KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Matheson Iacopelli netted his first career hat trick and the Western Michigan hockey team nearly tying at 16-year old record as the Broncos rolled past No. 20 Bowling Green, 8-2, at Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday night.
WMU (3-0-1) scored six power play goals, almost matching the program record of seven tied against Lake Superior State on Oct. 28, 2000 and originally set against Vermont on Dec. 12, 1985. The Broncos also picked up goals from Scott Moldenhauer, Chris Dienes, Griffen Molino, Jade McMullen and Kyle Novak. Trevor Gorsuch stopped 18 shots to earn his first victory of the season, while Sheldon Dries, Aaron Hadley, Wade Allison and Cam Lee all had two assists. Moldenhauer and Novak had two assists to go along with their goals for a three-point night. For Moldenhauer, it was the first of his career.
The big defenseman got the party started for Western Michigan with an early power play goal. Novak found Moldenhauer at the right point and he slotted it past BGSU starting goalie Ryan Bednard for his second goal of the season at 4:19 in the first period. Hadley also notched an assist on the goal, his second of the season.
The Falcons tied it up at 1-1 with a power play goal of their own. Bowling Green was awarded a five-on-three power play and took full advantage of it as Scott Walker netted his second goal of the weekend from Kevin Dufour and Brett D'Andrea at 15:45.
WMU killed off the other power play and Moldenhauer found Iacopelli streaking out of the penalty box. The sophomore forward punched it into the net for his second goal of the season to retake the lead, 2-1, at 16:34.
Just over a minute later, Dienes tallied on the power play to push the lead to 3-1. Dienes fired a shot after getting the puck from Dries and the goalie coughed it up and into the net.
The Broncos struck quickly in the second period when Iacopelli picked up his second goal, just 58-seconds in. Dries set up this one for his second assist of the night as WMU rolled to a 4-1 lead.
The scoring slowed down until Molino punched one in on the power play with 58 seconds left in the period for his first goal of the season. Aidan Muir passed it off to Molino and the sophomore forward skated in on backup goalie Tomas Scholl and beat him just under the cross bar.
Iacopelli completed his first collegiate hat trick on a 5-on-3 power play goal. Molino fed the Chicago Blackhawks draft pick at the top of the right circle and he put it past Sholl for his fourth goal of the season at 5:58 in the third period.
Just 32 seconds later McMullen added his first goal of the season on the power play after Novak found him streaking to the net. Moldenhauer also picked up his third assist of the season as WMU took a 7-1 lead.
Novak added his power play goal with 37 seconds left in the game for the eighth and final Western Michigan goal.
BGSU scored just 15 seconds later to cut the lead to 8-2.
The Bronco power play finished 6-for-10 on the night and held the Falcons to just 1-for-8. WMU also outshot BGSU 25-20 and held them to just three shots on goal in the second period.
Western Michigan is off next week before heading to Denver University to open National Collegiate Hockey Conference play on Oct. 28 and 29. WMU is home next on Nov. 4 and 5 against NCHC rivals Miami. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and visiting wmubroncos.com.
