KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Western Michigan's three first period goals were not enough to hold off Northern Michigan as the Broncos fell 5-4 to the Wildcats on Saturday night in front of 3,631 fans at Lawson Ice Arena.
Kyle Novak had a career-high three points on the night with two goals and an assist. Shane Berschbach extended his point streak to five games after two assists. Stephan Vigier and Erik Higby both had two goals on the night, while NMU goalie Mathias Dahlstrom made 41 saves for the Wildcats.
The Broncos didn't waste any time jumping in to tonight's game with Nolan Laporte scoring his second goal of the season at 1:49. Dennis Brown played the puck around the net and LaPorte banked it in off of Dahlstom's back. Brown notched his second assist of the season and Colton Hargrove tallied his third.
Northern Michigan senior forward Vigier knotted it at 1-1 just 1:09 after the Broncos took the lead. CJ Ludwig passed the puck up to Vigier, who raced down the right side of the ice on a two-on-one and fired the puck past Slubowski's glove side.
Novak then notched a pair of goals less than a minute apart for the Broncos midway through the first period. The first goal was on the power play with assists from Berschbach and Sam Mellor at 10:18. Berschbach found Novak open on the back door and the freshman forward punched it into an open net to give WMU a 2-1 lead. The assist was Berschbach's sixth on the season and Sam Mellor also picked up his second helper on the power play goal.
Just 56 seconds later Chris Dienes found Novak on the right side of the net and he fired it top-shelf with Dahlstrom out of position for his third of the season. Balisy also picked up an assist on the goal, his fifth of the season.
The Wildcats' Higby scored his first of two goals shortly after the puck dropped to start the second period. Higby got around a Bronco defender and beat Slubowski through his five-hole to cut the lead to 3-2.
Vigier tied it up 3-3 just two minutes later with a power play goal at 3:41 with assists from Mitch Jones and Ludwig. NMU's leading tallismen beat Slubowski for his second on the night and ninth of the season.
Reed Seckel gave the Wildcats their first and only lead of the game with a late second period goal. Luke Eibler fired a shot from the center point with Slubowski making the initial save. Seckel skated in from the right circle and punched it in to push the score to 4-3 with 4:35 remaining in the period.
After back and forth play most of the third period Higby scored his second goal of the night at 18:44 with assists from Shine and Sooth to expand the lead to 5-3. A defensive breakdown for WMU sprung Higby down the left side of the ice and the senior forward beat Slubowski on his stick side.
With under a minute left in the third, Jordan Oesterle brought WMU within one with a goal at 19:53 in the third with assists from Berschbach and Novak. Novak fired a shot that was saved by Dahlstrom and Berschbach passed the rebound to Oesterle, who fired it from just the top of the left circle and bounced past NMU's netminder.
Both teams finished the night one-for-four on the power play, while the Broncos outshot the Wildcats 45-22 in the loss.
Western Michigan and Northern Michigan battle once again on Sunday at 5 p.m.
