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GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University women's hockey team (7-7-0, 1-3-0 CHA) will travel to Syracuse University (6-6-2, 0-0-0 CHA) this weekend for a conference series at the Tennity Ice Pavilion. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET on Friday and 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Wayne State twice blanked Minnesota State, 6-0 and 1-0, last weekend at the City Sports Center, WSU's second sweep of the season. Syracuse is on a three-game winless streak, having lost, 2-1, and tied, 2-2, against Rensselaer over the weekend. The Orange also suffered a 4-1 setback Tuesday versus top-ranked Cornell.

This weekend is Wayne State's final series before exams and the holiday break. The Warriors will close out the 2010 calendar year with a Dec. 30-31 series at Ohio State. Wayne State will begin 2011 with six straight home games in January.


BEHIND THE BENCH
Jim Fetter is 116-109-22 in his eighth season at the helm of the WSU women's hockey program. He is a three-time College Hockey America (CHA) Coach of the Year and was named Women's Division I Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association in 2008.

The 2010 CHA Coach of the Year, Paul Flanagan has a record of 33-40-6 in his third season at Syracuse. He has a career mark of 263-123-30 which includes nine seasons at St. Lawrence, where he led the Saints to four NCAA Frozen Four appearances.


THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State leads Syracuse, 5-3-0, in the all-time series dating back to SU's inaugural 2008-09 season. The Warriors won the first five meetings, while the Orange have taken the last three.


IN THE POLLS
Syracuse and Wayne State were predicted to finish second and fifth, respectively, by the CHA head coaches in the 2010-11 preseason poll.


SCOUTING SYRACUSE
The Orange, who will play their first conference series of the year this weekend against the Warriors, have hovered around the .500 mark all season. Four of SU's six wins have come on the road, however, as the team has hosted stiff competition this season including Northeastern, Boston College, Providence, Ohio State and Cornell - all teams which have appeared in the national rankings this year.

Forward Isabel Menard, the 2009-10 CHA Freshman of the Year, has avoided a sophomore slump by leading her team in scoring with nine goals and 14 assists. Her 23 points are tied for second-most in the conference.

Senior forward Julie Rising has 18 points, including a team-best four power-play goals. Junior forward Megan Skelly (5-8--13) and senior defenseman Ashley Cockell (5-7--12), who is tied with Jill Szandzik for the CHA lead in points among blueliners, have also been productive.

The bulk of playing time between the pipes has been shared by two freshmen. Jenesica Drinkwater is 4-1-2 with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. Kallie Billadeau (1-6-0, 3.53, .894) set a Syracuse record with 57 saves Tuesday against Cornell.


LAST TIME OUT
Junior goaltender Delayne Brian earned her first of two straight shutouts in a 6-0 victory Friday night over Minnesota State at the City Sports Center. Brian steered aside all 31 shots she faced, including 15 in the third period.

Alyssa Baldin and Julie Hebert finished with a goal and two assists each as the Warriors recorded their most lopsided victory since a 7-0 win at Vermont on Nov. 8, 2008.

All of the scoring was confined to the first two periods. Cari Coen's first collegiate goal, scored on a power-play from Julie Ingratta and Hebert, put WSU ahead 1-0 at 11:30 of the opening period and proved to be the game-winner. Veronique Laramee-Paquette, Adrianna Pfeffer and Ingratta all lit the lamp as well.

Wayne State claimed consecutive shutout victories for the first time since 2006 after defeating MSU, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon. Ingratta scored the game-winner 13 seconds into the final period with assists from Szandzik and Micheline Frappier, and Brian stopped all 36 shots for her fourth shutout of the season and eighth of her career.

The last time WSU earned back-to-back shutouts was Feb. 24-25, 2006, as Valery Turcotte and Tiffany Thompson backstopped the Warriors to a sweep of Robert Morris.

The Mavericks out-shot the Warriors, 31-13, over the first 40 minutes before Wayne State claimed a 10-5 edge in the third.

MSU pulled Alli Altmann for an extra attacker with 1:08 remaining but could not find the equalizer, as WSU earned its second series sweep of the year.


CONFERENCE KUDOS
Brian, who leads the conference with a .930 save percentage this season, was selected as the CHA Goaltender of the Week for the fifth time this year. She totaled 67 saves against the Mavericks and held them to 0-for-7 on power plays.

On Saturday, Brian became the first WSU goaltender with consecutive shutouts since Turcotte blanked Colgate on Oct. 29, 2005, and Connecticut on Nov. 4, 2005.

Brian's four shutouts this season ties the school record. Her eight career shutouts are third-most all-time and two shy of the program record.


WARRIORS MOVING UP RANKS
With her three points last Friday, Baldin surpassed Kim Spaulding (2000-04) for eighth place all-time at WSU in career points (51). She is tied for sixth in goals (26) with Katie Jones (2000-04) and Katrina Protopapas (2006-10), and will tie Emily McGrath-Agg (2002-05) with her next goal.

Ingratta moved into a four-way tie for seventh all-time with her fourth career game-winning goal. She scored the first goal of the game for the fourth time this season Saturday, which ties for the fifth-best single-season mark. She has five career first goals, tied for ninth with Kelly Zamora (2001-05) and Protopapas.

In addition, Ingratta's goal 13 seconds into the third period Saturday was the second-fastest goal scored in that period in school history. The record is seven seconds, achieved by Melissa Boal at St. Lawrence on Oct. 7, 2006.

Szandzik, WSU's all-time leader in game-winning points by a defenseman (9), is tied for 10th overall with Jessica Haydahl (2002-06). She is also tied with Sarah Campbell (2005-06) for the eighth-best single-season assists total by a blueliner (11).

Brian has seven wins this season, eighth-most in program history. She is one of three goalies to reach four shutouts in a season, joining Anna VanderMarliere (2002-03) and Turcotte, who did it twice (2005-06, 2007-08).


LOOKING AHEAD
After Wayne State closes out the calendar year Dec. 30-31 at Ohio State, it will play six consecutive home games in January, beginning Jan. 14-15 against Niagara. The Warriors will also host Quinnipiac (Jan. 21-22) and Syracuse (Jan. 28-29).


WARRIOR NOTEBOOK
Pfeffer's multiple-point performance Friday was the third of her career and first since Feb. 8, 2008 at Mercyhurst … Ciara Lee and Jaclyn Stapleton each had an assist in Friday's win, the first points of the season for both Warriors ... Brian has not allowed a goal in the last 131:46 … three of Brian's eight career shutouts have been 1-0 results … Szandzik, who has an assist in the last three games, has 12 points in the last eight games … Ingratta and Baldin are tied for team-high honors with eight goals … Ingratta also has a team-best 14 points … Wayne State is 4-10-0 all-time against Minnesota State.