Warriors Ends Regular Season
With 3-1 Victory

Brent Renfrew

The Wayne State University men's hockey team completed its 2001-02 regular season with a 3-1 College Hockey America triumph over Niagara Saturday (March 2) at the Great Lakes Sports City Arena in Fraser.

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. His first of the season was assisted by Shane Baylis.

In an even first period, Niagara held a 9-8 advantage in shots while WSU was assessed two of the three penalties in the 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.

Freshman wing Nathan Rosychuk (Athasbasca, ALB/Grande Prairie Storm) netted his 11th of the campaign at the 12:01 mark to tie the game at one.

Junior right wing Brent Renfrew (Fairbanks, AK/Soo Indians) 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.

Freshman wing John Grubb (Burlington, ND/Waterloo Black Hawks) completed the scoring with his 10th of the year at the 15:31 mark off assists from Jon Brink (Portage, MI/West Michigan Warriors) and Maxim Starchenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/Powell River Kings).

Neither team would score in the final 20 minutes despite Niagara holding a 10-5 advantage in shots.

Warrior goaltender David Guerrera (St. Leonard, QUE/Estevan Bruins) finished with 28 saves on 29 shots, while Purple Eagle netminder Rob Bonk had 23 saves on 26 shots.

Referee Steve McInchak whistled 14 penalties in the third period including four sets of coincidentals. Wayne State went one-for-eight on the power play, while Niagara scored once in six man-advantage opportunities.

"We played a patient game," said Warrior head coach Bill Wilkinson. "When we had opportunities we capitalized. Our penalty killing did a good job [stopped five of six] and we received solid goaltending from David Guerrera."

The Warriors will enter the CHA league tournament with an overall mark of 19-11-4. WSU had a 15-2-3 conference record and will receive a quarterfinal round bye because of its first-place regular season finish. Wayne State went 6-2-2 at home in the league and 9-0-1 in road conference games.

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Wayne State Defeats Niagara, 6-3

WSU goalie Brett Leone

The Wayne State University men's hockey team extended its unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1) by rallying for four goals in the third period to defeat visiting Niagara University, 6-3, Friday night (March 1) at Great Lakes Sports City Arena in Fraser.

The Purple Eagles scored first when defenseman Dave Hominuk intercepted a Warrior clearing pass and beat WSU netminder Brett Leone (Howell, MI), who was making his second start of the season. Hominuk's unassisted goal came 4:16 into the contest.

WSU tied the game at the 5:50 mark when Nathan Rosychuk's (Athabasca, ALB/Grande Prairie Storm) cross-crease pass set up Jason Durbin's (Trenton, MI/Danville Wings) 15th 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 at two at the 5:12 mark when Steve Nichols (Washington, MI/Chicago Freeze) received a head-man pass from Nick Shrader (Blissfield, MI/Compuware Ambassadors) and used the defenseman as a screen to beat NU goaltender Rob Bonk high to the blocker side.

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.

Wayne State had a chance to go up 3-2 with seven minutes left in the second period but Dusty Kingston (Spencerville, ONT/Brockville Braves) was stopped on a breakaway by NU goalie Mike Pataran. Pataran replaced Bonk following Nichols' goal earlier in the period.

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.

The fastest four goals in school history came on Dec. 8, 2000, when the Warriors scored four times in 3:28 in the third period against American International.

"During the second intermission, I told the team that Brett (Leone) had held us in it for two periods and that we needed to bare down the last 20 minutes," commented WSU Head Coach Bill Wilkinson. "We had a good team effort in the third period and Brett shut the door."

Tyler Kindle (Portage, MI/Bozeman Ice Dogs) started the rally when he went coast-to-coast to tie the game at three just 4:43 into the third period. Kindle, after crossing the blueline, blasted a shot through Pataran's five-hole.

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 Pataran.

Two minutes later, Chris Vail (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI/Vernon Vipers) and Maxim Starchenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/Powell River Kings) came down on a two-on-one after Redwood tipped a pass with his skate to Vail. Vail made a perfect pass to Starchenko, who tipped the puck past Pataran. Niagara coach Dave Burkholder replaced Pataran with Bonk.

Wayne State would complete the scoring just 29 seconds later as Nichols netted his second of the game (and season) off an assist from Shrader. NU changed goalies again with Pataran replacing Bonk.

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.

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.

The Warriors are now 18-11-4 overall and lead College Hockey America with a 14-2-3 mark. The Purple Eagles fall to 17-15-1 overall and 8-9-1 in the league.

Both teams conclude the regular season on Saturday, March 2 with a 7:05 p.m. face-off in Fraser.