Game Stats

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - In a back and forth battle, and with a home series in the opening round of the upcoming CCHA Tournament hanging in the balance, Western Michigan hockey extended its winning streak to three games with a 5-3 win over BGSU on Senior Night in front of 2,796 fans to sweep the Falcons in the weekend series.  WMU has scored five goals in each of the last two games, outscoring the Falcons, 10-5, over the past two games.

The result of the game is a date with Lake Superior State, a team which the Broncos split the season series with just a week ago.  The first two games of the series, which will take place at Lawson Ice Arena on March 6-8 will air live on FSH Detroit (Friday) and Comcast (Saturday).  The puck will drop at 7:35 p.m., each night of the series.

The star of Saturday night's showdown was Patrick Gallivan (Perani First Star), who not only extended his scoring streak to 11 games with a goal and an assist, but also captured the CCHA scoring championship with 42 points on the season.  Gallivan has tallied at least two points now in 10 of the last 11 games.  The senior has amassed 23 points during the streak on nine goals and 14 assists.  His goal was the icing on the cake for Western Michigan, scoring on a power play goal at the 8:09 mark of the third period.  Greg Squires and Kevin Connauton helped on the Broncos' fifth goal of the night. 

WMU lit the lamp first when J.J. Crew ripped his fourth goal of the year with a helper from Chris Frank and Gallivan.  The Broncos fought off four BGSU power plays during the first 20 minutes but the fifth proved to be successful for the visiting Falcons when James Perkins scored his seventh on an assist from Todd McIlrath and Kevin Schmidt.

The Falcons took its only lead of the night 3:49 into the second period on an even strength goal by Dan Sexton but WMU answered just 31 seconds later when Ian Slater hit the back of the net for his fifth of the season.  Tyler Ludwig assisted on the game's lone shorthanded goal.  Kyle O'Kane gave the Broncos a 3-2 lead with his eighth goal of the season.

Bowling Green would not make things easy, evening the score on its second power play goal of the night with 4:14 remaining in the second period.  Nick Bailen passed to Sexton who found Brandon Svendsen for his 12th goal of the season, knotting the score heading into the final period.

Jared Katz picked a fine time for his first goal since transferring to Western Michigan with what proved to be the game winner just 4:02 into the final period.  Crew registered his second assist, leading the team with three points on the night to earn Perani Second Star honors, along with Mike Levendusky to put the Broncos up for good.

Tickets for the Broncos home CCHA Tournament series against LSSU will be available on Monday morning.  Tickets for the entire series are $33.00 with single game tickets available at $16.00 and WMU students can watch their Broncos for just $5.00 per game.  Call 1-888-4-WMU-TIX or 269-387-8092 to get your tickets today.