Dec. 15, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES
Closing out the calendar year of 2006, the Wayne State University men's hockey team (3-14-0, 1-5-0 CHA) completes its season series with Western Michigan (6-7-1, 5-7-1 CCHA) on Saturday at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

The game is slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. ET and will be broadcast via tape delay on Comcast Local.

Wayne State was swept at Niagara last weekend, 4-0 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday.

Western Michigan, which was idle last weekend, split a home-home series with Michigan two weeks ago, earning a 6-3 victory in Ann Arbor on Dec. 1 for its first win at Yost Arena since Oct. 20, 1995, but falling at Lawson Arena, 6-5, the next night.

BEHIND THE BENCH
Bill Wilkinson is in his eighth season as Wayne State's head coach and his 25th year as a collegiate head coach. Wilkinson's overall record stands at 417-437-77, while his mark at WSU is 104-136-24.

WMU's Jim Culhane has spent his entire eight-year head coaching career behind the Broncos' bench, posting a record of 116-144-30.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS
The series is tied, 1-1-0, as Western Michigan defeated Wayne State, 4-0, in Kalamazoo on Nov. 4. The only other prior meeting was a 6-3 Warrior victory at the Bank One Badger Showdown in Madison, Wis., on New Year's Eve last season.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was selected to finish fifth in the College Hockey America preseason coaches poll.

Western Michigan was tabbed for 12th in both the Central Collegiate Hockey Assocation's coaches and media poll.

ON THIS DATE
The Warriors have never played on December 16 in their eight-year history.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
Since Wayne State and Western Michigan met in Kalamazoo on Nov. 4, the Broncos have a record of 3-3-1 and are in a tie for eighth place in the CCHA. They are two league wins shy of their 2005-06 total and four away from matching their overall win count from last season.

Freshman forward Mark Letestu leads Western Michigan with 18 points (8 G, 10 A). He scored the game-winning goal and added an empty-netter on Friday against the Wolverines, and added another goal and assist in Saturday's game. Letestu's 1.29 points/game average ranks second in the nation among rookies.

Junior Jeff Pierce has 15 points, with three of his five goals coming on power plays. Trailing Pierce on the team's scoring list are senior Paul Szczechura (5-8--13) and junior Brian Bicek (7-5--12).

Freshman goaltender Riley Gill has seen the bulk of the playing time between the pipes this season. He has a 5-3-1 record in nine starts with a 3.51 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage.

WSU NOTES
Wayne State was swept at Niagara this past weekend. The Warriors have only defeated the Purple Eagles twice in the last 15 meetings since 2003 (2-11-2 in that span).

Friday's 4-0 defeat marked the Warriors' sixth shutout loss of the season and their third in four games. It was also just the third shutout in WSU-NU series history and the first since Niagara earned a 3-0 victory on Feb. 7, 2004.

Senior co-captain Jason Bloomingburg's goal to start Saturday's 4-2 loss was his first goal in nine games (since Nov. 10 at Brown).

Junior Tylor Michel scored a short-handed tally on Saturday, his first goal since the regular season opener at Minnesota on Oct. 13.

The Warriors are averaging just 1.88 goals per game this season, third-lowest in the nation. Their winning percentage of .176 also ranks third from the bottom.

Wayne State will begin 2007 with a two-game series Jan. 5-6 at conference rival Bemidji State.

WSU CAPTAINS
Jason Bloomingburg, Mike Forgie

WSU ASSISTANT CAPTAINS
Nate Higgins, Taylor Donohoe