GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Freshman goalie Ben Blacker made a career-high 33 saves and fellow freshman Wade Allison netted two goals as No. 18 Western Michigan beat No. 8/9 North Dakota, 3-1, at Ralph Englestad Arena on Saturday night.
The win is just the second in program history for the Broncos (8-5-3, 4-5-1-1) over the Fighting Hawks, with both coming on the road and under head coach Andy Murray. Blacker made 21 saves in the third period as WMU was forced to kill off 12:25 seconds of UND power plays thanks to two major penalties. Overall 13 of Blacker's 33 stops came on the penalty kill.
Allison netted two goals for the second time in his career and also added an assist for his first career three-point game. Freshman forward Hugh McGing earned the primary assists on both of Allison's goals. WMU was outshot 33-22 on the night and went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.
Western Michigan took an early 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Allison at 9:08 in the first period. McGing brought the puck over the blue line and found Allison at the back post for the tap-in goal. The score was the eighth on the season for the Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick and it also ended an 0-for-18 drought with the man advantage. Frederik Tiffels also picked up his second assist on the weekend on the goal.
North Dakota scored just near the end of the first period. A turnover in front of the WMU bench found its way to Rhett Gardner and he dished it off to Shane Gersich. Gersich skated in on Blacker and scored his 13th goal of the season.
Neither team scored in the second period and the shots were even at 5-5. Towards the tail end Taylor Fleming was given a major for kneeing that carried over into the third period. WMU killed off the remainder of the power play to open the third and then killed off a two-minute power play shortly after. Fleming was given another major, this time for checking from behind and was given a game misconduct.
Western Michigan killed off that those five minutes and shortly after McGing found Allison again and he fired one from the right circle and into the net for his ninth goal of the season.
WMU held on to its 2-1 lead, killing off another penalty with just over three minutes to go. UND pulled Cam Johnson from the net and Michael Rebry golfed one into an empty net from center ice for his first goal of the season, sealing the game 3-1.
The Broncos are off for two weeks and head to the Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 29 and 30. WMU opens the tournament on Thursday night at 7 p.m. against Michigan State.
