In front of 2,874 fans at Lawson Ice Arena, five different Broncos had multiple-point games freshman goaltender Mike Mantua finished with 28 saves to lead Western Michigan to a 4-2 victory over visiting Notre Dame.
With their 4-4 tie Friday, the win Saturday gives the Broncos three-of-four points for the weekend.
In a game that saw numerous incidents after the play, the Broncos were able to pull away on the power play, finishing 2-for-5 Saturday, and 4-for-10 in the two-game series.
Western head coach Jim Culhane was very pleased with the power play Saturday. “The chemistry and puck movement is coming. They score goals both nights for us. I am pleased with a solid team effort. I think we were more disciplined tonight than last night, making sure we didn’t retaliate, and we kept everyone involved in the game.”
Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin knew the game was decided on special teams as well. “[It was a] special teams game. Three goals on the special teams; two on the power play and one right after a power play…That’s the game.”
WMU got on the board first in the first period when sophomore co-captain Dana Lattery scored his first of two goals on the night by taking a pass from Chad Kline across the crease and burying it with a one-timer past ND freshman goaltender Morgan Cey at 7:31 to put WMU up 1-0.
The Broncos took advantage of an interference penalty on Irish defenseman Brett Lebda when Lattery scored again, this time with a backhanded shot from the top of the crease at 14:25 to put the Broncos up 2-0.
ND cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second period at 2:16 when junior forward Michael Chin scored his fourth of the season by taking a pass from Tom Galvin across the crease and beating Mantua between the pads.
The Broncos increased the lead to 3-1 at 9:40 in the second period once senior defenseman Ryan Crane skated across the crease and dribbled the puck between Cey’s legs after taking as pass from forward Chad Kline.
Notre Dame came within one goal again when junior forward John Wroblewski knocked in a rebound at 14:11 of the second period.
Bronco forwards were constantly in Cey’s face during the game, and a notable scrum broke out after Cey was run for a second time in the game. Notre Dame’s Derek Smith and Western Michigan’s Dave Cousineau were each assessed double minor penalties, and ND’s Evan Nielsen and WMU’s Andy Townsend were given penalties for roughing.
Poulin was disappointed the Broncos were able to rough up Cey. “I’ve watched it for two nights now, and certainly it’s happened, but if it’s not called it’s going to continue to happen. I’m not looking for them to take penalties in that situation.”
The Broncos knocked in their second power-play goal at 6:20 of the third when sophomore forward Jeff Campbell put a Cey rebound back over the goaltender glove-side to bring the game to its final score of 4-2.
Shots finished 31-30 in favor of Western Michigan.
Western Michigan (5-4-3, 4-4-2 CCHA) hosts Canisius next weekend for a two-game non-conference series, and Notre Dame (2-6-4, 2-3-3 CCHA) is off until the Irish host Lake Superior State at the Joyce Center, Dec. 1-2.
