Wayne State University freshman right wing John Grubb (Burlington, ND/Waterloo Black Hawks) has been selected College Hockey America Rookie of the Week after the Warriors tied and won at second place Bemidji State. The three-point weekend helped WSU clinch first place in the CHA regular-season standings.
Grubb, a 5-10, 190-pound rookie had two goals on Friday (WSU's third and fourth goals) in the 4-4 overtime tie. He added another lamp-lighter in Saturday's 5-0 victory. He finished the weekend with a plus/minus rating of +2.
WSU will conclude the regular season this weekend (March 1-2) with two home games against Niagara. The Warriors are 17-11-4 overall and 13-2-3 in CHA.
By winning the league title, Wayne State will receive a quarterfinal round bye in the CHA tournament. The Warriors will begin conference tournament action on Friday, March 15 versus the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 March 14 quarterfinal game.
Warriors Win CHA Regular-Season Title
Wayne State, unbeaten in its last eight league games, will host College Hockey America foe Niagara this Friday and Saturday (March 1-2) to conclude the regular season. The Warriors won the CHA regular-season title with a tie (4-4 OT) and win (5-0) at Bemidji State this past weekend. WSU will have a quarterfinal round bye for the CHA tournament which will be held March 14-16 at Niagara University.
WSU Versus Niagara
The Warriors have a 7-0-0 all-time mark against the Purple Eagles, which includes two wins by WSU at Niagara (5-2, 3-1) on Feb. 8-9. Wayne State won twice at home last year against NU, 4-3 (OT) and 1-0, to end the regular season.
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 354-349-61. The 354 victories places him 35th 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.
Scouting Niagara
The Purple Eagles are in third place in CHA despite tying (3-3 OT) and losing (4-1) at home to Air Force. NU has a two point lead on Alabama-Huntsville for third place and can finish no lower than fourth in the final CHA standings.
Sophomore forward Joe Tallari (14-14--28) is NU’s leading scorer and is followed by senior defenseman Scott Crawford (3-24--27), senior forward John Heffernan (16-9--25, 10 PPG), and sophomore forwards Rob Bumbaco (11-12--23) and Hannu Karru (6-17--23).
Sophomore Rob Bonk (16-10-1, 3.00, .882) has played 28 contests between the pipes, while freshmen back-ups Mike Pataran (0-2-0, 3.36, .875) and Ryan MacNeil (1-2-0, 4.88, .805) have each appeared in five games.
Coach Dave Burkholder’s squad has scored 26 power-play goals in 149 chances (17.4%), while stopping 79.6 percent (109 of 137) of its opponents opportunities. Niagara has a 4-3 mark in seven road CHA contests and is 16-0-0 when leading after two periods in all games this season. The Purple Eagles are 11-1-1 when scoring first, but 1-11-0 when trailing after 40 minutes.
Warrior Team Notes
- Wayne State is 25th in the nation in the Pairwise Rankings (as of Feb. 24) 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 are available online.
WSU is listed at 13-11-4 in the Pairwise Rankings because games against Findlay do not count since the Oilers are not eligible for this year’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 is 5-2-0 in Friday home contests. The Warriors have a 12-3-1 mark in their last 16 games and a 7-0-1 record in the last eight league contests.
- Wayne State has killed off 41 of its opponents last 45 power-play opportunities (91.1%) over the last nine games.
- WSU did not score a power-play goal at Bemidji State, marking just the third weekend this season, the Warriors did not score a man-advantage marker.
- The Warriors are 13-1-0 when leading after 40 minutes and 12-2-2 when scoring the first goal. In games decided by two goals or less, WSU is 11-4-4.
- Wayne State needs one more win this season to equal last year’s school record of 18 triumphs.
Warrior Player Notes
- After going 16 straight games without a point, defenseman Nick Stodgell has had an assist in three of the last four games.
- Chris Vail had his goal-scoring streak end at six games on Friday. He had a goal and an assist on Saturday giving him 14 points (8-6) in the last eight games.
- Billy Collins snapped a seven-game pointless streak with an assist each night at Bemidji.
- Jon Brink scored each night at BSU to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. He has a goal in five of the last seven games.
- Marc St. Jean had an assist in each game against the Beavers giving him points in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 2-3 at Air Force.
- After a scoring change on Friday, John Grubb had two goals on Friday and one on Saturday to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games (4-0--4).
- Netminder David Guerrera has stopped 172 of the last 181 shots (.950 saves percentage) he has faced during his last six games.
Upcoming Promotions
For the March 1-2 series against Niagara, couples are offered a buy one ticket get one free. Couples that take part in the Honeymoon Chuck-A-Puck on Saturday, March 2, will have a chance for the grand prize trip giveaway courtesy of Spirit Airlines and WYCD (99.5 FM). Any member of a HoneyBaked youth hockey team will receive free admission with their jersey on to the March 1-2 series.
2001-02 Schedule
The Warriors schedule features 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 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.
