ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After going down 4-0, the no. 17 Western Michigan hockey team tried to rally but ultimately fell short to 11th ranked Michigan, 6-3, in front of 6,840 fans at Yost Ice Arena on Friday night.
The Broncos picked up goals by
Dane Walters,
Chase Balisy and
Max Campbell but could not recover from 4-0 lead it spotted the Wolverines in the second period. Western Michigan outshot the Wolverines 34-28 in the loss.
The Wolverines took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Scooter Vaughn. A penalty on Vaughn expired and a loose puck sprung a two-on-one chance for Michigan with Vaughn beating
Jerry Kuhn glove side at 6:10 in the period.
Michigan quickly made it 2-0 just over two minutes later on a goal by Kevin Lynch at the 8:45 mark. Lynch banged in a rebound on a shot by Greg Pateryn for his seventh goal of the season.
The Wolverines added two goals in 15 seconds at the 3:27 and 3:42 mark in the second period to go up 4-0. Pateryn tallied and then Chris Brown added the second to put the Broncos in a hole.
Western Michigan responded at the 6:11 mark of the period with a goal by Walters. Walters sniped it from the right circle to beat Michigan's Sean Hunwick for his fifth goal of the season. Balisy and
Dennis Brown each picked up assists as WMU cut the lead to 4-1.
The Broncos cut the lead to 4-2 at the 10:16 mark in the second period on Balisy's 12th of the season.
Mike Leone fired a shot from the slot but Hunwick made the save. The puck bounced to Balisy and the freshman centerman slid it into the net. Leone tallied his fourth assist of the season and Walters added his eighth.
The Wolverines added their fifth goal of the night as Lynch added his second of the game at the 11:15 mark of the third period. Lynch went in on a two-on-one and beat
Nick Pisellini, who replaced Kuhn in the second period, for his eighth of the season.
The Broncos responded less than a minute later when
Luke Witkowski fired a shot from the right circle and Campbell redirected it into the net for his 14th of the season. Witkowski tallied his 8th assist of the season and
Greg Squires tallied his 15th.
Michigan added an empty-net goal with 1:40 remaining to push the final to 6-3. Pisellini made 16 saves in relief duty of Kuhn and Hunwick made 31 in the pipes for Michigan.
The two teams meet tomorrow night at 7:35 p.m. with the game being broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit in high definition.
