Men's Ice Hockey | November 02, 2017

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan welcomes No. 1 Denver to open National Collegiate Hockey Conference play for both teams on Friday and Saturday night at Lawson Ice Arena.  

LAST TIME IN ACTION
The Broncos were off last weekend after a home-and-home series against Michigan State on Oct. 20-21. 

WMU split the series with MSU, falling in East Lansing 6-4 and then beating the Spartans 3-1 at Lawson Ice Arena. 

After going down early, the Broncos responded to score three-straight goals to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period. Michigan State scored two late goals to take a 5-4 lead and then added an empty-netter to finish off Western Michigan.

WMU bounced back the following night, smothering MSU at times and holding them to 16 total shots on the night. Hugh McGing gave the Broncos an early 1-0 lead on his first goal of the season at 11:51 in the first period. The Spartans responded on a power play goal by Patrick Khodorenko at 2:39 to tie it up at 1-1 in the second period. Freshman Josh Passolt netted the game-winning goal just under two minutes later at 4:31 when he slipped a back-hand shot between John Lethemon's legs. Colt Conrad added an empty-net goal with 36 seconds left in the third period to seal the win. 

DENVER UNIVERSITY // 4-0-2, 0-0-0 NCHC 
• THE SERIES: Denver leads the all-time series at 14-5-1. The two teams met five times last year and the Pioneers went 4-1-0 against the Broncos. WMU's lone win came as a 3-0 shutout in Kalamazoo. DU also had a 3-1 win over WMU in the NCHC Consolation game in Minneapolis, Minn., last season. 

• SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: The defending National Champions came into the season as the preseason No. 1 in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. Denver has maintained its ranking and the only blemishes so far were a 2-2 tie at Notre Dame and a 3-3 tie against Lake Superior State. The Pioneers head to Kalamazoo after a recent trip out east, beating then No. 6 Boston University 4-3 and No. 19 Boston College 6-1. 

Denver returns four of its top five scorers from last season. Anaheim Ducks' draft pick Troy Terry racked up 45 points on 22 goals and 23 assists last season and has picked up where he left off with 10 points on six assists and four goals through six games. Fellow junior Dylan Gambrell also has 10 points on three goals and a team-best seven assists.  Reigning NCHC Freshman of the Year Henrik Borgström has a team-best five goals and three assists for eight points in five games. Freshman defenseman Ian Mitchell is the top point man from the blue line, tallying four assists so far this season. Junior defenseman Blake Hillmen leads all defensemen with two goals. 

Reigning NCHC Goalie of the Year Tanner Jaillet is back for his senior season. He has started in five of the six games, posting a 3-0-2 record with a  2.13 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. Freshman Dayton Rasmussen has started in one game, posting 16 saves for a .938 save percentage and a 1.00 goals against average. 

Denver's power play ranks ninth in the nation at 30.4 percent, scoring seven power play goals so far this season on 34 opportunities. DU's penalty kill ranks 50th in the nation at 72.2 percent (13-for-18), but they are the fifth least-penalized team in the nation, averaging just 8.2 minutes in the box. 

AGAINST THE NATION'S BEST
Since joining the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, games against the No. 1 team in the nation have become the new normal. Under head coach Andy Murray the Broncos are 5-7-1 against the nation's top team. Last season WMU went 2-3 in five combined games against Minnesota-Duluth and Denver, splitting with the Bulldogs and going 1-2 against the Pioneers. Three of WMU's five wins have come at Lawson Ice Arena. 

STREAKING
Junior forward Colt Conrad enters the weekend on a seven-game point streak and leads the team with 11. Conrad has five goals and six assists during his career-long streak. The St. Alphonse, Manitoba native started off the season with his second career four-point game after tallying a goal and three assists in a 6-1 win over Ferris State. He also tallied a goal in the loss to the Bulldogs and then in a 3-1 win over Bowling Green. Against Clarkson he had an assist in the 2-2 tie and then two assists in the 4-2 loss. Against the Spartans he tallied a goal in each game.

NOT MUCH OF A DROP OFF
Western Michigan lost 56 percent of its scoring from graduation and players signing pro contracts early from last season. That hasn't slowed down the Bronco offense that much. WMU is averaging 3.14 goals per game, just slightly below the 3.33 the team finished last season with.

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan travels to No. 8/8 Minnesota-Duluth for its first test away from home in NCHC action. After that WMU returns to Lawson Ice Arena for four-straight home games. The Broncos kick off the home-stand hosting Omaha on Nov. 17 and 18 and then host Colgate Thanksgiving weekend on Nov. 24 and 25.