KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Trailing 4-2 at the 7:48 mark of the third period, Western Michigan needed to make some good things happen if it wanted to keep defending NCAA champion Denver from skating away with Saturday’s contest and earning a weekend split.
Fortunately, for the Broncos, good things come in bunches.
The host scored three goals in 43 seconds nearly midway through the third period to erase the Pioneers’ 4-2 lead and didn’t look back.
Those goals, paired with the first collegiate career hat trick from sophomore forward Wade Allison and a three-point night from junior center Colt Conrad, helped the Broncos sweep the weekend series with No. 1 Denver at Lawson Ice Arena with a 7-4 victory that saw the hosts score five unanswered in the third period.
“That’s a tremendous team that we played this weekend,” said Broncos coach Andy Murray. “They’re so well coached, they play hard, they’ve got great skill, and they’ve got a lot of future National Hockey League players.”
Freshman forward Paul Washe’s put-back goal at 9:04 of the third was the final goal of that three-goal outburst and the game winner. Colt Conrad began the charge at 8:21 of the third on assists from Dawson DiPietro and Allison. Fifteen seconds later, it was McGing roofing a rebound shot on helpers from Jade McMullen and Lawton Courtnall.
“We take a great deal of pride here in Bronco Country with our work ethic in all our sports and our guys just competed and battled all weekend,” Murray added.
After a 6-5 setback on Friday for the Pioneers, it looked as if they’d respond in kind by opening up that 4-2 lead.
Denver’s Henrik Borgström opened scoring with his ninth goal of the season at 8:52 of the first period on assists from Ian Mitchell and Troy Terry. Dylan Gambrell extended the Pioneers’ lead with a transition goal at 19:53 of the first on a three-on-two rush that was assisted by Terry and Michael Davies.
Jaako Heikkinen widened the gap for the Pioneers, putting the visitors up 3-0 at 5:43 of the second on assists from Liam Finlay and Jarid Lukosevicius. Heikkinen and Finlay got loose with a two-on-one rush with the Broncos’ Luke Bafia defending. Finlay was able to get the puck to Heikkinen, who snapped it past Cain.
With momentum clearly in Denver’s favor at this point, Broncos sophomore goaltender Ben Blacker, pulled from action on Friday, replaced freshman Austin Cain in net. Allison finally erased the donut on the board for Western with his first goal of the night at 16:37 of the second on an assist from Conrad and with his second goal just 1:13 later on assists from Conrad and DiPietro with a toe-drag shot to finish a two-on-one rush.
“Austin Cain deserved the start tonight,” said Murray. “Ben Blacker, it was good for him after struggling last night to come in and finish off strong.”
“I just happened to be in the right spot,” said Allison of his two second period goals. “This weekend, we just stuck to what we needed to do, stuck to the game plan, worked hard, and I think we just out-battled them.”
Lukosevicius scored a power play goal at 7:48 of the third after a hooking minor to Allison at 6:36. This is where it seemed the Pioneers would earn the split, but did the Broncos ever come stampeding at this point, unleashing the three-goal third period barrage to take the lead.
Allison’s third goal would come late in the game at 13:03 of the third on assists from Hugh McGing and Corey Schueneman. McMullen would pot the empty netter at 16:32 of the third to seal it for the Broncos.
“Western Michigan was the better team all weekend,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “They won more battles, they were more persistent, they were tougher in hard areas. We have to learn and get better from it.”
With the victory, Western Michigan moves into a tie for first place with No. 2 St. Cloud State in the new conference season.
“We battle,” said Conrad. “We got down two goals in the first period and, honestly, it didn’t feel like we were down at all. We just kept pushing.”
NCHC Roundup
No. 2 St. Cloud State 5, No. 8 Minnesota Duluth 0
Freshman goaltender David Hrenak made 29 saves for the Huskies at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Saturday, leading his team to a sweep of last season’s NCAA championship finalist. Jacob Benson’s goal at 9:49 of the first went as the game winner and the Huskies ran with the contest from there, getting goals from Mikey Eyssimont, Robby Jackson, Blake Winiecki, and Jack Poehling. Benson, Eyssimont, Winiecki, Jack Ahcan, and Patrick Newell all turned in two-point nights for the hosts, who finished plus-3 as a team. St. Cloud (7-0-0, 2-0-0 NCHC) will travel next weekend to No. 1 Denver and Duluth (4-4-2, 0-2-0 NCHC) will return home to host Western Michigan.
No. 4 North Dakota 2, No. 7 Wisconsin 2
The Fighting Hawks stepped out of conference this weekend with a former WCHA foe and tied the Badgers on Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison after earning an overtime victory on Friday. Shane Gersich’s third goal of the season at 14:48 of the third on assists from Casey Johnson and Grant Mismash was the knotting goal for the Fighting Hawks. Collin Adams’ goal at 4:00 of the third on helpers from Nick Jones and Christian Wolanin answered an unassisted, first period goal by Sean Dhooghe, but Sean’s brother, Jason Dhooghe, answered back at 8:39 of the third. Linus Weissbach and Ryan Wagner’s goals won the Badgers the exhibition shootout. North Dakota (6-2-2, 1-1-0 NCHC) hosts Miami next weekend and Wisconsin (6-4-1, 1-1-0) travels to face Michigan State.
Colorado College 2, Miami University (OH) 1
Westin Michaud’s goal at 19:59 of the second period on assists from Nick Halloran and Trey Bradley broke a 1-1 tie and helped the Tigers salvage a split with the host RedHawks at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio on Saturday. Miami’s Conor Lemirande opened the scoring at 15:51 of the first on assists from Ryan Siroky and Austin Alger, but it would be all that the hosts would get as CC’s Alex Leclerc would keep them out of the net the rest of the night, making 26 saves total. Tanner Ockey tied the game for the Tigers at 2:05 of the second on an assist from Christiano Versich. Colorado College improves to 6-4-0, 2-2-0 NCHC and will host Nebraska-Omaha next weekend. Miami (4-4-0, 1-1-0 NCHC) will travel to No. 4 North Dakota.
