Men's Ice Hockey | December 07, 2017

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan returns to the comfy confines of Lawson Ice Arena to host rival Miami on Friday and Saturday. Both games are slated for 7:05 p.m. 

LAST WEEK
The Broncos went on the road and suffered their first sweep of the season, losing at No. 6 North Dakota 4-3 and 4-1. 

In Friday's loss UND took a 3-2 lead into the second period. After scoring first WMU responded with a goal by Dawson DiPietro to tie it up at 1-1. The Fighting Hawks scored the next two to go up 3-1 but Brett Van Os' first career goal cut the lead in half. North Dakota's Collin Adams scored midway through the second period on the power play for the eventual game-winning goal. Wade Allison cut the lead to 4-3 and WMU had a 5-on-3 power play with 18.7 seconds left but fell short of tying the game. 

On Saturday Western Michigan took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a goal by Austin Rueschhoff. North Dakota responded with a goal with 23 seconds left in the second period and then the game-winner just seven seconds into the third period. UND added two more goals later in the third to seal the sweep. 

MIAMI REDHAWKS || 7-7-2, 2-3-1-0 NCHC
• THE SERIES: The series with Miami dates back to 1979 and is one of the tightest in program history. Currently the RedHawks hold a slight 66-61-11 edge. The Broncos went 3-1-0 against MU last season, sweeping at home and splitting on the road. Under head coach Andy Murray the Broncos are 5-2-1 against Miami at Lawson Ice Arena.

Junior defenseman Corey Schueneman leads all Broncos with five career points on one goal and four assists in eight games. Junior goalie Trevor Gorsuch has the best numbers against the RedHawks with a 3-0-0 record, a 1.81 goals against average and a .932 save percentage in four carer games and three starts. 

• SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Miami enters the weekend tied for sixth place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings. MU has seven points on two wins and a shootout loss and is two points behind Colorado College for fifth place. Miami split with No. 5 Cornell last weekend, opening the series with a 2-1 win and then losing 4-0. The loss on Saturday ended a four-game unbeaten run (3-0-1) for the RedHawks and was also the only time the team has been shutout this season. 

Miami's offense ranks 31st in the nation, averaging 2.81 goals per game this season. After a solid freshman season, sophomore forward Gordie Green leads the team with 18 points on six goals and a team-best 12 assists. Junior Josh Melnik has 14 points on six goals and eight assists as well. MU's defensemen have made a significant contribution to team's offense. Junior blue-liner Grant Hutton leads the team with seven goals and also has five assists for 12 points. Hutton's seven goals are currently the most of any defenseman in the nation. Senior defenseman Louie Belpedio sits second on the team with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists. 

Up until two seasons ago, Miami had traditionally shared minutes in goal between two goalies. Sophomore Ryan Larkin has started all 16 games this season, posting a 7-7-2 record, a 2.66 goals against average and a .889 save percentage. Last season he started in 33 games and played 88.2 percent of the team's minutes in nets. Larkin has one shutout on the season, a 19-save performance in a 3-0 win over UConn.

Thanks to the likes of Hutton and Belpedio, Miami's power play is one of the best in the nation at 7th overall. The RedHawks have converted 18-of-71 chances (25.4 percent) this season. Six of Hutton's seven goals have come with the man advantage, tied for second-most in the nation. Belpedio has three on the power play and Carson Meyer is the only other RedHawk with more than one, scoring two so far this season. MU's penalty kill ranks 22nd in the nation, killing off 59-of-71 (83.1 percent) of opponents power plays.

#hUghSA
Sophomore forward Hugh McGing has been selected to Team USA's preliminary roster for the upcoming 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Dec. 26 - Jan. 5. McGing will compete at the team's camp that begins next Friday in Columbus, Ohio. The team is coached by St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko, who led USA to a gold medal at last year's World Juniors in Montreal, Canada. 

McGing is the third American to get called into a camp ahead of the World Juniors under head coach Andy Murray. Joe Corvo is the last Bronco to compete for the United States at the World Juniors, playing back during the 1997 tournament. The last WMU player to compete was Frederik Tiffels in 2015. The former Bronco competed at three tournaments for Germany over his career. 

SEE YOU IN JANUARY
WMU takes its semester break after the series with the RedHawks. WMU returns to action briefly for a game at Bowling Green on Thursday, Dec. 28. The Broncos resume regular action on Jan. 12 and 13 at St. Cloud State and finally returns to Lawson Ice Arena on Jan. 19-20 against Colorado College.

WMU has just six home games the rest of the regular season, also hosting the Huskies on Feb. 16-17 and Minnesota-Duluth on Feb. 23-24.