KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Four different Broncos scored as the 12th ranked Western Michigan hockey team downed Colorado College, 4-2, in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference contest on Friday at Lawson Ice Arena.
Frederik Tiffels, Griffen Molino, Colt Conrad and Aaron Hadley all lit the lamp, while freshman goalie Ben Blacker tied a career-high with 32 saves for WMU (12-6-3, 6-6-1-1 NCHC).
The Broncos took an early 1-0 lead on Tiffels' fourth goal of the season at 3:25 in the first period. Colorado College took possession of the puck in its zone but Michael Rebry stripped a CC defenseman and found Tiffels at the blue line. Tiffels skated in and beat Tiger goalie Alex Leclerc high on his glove side.
WMU took its 1-0 lead into the second period and added to it at 5:18 on a power play goal by Molino. Kyle Novak found Molino in the neutral zone and the sophomore forward skated in and snapped it past Leclerc again on his glove side to push the lead to 2-0. Novak tallied his third assist of the season, while Corey Schueneman tallied his 11th helper on Molino's sixth goal of the season.
Colorado College tied the game up at 2-2 with two goals in the final nine minutes of the second period. The first came at 11:47 when Mason Berg put one past Blacker to cut the lead to 2-1 with his 12th goal of the season. Berg set up the tying goal by Matt Hansen with 21 seconds left in the period for his second goal of the season.
The Broncos came out with a sense of urgency in the third period and Conrad netted the game-winning goal at 2:04. Wade Allison won a faceoff to Hugh McGing and McGing fired a shot at Leclerc. Leclerc made a pad save but Conrad pounced on the rebound and punched it in from right of the crease for his fifth goal of the season.
Hadley added an insurance goal with 4:02 left in the game to push the lead to 4-2. Right after WMU killed off a CC power play Lawton Courtnall got the puck up the ice to Hadley. The senior forward took the puck into the Tiger zone and ripped a shot past Leclerc from the left circle for his first goal of the season. Taylor Fleming also tallied an assist on the goal, his team-best 14th.
WMU outshot Colorado College 16-7 in the final period but trailed CC overall in the game 34-32. The Bronco penalty kill went a perfect 5-for-5 on the night, while WMU's power play finished 1-for-5.
The two teams face off again on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
