Warrior Pep Rally In Niagara
WAYNE STATE (19-11-4 Overall, 15-2-3 CHA)
vs. #4 Niagara (17-16-1 Overall, 8-10-1 CHA) or
#5 Air Force (15-15-2 Overall, 6-10-2 CHA)
Friday, March 15 • 7 p.m.
Dwyer Arena (Niagara, NY)
CHA TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Saturday, March 16 • 7 p.m.
Dwyer Arena (Niagara, NY)
Wayne State University Head Coach Bill Wilkinson
Bill Wilkinson, the only head coach in the three-year history of men's hockey at Wayne State University, is in his 20th season as a collegiate head coach. Last year, Wilkinson led the Warriors to 12 more victories than the inaugural season, and the CHA Tournament crown. The three-time Central Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year has compiled an overall coaching record of 362-342-62. The 362 victories places him 32nd on the NCAA all-time win list.
Assistant Coaches
Both full-time assistant coaches, Danny Brooks and Willie Mitchell, plus volunteer coach, Cal McGowan, have been with the program since its inception. Brooks worked with Coach Wilkinson at Western Michigan, while Mitchell previously served as an assistant at Michigan State.
Last Games for Wayne State
Wayne State continued its winning ways against Niagara by recording two home victories and in the process broke the school record for wins in a season with 19.
In the March 1 triumph, the Warriors rallied for four goals in the third period for a 6-3 win. The Purple Eagles scored first, but WSU tied the game when Nathan Rosychuk's cross-crease pass set up Jason Durbin's 15th goal of the season.
NU regained the lead with 6:40 remaining in the opening period as Hannu Karru scored a power-play goal. The Warriors tied the game early in the second period when Steve Nichols received a head-man pass from Nick Shrader and used the defenseman as a screen to beat NU goaltender Rob Bonk. The Purple Eagles would take their third lead of the contest with just 1:24 remaining in the middle stanza when Chris Sebastian scored unassisted. After being outshot 23-14 in the first 40 minutes, WSU put together a solid third period recording a 13-9 advantage in shots on goal and scoring four times in a span of 4:11.
Tyler Kindle started the rally when he went coast-to-coast to tie the game at three just 4:43 into the third period. Just over 90 seconds later, Kindle's cross-ice pass found a streaking Rosychuk down the right side. Rosychuk beat the defenseman wide and tucked the puck past Mike Pataran. Two minutes later, Chris Vail and Maxim Starchenko came down on a two-on-one and Vail made a perfect pass to Starchenko, who tipped the puck past Pataran. WSU would complete the scoring just 29 seconds later as Nichols netted his second of the game (and season) off an assist from Shrader. Niagara held a 32-27 advantage in shots on goal, but Wayne State converted on two of three power-play chances. The Purple Eagles scored on one of their four man-advantage opportunities.
Brett Leone made 29 saves in the Wayne State net, including 12 in the opening period. For NU, Bonk stopped four of seven in 25:41, while Pataran had 17 saves on 20 shots in 34:19.
Wayne State completed its 2001-2002 regular season with a 3-1 CHA win over Niagara on March 2.
The visiting Purple Eagles struck first for the second night in a row when Mikko Miettinen scored on a Niagara power play at the 7:30 mark of the opening period.
In the middle stanza, the Warriors would score three times in a span of 3:30 for the win even though both squads had 10 shots on goal in the period. Rosychuk netted his 11th of the campaign at the 12:01 mark to tie the game at one. Brent Renfrew scored his first game-winning goal of the season when he lit the lamp at the 12:41 mark. It was Renfrew's fourth goal of the season. John Grubb completed the scoring with his 10th of the year at the 15:31 mark off assists from Jon Brink and Maxim Starchenko.
Neither team would score in the final 20 minutes despite Niagara holding a 10-5 advantage in shots. Warrior goaltender David Guerrera finished with 28 saves on 29 shots, while Purple Eagle netminder Rob Bonk had 23 saves on 26 shots.
Warrior Team Notes
- Wayne State was 22nd in the nation in the Pairwise Rankings (through games of March 9) which compares teams at or above .500, judging them by five criteria: record against common opponents, record in last 16 games, head to head competition, record against other teams at or above .500, and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). The complete Pairwise rankings can be found online.
- WSU is listed at 15-11-4 in the Pairwise Rankings because games against Findlay do not count since the Oilers are not eligible for this year&Mac185;s NCAA Tournament.
- The Warriors are 10-5-2 away from Detroit and finished with a 9-0-1 mark on the road against CHA opponents. WSU has a 14-3-1 mark in its last 18 games and finished with a 9-0-1 record in the last 10 league contests. The Warriors are 14-1-0 when leading after 40 minutes and 12-2-2 when scoring the first goal. In games decided by two goals or less, WSU is 12-4-4.
- In terms of national team statistics, Wayne State is ranked 11th in winning percentage (.618), 14th in scoring offense (3.41 goals per game), 25th in scoring defense (3.15 goals allowed per game) and 17th in scoring margin (+0.26). For special teams, WSU is 25th in power-play percentage (17.8/33 for 185), 16th in penalty killing percentage (83.9/167 for 199) and 14th in combined special teams (52.1%/200 for 384).
- For CHA league games only, the Warriors were first in scoring offense (4.20 gpg), scoring defense (2.40 gpg), power-play percentage (23.1) and combined special teams (55.8%).
Warrior Player Notes
- Wayne state&Mac185;s first CHA Tournament game will be the 100th contest in school history. Jason Durbin and Dustin Kingston are the only players to play in the first 99 games. WSU has a 49-41-9 (.540 winning pct.) mark in the program&Mac185;s history.
- Netminder David Guerrera has stopped 200 of the last 210 shots (.952 saves percentage) he has faced during the last seven games. He led all CHA goaltenders in goals-against average (2.34), saves percentage (.923) and winning percentage (.816) for league contests.
- Jason Durbin is tied-for-10th in the nation in power-play goals (nine), short-handed goals (two) and game-winning goals (four). He tied-for-second in CHA man-advantage goals with five.
- Tyler Kindle is tied-for-16th in the nation in points per game by a defenseman (0.79/26 points in 33 games). He finished tied-for-third in league scoring among all skater with 20 points (6-14) in 20 games, while placing tied-for-fourth in league assists (14). He led all CHA skaters with 12 power-play points.
- Nathan Rosychuk is 20th in the country in points per game by a rookie (0.71/22 points in 31 games).
- John Grubb finished third in league goal-scoring with 10 lamp-lighters.
- Chris Vail, Jon Brink, Durbin and Rosychuk tied-for-fourth in the CHA with nine league goals.
2001-02 Schedule
The Warriors schedule featured four games (two home, two away) against each of the other five members of College Hockey America plus 14 non-conference contests. Wayne State finished the 2001-02 season 2-7-1 against CCHA members and 2-2-0 versus WCHA schools.
A complete copy of this week's game notes is also available in PDF.
