GAME NOTES IN PDF FORMAT

GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University women's hockey team will play the back half of a four-game road trip this weekend against the Bemidji State University Beavers.  The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. CT on Friday and 2:07 p.m. CT on Saturday at John S. Glas Fieldhouse in Bemidji, Minn.

The Warriors swept Colgate last weekend, edging the Raiders 4-3 on Friday and 1-0 in overtime on Saturday.  The Beavers saw their winless streak reach five games after being swept, 2-1 and 3-2, at Northeastern.

Wayne State will play its first conference series of the year next weekend, Nov. 6-7, against #1 Mercyhurst, WSU's second and final home series in the 2009 calendar year.


BEHIND THE BENCH
Jim Fetter is 102-86-20 in his seventh season at the helm of the WSU women's hockey program.  He earned his third consecutive College Hockey America (CHA) Coach of the Year award two years ago in addition to being named the Women's Division I Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Steve Sertich is in his fourth season as Bemidji State's head coach and holds a career record of 28-105-19.


THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State trails Bemidji State in the all-time series, 3-15-2, dating back to WSU's inaugural 1999-2000 season.  The teams split a pair of games last October in their first meetings since 2005.  The Warriors are 1-7-2 all-time at Glas Fieldhouse, the lone win being a 2-0 result on Oct. 21, 2000.


IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was predicted to finish in third place by the CHA head coaches in the 2009-10 preseason poll, while Bemidji State was tabbed for eighth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association preseason poll.


SCOUTING BEMIDJI STATE
The Beavers upset the fourth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, 1-0, on Oct. 10 but have not tasted victory since.  Last weekend's losses at Northeastern - both decided on late third-period goals by the Huskies - put BSU's record at 1-6-1 this season.  A come-from-behind 2-2 tie Oct. 17 at Ohio State is the bright spot of an otherwise challenging few weeks for Bemidji State.

The 2009-10 squad returned all but four players, including the top four scorers from 2008-09 - forwards Erin Cody, Erin Johnson and Annie Bauerfield, as well as defenseman Montana Vichorek. The four combined for 59 percent of Bemidji State's offensive output last season.

Bauerfield, who has a squad-best four assists, and Johnson lead the Beavers with five points apiece.  Johnson has also scored a team-high four goals including three of BSU's four power-play tallies, as the Beavers' power-play unit has operated at just 9.8 percent this season (4-for-41).

Goaltending duties have been shared between sophomores Zuzana Tomcikova (1-4-0, 2.81, .917) and Alana McElhinney (0-2-1, 3.59, .889).  Tomcikova, who garnered All-WCHA Second Team and Rookie Team honors last year, turned away 35 shots in the shutout of Wisconsin three weeks ago.


LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State scored three goals in the third period and held off a late Colgate charge for a 4-3 win over the Raiders last Friday night at Starr Rink in Hamilton, N.Y.  Tallies from Julie Ingratta, Adrianna Pfeffer and Veronique Laramee-Paquette gave the Warriors a 4-2 lead.  Late penalties and a move by Colgate to pull goaltender Kimberly Sass created a 6-on-3 situation which led to a CU goal with 26 seconds remaining.

The Raiders could not get the equalizer, however, and Wayne State hung on for its first victory of the year.

Colgate broke the scoreless tie at 5:16 of the second on Beth Rotenberg's first goal of the season.  Ten minutes later, in a 4-on-4 situation, freshman Gina Buquet's second tally of the year from Alyssa Baldin made it a 1-1 game.  With 2:01 remaining in the period, however, the Raiders reclaimed their one-goal lead on Amanda Kirwan's first of the season.

Ingratta's first collegiate goal from Christine Jefferson at 1:48 of the third period tied it at 2-2.  Pfeffer gave Wayne State its first lead of the game at 12:10 with her fourth career goal, assisted by Jill Szandzik.

With 1:40 left in regulation, Laramee-Paquette netted what proved to be the game-winner with what transpired in the final minute, as Brittany Philips scored at 19:34 to pull the Raiders within one.

Laramee-Paquette's power-play goal 13 seconds into overtime gave the Warriors a 1-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.  After each team had a goal waved off in the third period, the Raiders and Warriors ended regulation scoreless.  However, a penalty with 58 seconds left in the third presented Wayne State with its seventh power-play opportunity, and Laramee-Paquette cashed in with her second goal of the year from Buquet and Jenaya Townsend.

Delayne Brian made 22 saves and stymied all nine of Colgate's power-plays to earn her second shutout of the season and third of her career.  Lisa Plenderleith stopped 30 of 31 shots for the Raiders.


WORKING OVERTIME
Including the 2009-10 season, the Warriors own a 11-8-25 all-time record (.534) in 44 overtime contests.  Since the 2006-07 campaign, the Warriors have lost just one of 16 OT games (7-1-8).  They are also 7-5-13 all-time in overtime contests away from Detroit.

Saturday marked the second game this season in which the Warriors have ended regulation in a 0-0 tie with their opponents.  WSU and Rensselaer skated to a scoreless tie on Oct. 3, the second in program history (Jan. 16, 2004 vs. Vermont).

Wayne State has just one other 1-0 overtime win in its 10-plus seasons.  Coincidently, it was the program's first-ever victory at Minnesota State on Oct. 14, 2000.

Laramee-Paquette's game-winner Saturday was the second-fastest overtime goal in school history.  Only Sam Poyton's goal eight seconds into the extra period at Robert Morris on Jan. 27, 2007 came faster.


WSU vs. WCHA
Heading into this weekend's series, Wayne State has a 10-37-4 record in 51 games against WCHA teams.  The Warriors went 2-1-1 last year and are 3-3-2 over the last three seasons.


MINDING THE NET
Brian's shutout, the 29th in program history, moved her into third place behind Valery Turcotte (9) and Anna VanderMarliere (10).  In just over one season, the sophomore is climbing the WSU ranks in several other categories.

She has the all-time best career winning percentage (.720) and goals-against average (2.54).  Brian also ranks second in save percentage (.905), third in wins (17), and fifth in games played (25) and minutes played (1464:13).

This season, Brian is seventh among all NCAA Division I goaltenders in save percentage (.939), and eighth in goals-against average (1.68) and winning percentage (.750).


PROTOPAPAS EARNS CHA HONOR
Katrina Protopapas was named the CHA Offensive Player of the Week following her performance two weeks ago against the Terriers, scoring three power-play goals.

This was the first CHA weekly award of any kind for Protopapas, who moved into a tie for fourth all-time at Wayne State in career power-play goals (8) and 10th place in power-play points (16).


CHANGING OF THE GUARD
With 11 letterwinners including nine forwards gone from last year, there are many fresh faces on this year's team - eight newcomers in all, seven of whom are freshmen.  Of the 21 players on the roster, only five are upperclassmen (four seniors, one junior).

So far, the rookies have contributed on the stats sheet.  Buquet is the team's co-leader in points, and Townsend leads the squad in assists.  Twelve (12) of Wayne State's 28 points (42.9 percent) have been accumulated by the freshman class, as have 77 of WSU's 153 shots on goal (50.3 percent).


WSU HOCKEY NOTES
• Saturday's win gave the Warriors an 11-10-0 lead in the all-time series against Colgate and its first sweep of the Raiders, as the two teams split every prior two-game series dating back to 2000.

• Szandzik, who along with Townsend leads the team in plus/minus (+4), is +21 for her career, fourth-best in school history.

• The last time Wayne State had two shutouts in the same month was February 2006, when WSU posted three shutouts in a four-game span.