GAME NOTES IN PDF FORMAT

GAME STORYLINES
With two College Hockey America road series remaining in the 2009 calendar year, the Wayne State University women's hockey team will travel to Syracuse this weekend to battle the Orange for the first time this season. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Tennity Ice Pavilion.

The Warriors, who have been idle for nearly three weeks, last played Nov. 12-13 at sixth-ranked Wisconsin, resulting in a 2-2 tie and a 6-2 loss. The Orange bounced back from a 5-4 loss Tuesday night at Colgate to sweep Union at home, 4-1 and 3-2, over the weekend.

A Saturday-Sunday series next weekend at Niagara will lead the Warriors into finals exams and the holiday season. The Warriors will begin 2010 with two home games, Jan. 8-9, against Vermont.


BEHIND THE BENCH
Jim Fetter is 103-90-21 in his seventh season at the helm of the WSU women's hockey program. He earned his third consecutive College Hockey America 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.

Head coach Paul Flanagan has a 17-22-4 record in his second season at Syracuse. Flanagan ranks 10th in wins all-time in NCAA women's hockey history, as his career record, including nine prior seasons at St. Lawrence, stands at 247-105-28.


THROUGH THE YEARS
Wayne State won all four meetings last season in Syracuse's inaugural year. The Warriors outscored the Orange, 16-8, but both games at Tennity a year ago were narrow results (3-2, 3-1).


IN THE POLLS
WSU and Syracuse were predicted to finish third and fourth, respectively, in the 2009-10 CHA preseason poll. Syracuse also received a vote in the USCHO.com Division I national poll this week.


SCOUTING SYRACUSE
The Orange has rebounded from a slow start to win eight of its last 10 games, and are now knocking at the door of the top 10 in the national rankings. This weekend's series falls in the midst of a seven-game homestand for Syracuse, which has a 3-1-0 record at the Tennity Ice Pavilion this season.

Junior forward Stefanie Marty leads a group of four double-digit point scorers with eight goals and nine assists. Classmate Julie Rising has 16 points including nine assists, while freshman Isabel Menard (5-8--13) - who is leading all CHA rookies in scoring - and senior Brittaney Maschmeyer (1-9--10) have contributed significantly to an offense which ranks 11th in the nation at 2.87 goals per game.

The Orange also boast a power-play percentage of 24.7 this year, second in Division I only to New Hampshire (32.3). Syracuse has nine power-play goals in 23 chances (39.1) over its last five games.

Senior goaltender Lucy Schoedel has started all 15 games between the pipes for Syracuse, amassing a 2.39 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.


LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State skated to a 2-2 tie at the University of Wisconsin on Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Kohl Center. Freshman Gina Buquet's extra-attacker goal with 61 seconds remaining in regulation erased a 2-1 deficit against the defending NCAA champion.

Sophomore Alyssa Baldin assisted on both Warrior tallies for her second multiple-point game of the season and seventh of her career. Senior Lindsey Park stopped 29 shots including 14 in a scoreless second period and four in overtime.

Former Mercyhurst Laker Geena Prough put the Badgers on the board at 2:51 of the opening period, but Chelsea Burnett's first tally of the year on a power-play at 13:44, with assists from Baldin and Christine Jefferson, tied it at 1-1. The score remained tied until 13:29 of the third, when Kyla Sanders scored her second goal of the year.

Wayne State out-shot Wisconsin, 11-6, in the third period, but it was Buquet's shot as the final minute of regulation approached which produced the game-tying goal. In overtime, the Badgers had four shots on goal and another which hit the post. The Warriors also had to kill a penalty until the end of the extra period.

Senior forward Katrina Protopapas scored her nation-leading seventh power-play goal, but the Warriors fell to the sixth-ranked Badgers, 6-2, on Nov. 13. Brooke Ammerman scored four goals for UW, and Saige Pacholok collected three assists.

After Protopapas tied the game at 1-1 early in the first period, Wisconsin tallied three straight to take a 4-1 lead midway through the third. Ammerman scored twice in a four-minute span late in the contest to put it out of reach for the Warriors, who are 0-6-1 all-time against Wisconsin.

Freshman Julie Ingratta, who assisted on the power-play goal by Protopapas, also scored in the third period for her second multiple-point game of the season. Park stopped 13 shots in each of the first two periods and 32 altogether.


CONFERENCE ROAD OPENERS
The Warriors have an opportunity on Friday to extend their winning streak in conference road openers to three, having defeated Robert Morris, 6-1, in 2007-08 and Syracuse, 5-3, last season. Wayne State has a 3-4-2 record in its first conference road games over the last nine years.


BUQUET EARNS CHA HONOR
Buquet was named the CHA Rookie of the Week for Nov. 16 following the Wisconsin series. With a point in six of her last eight games, Buquet is tied for third in the league in both assists (5) and points (8) among freshmen.


BURNETT SNAPS STREAK
With her power-play tally in the series opener Nov. 12 at Wisconsin, Burnett snapped a 25-game goal-scoring drought which dated back to Jan. 2, 2009 at St. Cloud State.

Burnett has 14 goals and 55 points in her career. Already Wayne State's all-time scoring leader among defensemen, she ranks seventh on the school's overall points list and needs just four more to move up to fifth. Burnett ranks fifth overall in career assists (41).


PROTOPAPAS MOVES UP IN RANKS
With her power-play goal in the series finale at UW, Protopapas moved into a tie with Laura Monk (2004-07) and Kim Spaulding (2000-04) for eighth place on Wayne State's all-time career goals list (20). She is also third all-time in power-play goals (12) and tied with Monk for seventh in power-play points (20).

Protopapas, whose career-high for goals in a season is eight, is tied with Vermont's Kailey Nash for the national lead with seven power-play tallies this season. The WSU single-season record is 11, achieved three times by Melissa Boal (2005-09) and twice by Sam Poyton (2005-09).

With eight points in 12 games, Protopapas has already matched her total from the entire 2008-09 season. Her career-high is 15 points, a mark she reached as a sophomore.


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, as three of Wayne State's top five point scorers are freshmen. Buquet and Ingratta have three goals and five assists apiece, while Julie Hebert has five points including three goals. Jenaya Townsend has five helpers as well, tied for the team lead.


WSU HOCKEY NOTES
• Jefferson and Jill Szandzik, who each had an assist in the Wisconsin series, rank ninth and 10th, respectively, in career points among WSU defensemen. Jefferson has 23, while Szandzik has 21 in just 44 games.

• Townsend is tied with Syracuse's Erin Burns for second among all CHA rookie blueliners in points (5).

• Since the 2006-07 season, Wayne State has lost just one of its 17 overtime games (7-1-9).