GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The eight-ranked Western Michigan hockey team fell just shy at No. 6 North Dakota, losing 4-3 at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday night.
The Broncos (9-6-1, 5-2-0 NCHC) picked up goals from Dawson DiPietro, Brett Van Os and Wade Allison on the night but were outshot 29-21, including 20-10 in the final two periods. WMU's power play finished 2-for-7 on the night, as did UND's.
The Fighting Hawks took an early 1-0 lead on Austin Poganski's first goal of the night at 4:54 in the first period. The goal came with just two seconds left on a UND power play, with Poganski scoring from an open shot in the slot.
The Broncos answered back with a power play goal of their own at 9:26 in the period. North Dakota had cleared the puck down the ice and Blacker passed it up to Corey Schueneman. The junior defenseman then dished it off to DiPietro at the blue line and the sophomore forward beat Cam Johnson high on his glove side for his eighth goal of the season. Blacker picked up his second assist of the season and Schueneman his ninth.
UND took a 2-1 lead on another power play goal by Poganski. This time the Fighting Hawks had a 5-on-3 advantage and the senior captain scored again from the slot.
Just over a minute later at 15:37 Ludvig Hoff redirected a shot by Colton Poolman into the net to increase North Dakota's lead to 3-1.
Van Os tallied his first collegiate goal with 1:41 left in the first period to cut the lead to 3-2. Van Os redirected a shot by Cam Lee into the net from the left circle. Neal Goff also picked up an assist.
After a flurry of goals in the first period only one goal came in the second, scored by UND's Collin Adams. Adams picked up a loose puck in the WMU zone and skated it to the deep slot to beat Blacker and push the lead to 4-2.
Allison's team-leading 11th of the season came late in the third period at 16:28 on a power play. Schueneman found him through the neutral zone and Allison blew by a UND defenseman to beat Johnson, cutting the lead to 4-3.
WMU had a 5-on-3 power play with 19.7 seconds left but was held off the board.
The two teams match up for the final time of the regular season on Saturday at 8:07 p.m. The game can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
