OXFORD, Ohio -- Western Michigan earned its first win at Miami since Nov. 19, 2004 after defeating the RedHawks, 5-2, in front of 2,649 fans at Steve Cady Arena on Friday night.
The Broncos (13-10-4, 7-7-1-1 NCHC) rode a big first period and strong goaltending from
Lukas Hafner to end 13-game winless streak in Oxford.
Shane Berschbach tallied twice along with
Sheldon Dries,
Justin Kovacs and
Nolan LaPorte.
Chase Balisy tallied three assists on the night and Hafner made 27 saves to earn his sixth win of the season.
WMU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals just 16 seconds apart to open the first period.
Thomas Nitsche intentionally shot wide of the net and the puck bounced to Berschbach on the left side. The senior forward threw the puck into the crease and it banked off a Miami defenseman and into the net for his 11th goal of the season. Nitsche tallied his first collegiate point on the goal and Balisy picked up his first of the night and 15th of the season.
Just 16 seconds later the Broncos tallied again with Dries notching his third of the season.
Taylor Fleming picked up the puck in the WMU zone and found
Will Kessel at center ice. Kessel flipped it in and Dries went in on a breakaway to beat Ryan McKay high on his stick side.
Berschbach added his second of the game with a power-play goal at 11:01 to push the lead to 3-0. Balisy chipped the puck across the blue line to spring Berschbach on the breakaway and he put it between McKay's legs for his 12th of the season and chased Miami's starting goalie from the game.
Anthony Louis cut WMU's lead to two with a power play goal just 44 seconds into the second period. Louis charged the slot and Austin Czarnik found him for the tap-in.
Kovacs netted a power play goal of his own at 8:23 in the second period to push the lead to 4-1.
Mike Cichy sent the puck to
Colton Hargrove on the right side and the big forward skated towards the net, finding Kovacs trailing and the Grosse Point Woods, Mich., native buried it for his 11th of the season.
Ben Paulides cut the lead back to two with his third goal of the season at 15:16 in the third period. Miami then pulled its goalie with just over a minute left to get the extra attacker but Balisy chipped the puck out of the zone and LaPorte shot it down the ice from his knees and it trickled into the net to put the game away at 5-2.
The Bronco power play finished the night 2-for-5 and held Miami to just 1-for-5. The RedHawks outshot WMU 29-21 and limited them to just four shots in the third period.
The two teams battle for the final time of the regular season on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.
