KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan hockey team fell in overtime to Colorado College in an 11-goal thriller, 6-5, in front of 3,577 fans at Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday night.
Mason Bergh won a faceoff in the WMU zone back to Nick Halloran and sophomore forward fired it into the net from the right circle with 57 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Tigers the win. Halloran's goal was his third point of the night and he was named the NCHC First Star of the Game.
The Broncos (13-10-1, 8-6-0-0 NCHC) picked up goals from Neal Goff, Josh Passolt, Cam Lee, Paul Washe and Austin Rueschhoff, while Corey Schueneman had two assists. Passolt also chipped in an assist for his first collegiate two-point game. CC outshot WMU 40-38 and finished 2-for-6 on the power play. Western Michigan's power play finished 2-for-3 on the night, tallying two power play goals in a game for the fifth consecutive game.
Goff gave WMU a 1-0 lead just 3:24 into the first period on his second goal of the season. Hugh McGing won a faceoff in the Colorado College zone and it went straight back to the senior defenseman. Goff fired it from the top of the right circle and into the net.
The Tigers responded just 1:20 later on a goal by Zach Berzolla to tie it up at 1-1.
Less than a minute later Passolt gave the Broncos a 2-1 lead on his fifth goal of the season. A CC defenseman turned it over in the WMU zone and Passolt took it down the ice. Passolt faked a pass in the right circle and then fired it into the net.
Lee's fifth of the season gave the Broncos a 3-1 lead with 3:23 left in the first period. Scott Moldenhauer shot it from the right point and it was deflected on net by Passolt. The rebound bounced onto the boards and then to Lee. Lee let his shot go from the left boards and it got past CC goalie Alex Leclerc.
Colorado tied the game up 3-3 after two quick goals midway through the second period. Both came on the power play, the first coming at 10:08 by Trey Bradley. Berg netted his 12th of the season to tie it at 11:46.
Washe scored on the power play, deflecting a shot by Schueneman past Leclerc at 14:00 in the second period to give the Broncos a 4-3 lead.
Troy Conzo then tied it up on his second goal of the weekend just 33 seconds into the third period. Jack Gates gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 12:36 in the third, punching in a rebound on a shot by Westin Michaud.
WMU was awarded a late power play and pulled goalie Ben Blacker from the net with 2:30 left to go in regulation. The gamble paid off after a shot by Richard Zehnal was deflected and dropped into the crease for Rueschhoff to punch in to tie it at 5-5 with 25 seconds to go.
Western Michigan heads back out on the road, traveling to Omaha next weekend. Both games are slated for 8:07 p.m. starts and can be seen live on NCHC.tv.
