Men's Ice Hockey | October 09, 2017

THIS WEEK
The Broncos have a full slate of action this week, beginning with Tuesday night's battle against Bowling Green at Lawson Ice Arena. WMU then hosts Clarkson on Friday and Saturday. Saturday's game has been moved to 8 p.m. to allow fans time to come over from WMU Football's homecoming game against Akron.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesdays game can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio network at z965fm.com.
 
LAST WEEKEND
Western Michigan opened the 2017-18 season splitting with rival Ferris State. The Broncos took the opener in Kalamazoo, 6-1, but fell on the road on Saturday night 3-2.
Five different players scored for WMU in Friday's win, led by Wade Allison's two goals. Colt Conrad had a goal and three assists for his second career four-point game. Aidan Muir, Josh Passolt and Paul Washe also tallied in the win, while Ben Blacker made 33 saves.

WMU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Washe's first collegiate goal. Allison then pushed the lead to 2-0, followed by goals by Conrad and Allison again to make it 4-0. Passolt's first collegiate goal opened the third period and Muir tallied later at 14:16 to push it to 6-0 before a late goal by the Bulldogs.

On Saturday Ferris State jumped out to a 2-0 lead on an early first period goal and then a goal at 8:33 in the second period. Freshman Ethen Frank opened his collegiate account just 15 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1. FSU's Coale Norris scored at 7:37 in the third period to set the deficit back at two goals. Conrad tallied at 12:37 on a major power play but the Broncos were held off the board for the remainder of the game.
 
THE BOWLING GREEN FALCONS || 0-0-0
- THE SERIES: Bowling Green holds a 74-54-6 lead in the all-time series. Since the rekindling of the rivalry in 2015 the Broncos are 3-0-1 against the Falcons. Last season WMU tied 4-4 in Bowling Green and then defeated BGSU 8-2 the following night in Kalamazoo.

- SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Bowling Green has only played exhibition games so far this season, beating Wilfrid Laurier 3-1 and the USA U-18 team 4-1. The Falcons have been receiving votes in both USCHO.com polls so far this season and were picked to finished fourth in both the WCHA Media and Coaches polls.
BGSU returns two of its top three scorers from last season, including top point-man Mitchell McLain. McLain, this season's captain, had 33 points on 17 goals and 16 assists on a team last season that won 21 games. Tyler Spezia returns for his senior season after leading the team with 22 assists last year, also pitching in with eight goals for 30 points. Sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser is the top scoring defenseman to return after Mark Friedman signed early with the Philadelphia Flyers. Rauhauser scored five goals with 17 assists for 22 points in his first collegiate hockey season.
With Chris Nell departing before his season year, the goaltending duties have passed on to sophomore Ryan Bednard and freshman Eric Dop. Bednard, a Florida Panthers' draft pick, made seven starts last season, posting a 4-3-0 record with a 2.70 goals against average and a .882 save percentage. Dop and Bednard split time in both exhibition wins.
 
DAZZLING DEBUTS
Five members of WMU's freshmen class made debuts over the weekend. Josh Passolt, Paul Washe, Ethen Frank, Austin Rueschhoff and Brett Van Os played in both games against Ferris State. Passolt and Washe each scored their first collegiate goals in Friday's 6-1 win. Frank tallied his first collegiate goal in Saturday's loss.
 
LIKE RIDING A BIKE
Last season the line of Colt Conrad, Wade Allison and Hugh McGing was WMU's second-most productive, combining for 23 goals and 47 assists for 70 points. The line has been broken up so far this season, but the production remains. Conrad and Allison are on a line with Dawson DiPietro and through two games the trio has combined for four goals and seven assists. McGing has two assists in the two games with his new line of Austin Rueschhoff and Aidan Muir.
 
AGAINST THE WCHA
Since joining the National Collegiate Hockey Conference in 2013, Western Michigan has posted an 12-2-3 record against schools from the WCHA. WMU is 3-0-1 against the Falcons, 4-1-1 against Ferris State, 1-1-1 against Alaska Fairbanks, 1-0-0 against Alaska Anchorage, 1-0-0 against Alabama-Huntsville and 2-0-0 against Michigan Tech.