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 Team captain Lindsay DiPietro will lead WSU into the regular season this weekend. |
Oct. 1, 2008
►GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University women's hockey team opens the 2008-09 regular season with a series against Bemidji State at the City Sports Center. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Play-by-play broadcaster Tom Balog will call the action for both games on Teamline, which provides free audio to all fans via the Internet.
The Warriors played an exhibition game against Windsor last Friday which resulted in a 13-3 victory. The Beavers tied Manitoba, 1-1, on Friday and dropped a 7-0 decision to Team USA on Saturday in a pair of home exhibitions.
Wayne State has next weekend weekend off from competition before traveling to Union for a series Oct. 17-18. The Warriors will then play six of their next eight games at home beginning Oct. 24-25 against Colgate.
►BEHIND THE BENCH
Jim Fetter is 79-75-16 in five seasons at the helm of the WSU women's hockey program. He earned his third consecutive College Hockey America (CHA) Coach of the Year award last season 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 third season at Bemidji State and holds a 15-49-8 overall record.
The two coaches competed against each other as assistant coaches for their respective National Women's Under-22 squads last summer. Fetter's Team Canada took two out of three games from Sertich's Team USA in a series Aug. 20-23 in Pierrefonds, Que.
►THROUGHOUT THE YEARS
Wayne State trails Bemidji State, 2-14-2, in the all-time series which dates back to 1999. The Warriors have not defeated the Beavers since Feb. 12, 2001. The two squads have not met since a 2005 series in Bemidji.
►IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was predicted to finish in second place by the CHA head coaches in the 2008-09 preseason poll. The Warriors are also ranked 10th in the USA Today/USA Hockey national poll. Bemidji State was tabbed for eighth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association preseason poll.
►ON THIS DATE
Wayne State has never played on Oct. 3 or 4 prior to this season. This weekend marks the earliest start to regular-season play in program history.
►SCOUTING BEMIDJI STATE
Bemidji State ended the 2007-08 campaign with an overall record of 4-29-3, including an 0-17-1 mark away from John S. Glas Fieldhouse. The four wins was the second-fewest total in program history, and the fewest since BSU's inaugural 1998-99 season.
The Beavers will have to make up for the departure of 14 players from last year's team, which includes five graduates, two juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen. The group accounted for 18 of BSU's 38 goals (47 percent) and 36 of the team's 55 total points (65 percent).
Defenseman and captain Brooke Collins, one of two seniors along with forward Monica Rawlings, will lead a squad which has 11 freshmen on the roster. Annie Bauerfield and Erin Cody return for their sophomore seasons after leading the Beavers in scoring with 10 points each during their rookie campaigns.
►LAST TIME OUT
In their first competitive action since last year's 2-1 overtime loss to Mercyhurst in the championship game of the CHA Tournament, the Warriors upended the visiting Windsor Lancers, 13-3, in Friday's exhibition.
The Warriors scored five goals in the first and third periods and surrendered just one tally in each period. Eight of WSU's 13 goals came on power plays, as Windsor amassed 18 penalties in the game.
Melissa Boal scored four times for Wayne State, and freshman Alyssa Baldin netted a pair with an assist.
