Box Score

KALAMAZOO -- Playing its first home game in over a month, Western Michigan suffered a 5-3 loss to sixth-ranked Miami in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest held at Lawson Arena Friday evening.

The RedHawks (17-7-1/12-4-1 CCHA) scored three goals in a span of 3 minutes, 3 seconds in the third period to remain atop the CCHA standings.

WMU (7-12-1/6-9-1 CCHA) built a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals from Steve Silver and Jeff LoVecchio.  Miami answered with a pair of goals in the middle period to knot the contest at 2-2 after 40 minutes.

Miami struck at 11:29 and 12:30 of the third period to put the game away.  Silver scored his second goal of the season at 13:16 to cap a wild stretch of scoring, but WMU drew no closer.

Freshman Riley Gill made 31 saves in the loss, but still holds a winning record (6-5-1) on the season.

"When you're playing a quality team like Miami, you have to play 60 minutes of solid hockey," said coach Jim Culhane.  "I thought we competed hard tonight, but a few mistakes cost us."

The teams close their series tomorrow night at Lawson (7:35 p.m. start).