productive freshman class in the nation in the 2005-06 season, when Wayne State’s freshmen scored 154 points. During his four years at Wayne State, players Kimball recruited went on to earn a number of CHA honors. They included three players who were named first team All-CHA, six players who were named second team All-CHA, five players who were named to the CHA All-Rookie team and 27 CHA All-Academic selections.

Among his duties at Wayne State, Kimball was involved in all aspects of the program, to include budget analysis, practice preparation, game strategy, pre-scouting of opponents, video analysis. He was responsible for coaching the defense during games.

Prior to coaching at Wayne State, Kimball spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Lake Forest College of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. He helped lead Lake Forest to a 13th-place national ranking and a fourth-place western region ranking in the 2002-03 Ratings Percentage Index.

Kimball served as director of the Michigan Regional Girls Development Camp in 2005 and 2006, co-coach of the USA Hockey Girls National Select U-14 Camp in 2005, head coach of Team Michigan in the Chicago Showcase Tournament in 2004 and 2005 and head coach of Team IllinoisGirls U-15 and U-19 teams from 1996-2000.

A Harvard, Mass., native, Kimball played varsity hockey as a defenseman from 1992-95 at Lake Forest College and graduated from Lake Forest in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in history.