KALAMAZOO -- The Western Michigan hockey team opened up the 2015-16 season with an exhibition loss to Lethbridge, 4-3, in front of 2,765 fans at Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday night.
The Broncos picked up two goals by JT Osborn and a goal by Aidan Muir but failed to come back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period. UL's Brandon Clowes had two tallies on the night and Pronghorn goalie Dylan Tait made a game-high 28 saves.
WMU finished 2-for-5 on the power play and outshot Lethbridge 31-26.
The Pronghorns struck first just 3:30 into the first period. WMU goalie Lukas Hafner turned the puck over to Clowes and he punched it in for his first of the night to take a 1-0 lead.
At 12:43 Justin Valentine netted a goal in traffic to give UL a 2-0 lead on assists from Art kalashnikov and Blake Orban.
The Broncos opened up the second period with a power-play goal by Osborn to cut the lead to 2-1. Taylor Fleming found Osborn near the blue line and the senior forward skated into the zone and fired it on net. Tait got a piece of it but it squeaked through his legs and into the net.
At 11:41 in the second period Clowes struck again, and once again it was off a WMU turnover. Ryan Moser intercepted a pass to create a two-on-one and found Clowes for the easy goal to push the lead to 3-1.
The game-winner for Lethbridge came at 15:14 in the second period on the power play. Jay Merkley punched one past Colin Olson to extend the lead to 4-1.
WMU's rally started with Osborn's second of the night at 4:34 int he third period. Sheldon Dries created a turnover and Griffen Molino found Osborn at the left circle and he fired it into the net to cut the lead to 4-2.
Muir struck on the power play at 13:01 when Chris Dienes found him in the slot and he punched it into an open net to take the lead down to 4-3 but Lethbridge held on during the final minutes.
Western Michigan opens the regular season on Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Ferris State. The Broncos then travel to FSU on Saturday. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and online at WMUBroncos.com/tickets.
