DETROIT – The 16th ranked Western Michigan hockey team advanced to the Great Lakes Invitational final on Friday at 7 p.m. against Michigan Tech after downing Michigan State, 4-1, on Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
The Broncos (9-5-3) picked up four goals, three from Detroit natives Sheldon Dries, Griffen Molino and Matheson Iacopelli. Jade McMullen also scored, while freshman netminder Ben Blacker made 29 saves to improve to 4-0-0 on the season. All of WMU's goals came on the power play, with the Broncos going 4-for-7 with the man advantage.
WMU got the scoring going at 11:31 into the first period. The Broncos went on a power play and just seven seconds into it Schueneman fired a shot on net and McMullen banged in the rebound to take a 1-0 lead. Iacopelli also tallied his fifth assist of the season on the goal.
Western Michigan went up 2-0 with 2:36 left in the period on Dries' goal. Schueneman got in on net and the rebound kicked to Dries. The senior captain took the puck into the right circle and fired it in from the sharp angle for his fifth of the season.
Molino's fifth goal of the season gave the Broncos a 3-0 lead at 8:52 in the second period. On a breakout Hugh McGing found Colt Conrad in the left circle and he flipped it to Molino for the back-hander into an open net.
The Spartans ended the shutout bit with a power play goal of their own at 12:33 in the second period. Mason Appleton ripped a shot past Blacker from the right circle.
Minutes later Iacopelli netted his team-leading 14th goal at 16:50 on a feed from Cam Lee. Iacopelli picked up the puck at the deep slot and skated in and fired it past MSU goalie Ed Minney to push the lead to 4-1.
WMU outshot MSU 31-30 on the night. The Broncos also blocked 19 shots, led by Scott Moldenhauer and his five.
The Broncos take on the Huskie for the third time in a GLI final. Michigan Tech, who advanced by beating Michigan 2-0 on Thursday afternoon, won the first matchup 4-0 in 2012. Western Michigan got revenge the following year in the GLI Championship game played outdoors at Comerica Park. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit Plus and can be heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
