KALAMAZOO -- Western Michigan University's hockey team broke open a tied game with a two-goal third period to defeat Bowling Green 3-1 in front of 3,113 fans at Lawson Arena Saturday night.
WMU broke the one-all tie with third period goals by
Derek Roehl and
Trevor Elias to improve to 15-6-9 overall and 9-5-8-4 in the CCHA.
J.J. Crew also scored for the Broncos, while
Jerry Kuhn made 19 saves to improve 8-1-5 on the season. With the victory, WMU extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games. The streak is now the longest in the history of WMU hockey at the Division I level. The previous streak was held by the 1985-86 team.
Andrew Hammond made 30 saves for the Falcons, who fell to 8-19-3 overall and 3-16-3-1 in the CCHA. Jordan Samuels-Thomas got the lone goal for the Falcons.
Roehl scored the game-winner at the 6:14 mark of the third period. A blast from the point by
Ross Henry was knocked down by Hammond, but Roehl was there to knock in the rebound on the doorstep. The goal was Roehl's second of the season, with Henry and
Ian Slater picking up the assists.
Elias gave the Broncos an insurance goal with some nifty stick-work on the power play.
Greg Squires swung the puck across the point to
Danny DeKeyser, who took what appeared to be a wide-open shot. Skating across the goal mouth, Elias stuck out his stick and redirected the shot into the top corner of the net for his second goal of the season. Squires and DeKeyser were each credited with assists on the tally, which put WMU up 3-1 at the 10:00 minute mark. It was the only power play goal of the night for the Broncos, who were 1-of-6 on the man-advantage.
Crew got the Broncos on the board first with his first goal of the season at the 2:22 mark of the second period. Kuhn fired an outlet pass to
Ryan Watson, who chipped the puck ahead to Crew to start a two-on-one. Crew settled the rolling puck and fired a wrist shot past Hammond to give WMU a 1-0 lead.
Bowling Green answered at the 13:55 mark of the period when Samuels-Thomas fired a backhander from the slot past Kuhn for his eighth goal of the season. Bobby Shea picked up the assist on the goal, which even the contest at 1-1.
WMU outshot Bowling Green in all three periods, totaling 33 shots to the Falcons 20. The Falcons were held without a goal on their only power play chance.
Next up for the Broncos is a two-game series Feb. 11-12 at conference powerhouse Miami in Oxford, Ohio. Face-off for Friday night's contest is set for 7:35 p.m., with live coverage being provided by the Bronco Radio Network.
