Men's Ice Hockey | October 19, 2017

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan takes on Michigan State in a home-and-home series, with the Broncos traveling to East Lansing on Friday night and the Spartans visiting Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday. 

LAST WEEK
The Broncos had a busy week with three games against Bowling Green and Clarkson. Western Michigan hosted BGSU on Tuesday and beat the Falcons, 3-1. Sophomore defenseman Cam Lee netted two goals in the win, while Ben Blacker made 33 saves.

Against the 15th-ranked Golden Knights, Blacker made 32 saves to help earn the tie. Sophomore forward Dawson DiPietro scored the first two goals of his career, including the game-tying goal at 10:52 in the second period. On Saturday, DiPietro and Lee scored their third goals of the week and WMU outshot CU 37-20 but it wasn't enough as Clarkson won 4-2. The Golden Knights scored just 2:51 into the game before DiPietro tied it up at 1-1 early in the second period. Clarkson scored back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 lead and Lee's third cut it to 3-2 with 3:55 left in the third period. WMU pulled Blacker for the extra attacker but Nico Sturm tallied the empty-net goal to finish off the game. 

MICHIGAN STATE AT A GLANCE // 1-1-0
- THE SERIES: MSU leads the all-time series 65-33-8 heading into Friday's game in East Lansing. The Broncos are 3-0-1 in the last four meetings and the two teams met last season at the Great Lakes Invitational, with WMU winning 4-1. 

- SCOUTING THE SPARTANS: Michigan State officially opened up the 2017-18 regular season under new bench boss Banton Cole last weekend with a split against Bowling Green. The home-and-home series saw the home team winning each game. BGSU opened up the weekend with a 4-1 win. The Spartans responded with a 3-2 win at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday. MSU also has a 3-0 win in an exhibition game against Toronto. 

Michigan State is a very young team and played 16 freshmen or sophomores in its opening series against Bowling Green. Last year's top scorer Mason Appleton signed with Winnipeg after scoring 31 points. The Spartans do return its next three top scorers in sophomores Taro Hirose, Sam Saliba and Patrick Khodorenko. Hirose was second on the team in scoring last year with six goals and 18 assists for 24 points. The Calgary, Alberta, native is already off to a good start with two goals and an assist against the Falcons. Saliba had 10 goals and eight assists last season to finish third in scoring, while Khodorenko also had 18 points on seven goals and 11 assists. Khodorenko has a goal and an assist so far this season. Junior defenseman Zach Osburn is the top returning scorer from the blue line and has one assist so far after scoring four goals and eight assists last season. 

Both sophomore John Lethemon and senior Ed Minney started in net in the series against Bowling Green. Minney was pulled after giving up three goals in the first period in the 4-1 loss. Lethemon went on to make 22 saves in Saturday's win. Last season Minney saw the majority share of the minutes, starting in 24 games compared to Lethemon's 11. 

AT THE TOP
Junior forward Colt Conrad is off to a magnificent start this season and has tallied at least a point in every game. Conrad heads into the weekend with a NCAA-best nine points on three goals and six assists. The St. Alphonse, Manitoba, native opened the season with a four-point game on a goal and three assists in the 6-1 win over Ferris State. He followed it up with goals in back-to-back games against FSU and Bowling Green. Against Clarkson he assisted on the game-tying goal in the 2-2 tie against the 15th-ranked Golden Knights. He also assisted on both goals in the 4-2 loss, to extend his point streak to a career-high five games. 

DAWSON'S STREAK
Sophomore forward Dawson DiPietro has been the surprise of the season so far for Western Michigan. After playing in just one game last season he has played in all five and has six points. DiPietro has scored a point in five of his six career games after tallying an assist in his collegiate debut against Bowling Green last season. This year he opened the season with two assists in the 6-1 win over Ferris State. He tallied an assist in the 3-1 win over Bowling Green, scored both goals in the 2-2 tie against No. 15 Clarkson and then netted the first goal of the game in the 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights. 

WADE'S WORLD
Sophomore forward Wade Allison has kept pace with his linemates Colt Conrad and Dawson DiPietro and sits second on the team with seven points. Allison had a three-point game to open the season with two goals and an assist in the 6-1 win over Ferris State. From then he's taken a distributor role, tallying assists in the win against BGSU, the tie against Clarkson and two assists in the loss to the Golden Knights. 

TRIPLE YOUR FUN
It took just one week for sophomore defenseman Cam Lee to surpass his goal total from last season. Lee had tallied twice to go along with 12 assists. In last Tuesday's 3-1 win over Bowling Green he matched that total with two goals, including the game-winner. On Saturday he cut Clarkson's lead to 3-2 with his third of the season. Lee is the only Bronco defenseman to score a goal so far this season. 

THE CHAMPS ARE COMING
WMU is off next week and then opens National Collegiate Hockey Conference play hosting the defending National Champions Denver on Nov. 3-4. Tickets are available now at wmubroncos.com/tickets and by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX