January
26, 2007 Michel's
Hat Trick Gives Wayne State a Boost
By
Warren Kozireski
Wayne State junior forward Tylor Michel scored
just one goal in 21 games last season and had only two goals
over the first 18 games during this campaign. Until Friday.
His first career hat trick catapulted the Warriors to a
7-4 victory over Robert Morris and, coupled with Saturday’s
2-1 win, put the green and gold two points out of fourth
place (Alabama-Huntsville) and four behind third-place Robert
Morris in College Hockey America with two conference games-in-hand
on both teams. It was the first conference sweep for the
Warriors since beating UAH twice on the road in February
2004. They have already exceeded their win total from one
year ago.
CHA
Notebook
Wayne
State has moved into contention for a playoff spot
in College Hockey America after sweeping a pair of
games from Robert Morris last week.
The Warriors have won three of their last
four games and freshman Brett Bothwell has been in goal
for all. The defense has tightened up a bit for Wayne State
as they limited the opposition to 29 or fewer shots in their
latest three victories. And they stayed out of the box holding
the Colonials to just 1-for-8 on the power play over the
two game series.
Defenseman Dan Iliakis also was key to the
offense with a four-point weekend including the game-winning
goal in the third period Saturday.
For Robert Morris, Chris Margott returned
from his four-game layoff and picked up a goal. Christian
Boucher started his first game since Jan. 5 in goal Friday
for the Colonials and was pulled in the third period after
allowing his fifth goal on 29 shots.
SEEN AND HEARD IN CHA
Now to avoid a letdown: After
two consecutive weekends of intense non-conference action
against strong programs, Niagara jumps right back into CHA
action for the last 10 regular-season games with six coming
on the road. The Purps get to stay home this weekend, however,
with Wayne State returning for their second trip to western
New York this season.
The Warriors are also looking to avoid a letdown
coming back after their hard-fought home sweep over Robert
Morris to get them back into the playoff seeding race.
Niagara is coming off a sweep at home over
nationally ranked Quinnipiac including limiting the Bobcats
to just nine shots after the first period in a 3-2 win in
the second game.
"(Juliano Pagliero) single-handedly stole
the victory against a very good team," Niagara head
coach Dave Burkholder said. "They executed more than
we did, and they had us on our heels, but he saved the day
for us."
The Purps have already beaten the Warriors
twice this season at Dwyer including goaltender Pagliero’s
first career shutout, but the Warriors scored all of their
goals either shorthanded or on the power play in the series
so staying out of the box should dictate who wins.
Niagara is 13-3-2 over the last 18 games in
the series.
Changing fortunes: Alabama-Huntsville
travels to take on Western Michigan who has won four of
their last six games after breaking a 2-7-1 stretch. The
Chargers won the first meeting between the teams in 2000
in overtime, but the Broncos have won the last three tilts.
UAH is coming off their last weekend off and
will be rested or rusty having played just two games in
January—a split versus Robert Morris.
Goalie dilemma: Robert Morris
looks to right the ship as they travel to Princeton for
a single game Monday following their two-loss weekend at
last place Wayne State. The Colonials beat the Tigers at
home last season 5-2 with five different goal scorers and
Joe Tuset registering one of his two victories of the campaign
in goal.
What does head coach Derek Schooley do now
with goaltender Christian Boucher, who has been pulled from
his last two starts (albeit one for only the last three
seconds) and has managed only one tie since Dec. 9?
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
Great Weekend Getaway
Wayne State at Niagara (Fri.-Sat.) Both teams make up their games-in-hand on
the rest of the conference for a true picture of the
stretch run.
While You’re There: Five Niagara
wine-trail wineries are within a 20-minute drive of
the campus and all open at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Stick
Salute
Niagara sophomore
forward Ted Cook netted two goals last weekend
and continues to lead the nation in goals (23) and power
play goals (13).
Bench
Minor
Robert Morris’
line of David Boguslawski, Doug Conley and Jason Towsley
was on the ice for three consecutive third-period
even- strength goals in a 7-4 loss to Wayne
State.
• Tylor Michel’s hat trick came
over a 7:57 span in the third period shattering the previous
Wayne State school record of 21:06.
• Despite playing two fewer conference
games than most teams in the conference, Niagara features
the top five point-getters in the league in Les Reaney,
Ted Cook, Sean Bentivoglio, Chris Moran and Matt Caruana.
• Since suffering its school-record
sixth shutout of the season in December, Wayne State is
4-4-0, is averaging 3.75 goals per game, and has scored
seven goals in twice.
• Bemidji State is off for just the
second weekend since Thanksgiving.
• Niagara goaltender Juliano Pagliero
has moved into a tie for 15th in the nation in save percentage
at .922.
• Bemidji State’s two losses to
North Dakota extended their losing streak against the Fighting
Sioux to 13 games.
• Niagara has scored 41.5 percent of
its goals this season in the third period.
A variety
of sources were utilized in the compilation of this report. Warren Kozireski can be reached at warrenkozireski@yahoo.com.
