Men's Ice Hockey | January 26, 2017

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan heads on the road to battle National Collegiate Hockey Conference rivals Miami on Friday and Saturday. Friday's game marks the season debut for the Broncos on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. Saturday's game can be seen live on NCHC.tv. 

LAST WEEK
WMU recorded its second conference sweep of the season after dispatching of Colorado College 4-2 and 3-0. In Friday's game Frederik Tiffels and Griffen Molino gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead but the Tigers responded with two straight goals to tie it up at 2-2 heading into the third period. Colt Conrad scored 2:04 into the final period and Aaron Hadley added an insurance goal to push the final to 4-2. 

On Saturday Sheldon Dries gave Western Michigan an early 1-0 lead at 9:04 in the first period and that's all the Broncos really needed. Molino and Hadley added goals but Ben Blacker made 25 saves to record his third shutout of the season. 

AT A GLANCE: MIAMI REDHAWKS // 8-10-6, 4-6-4-1-1
• THE SERIES: Miami leads the all-time series 65-60-11 after the Broncos swept the RedHawks back in November. WMU is 1-6-0 in its last seven games down in Oxford. The last win came in 2015 as a part of a three-game series in the NCHC Quarterfinals. 

• LAST TIME AROUND: MU visited Kalamazoo back on Nov. 4 and 5 and Western Michigan took both games 6-3 and 5-2 for the sweep. Matheson Iacopelli had four goals on the weekend and was later named NCHC Offensive Player of the Week. The losses for Miami contributed to a 10-game winless streak. 

• SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Miami is now a much different team than the Broncos faced back in November. The RedHawks are 5-2-2 in their last nine games, including a sweep of St. Cloud State and a series split at North Dakota, During the stretch MU has not given up more than three goals in any of the nine games. 

Offensively, other than being shutout against Omaha and a 3-1 loss to North Dakota, the RedHawk offense has improved and averaged 2.66 goals per game during the stretch. Overall Mimi ranks 42nd in the nation in goals per game at 2.58. Senior Anthony Louis leads the team in all scoring categories with 30 points on 13 goals and 17 assists. Sophomore Kiefer Sherwood, who had two goals and two assists in the series back in November, is second on the team with 26 points on 10 goals and 16 assists. Carson Meyer and Josh Melnik both have at least 20 points and have 14 assists on the season. Junior Louie Belpedio, who missed the WMU series, is the team's top scoring threat from the blue line with 13 points on five goals and eight assists. 

Defensively Miami is allowing 2.75 goals per game, ranking 27th in the nation.  Freshman Ryan Larkin has started 22 of the team's 24 games this season, holding a 7-8-6 record with a .913 save percentage and a 2.53 goals against average. 

The RedHawk power play ranks 37th in the nation at 16.9 percent (21-for-124). Belpedio leads the team in power play goals, with all five of his tallies this season coming on the man advantage. Sherwood and Melnik each have four. Miami's penalty kill ranks 16th  in the nation, higher than any other NCHC school at 85.4 percent (105-for-123). 

BAGEL TALLY 
Western Michigan earned its third shutout of the season in last Saturday's 3-0 win over Colorado College. The last time the Broncos had three shutouts in a season came in the 2013-14 season. In 2012-13, WMU shutout its opponents four times in a season, the most ever in a single season by an Andy Murray coached team. 

Freshman Ben Blacker has been in goal for all three and now sits one behind Riley Gill for the program record for shutouts in a single season. Gill recorded four shutouts during the 2008-09 campaign. 

LIGHTING THE LAMP
Junior forward Frederik Tiffels has two goals in his last four games, with the first coming against Denver in a 3-0 win and the second in WMU's 4-2 win over Colorado College last Friday. The goal against the Pioneers ended an 11 game goalless drought for the Pittsburgh Penguins' draft selection. The two goals also doubled his season total. 

IT'S BEEN AWHILE
In last Saturday's win over Colorado College senior forward Aaron Hadley netted a short-handed goal to give WMU a 3-0 lead. It was the first short-handed goal of the season and first true short-handed goal since Griffen Molino tallied against the RedHawks on Feb. 20, 2016. WMU's Chris Dienes did score a short-handed goal against St. Cloud State on March 12, 2016 in the final game last season, but the Broncos had pulled their goalie during a SCSU power play to make it 5-on-5 on the ice.