Men's Ice Hockey | November 10, 2017

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan heads on the road for the first time in National Collegiate Hockey, traveling to No. 12/14 Minnesota-Duluth for a weekend clash. Both games can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.

LAST WEEK
WMU came from behind twice to defeat No. 1 Denver, sweeping the defending national champions for the first time in program history. 

On Friday, the Broncos trailed 4-2 in the second period but goals by Dawson DiPietro and Hugh McGing tied it up at 4-4. Troy Terry put the Pioneers up 5-4 late in the third period at 15:30 but WMU responded with two goals in 15 seconds to steal the win. Colt Conrad tied it up, 5-5, with  an extra-attacker goal at 18:48. DiPietro netted his second of the night, and the game-winner, at 19:03.

On Saturday, WMU erased a 3-0 deficit to complete the sweep after a 7-4 win. The Broncos held Denver to just 19 shots on goal, including five in the third period. Down 3-0 late in the second period Wade Allison scored the first two goals of his hat trick, just 1:13 apart at 16:37 and 17:50 to cut the lead to 3-2. Denver scored at 7:48 in the third period to push the lead to 4-2 but the Broncos exploded for three goals in 43 seconds to flip the script on the Pioneers. Conrad struck first to cut the lead to 4-3 at 8:21. Hugh McGing scored 15 seconds later to tie it up at 4-4. Freshman Paul Washe netted the game-winner at 9:04, taking a 5-4 lead. Allison completed his hat trick to go up 6-4 at 13:03 and Jade McMullen put the game away with an emtpy-net goal at 16:32.

MINNESOTA-DULUTH | 4-4-2, 0-2-0-0 NCHC
• THE SERIES: UMD holds the all-time series lead at 13-7-1, but since the creation of the NCHC the series lead is much slimmer at 9-7-1. Last season the two teams met five times with the teams splitting the regular-season series at 2-2, but the Bulldogs got the best of the Broncos in the NCHC Semifinals. 

• SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota-Duluth heads into the weekend on a two-game skid, losing at St. Cloud State 5-3 and 5-0. UMD was without five key players against the now No. 1 team in the nation. Prior to the losses the Bulldogs were 3-0-2 in their previous five games.

Sophomore forward Riley Tufte leads the team in scoring with eight points on a team-best five goals and three assists. The Dallas Stars' first round draft pick had 16 points last season on nine goals and seven assists in 37 games and is already halfway to matching his previous output. Freshman forward Nick Swaney is tied with four other Bulldogs with seven points, scoring two goals and five assists. Junior forward Peter Krieger also has two goals and five assists. Freshman defenseman Mikey Anderson, brother of fellow Bulldog Joey Anderson, has seven points on three goals and four assists. His three tallies lead all UMD defenseman, while fellow blue-liner Scott Perunovich leads the team with six assists. 

Goalie Hunter Miska is gone and has been replaced by Hunter Shepard. Shepard has seen the majority of action between the pipes, posting a 4-3-0 record in seven starts, a 2.75 goals against average and a .888 save percentage. Nick Deery has made three starts on the season, going 0-1-2 with a 2.78 goals against average and a .877 save percentage. 

UMD's power play is off to solid start, ranking 18th in the nation at 23.3 percent (10-for-43). Mikey Anderson and Swaney each have two power play goals to lead the team, while six others have lit the lamp with the man advantage. The penalty kill has had a rough start, ranking 56th in the nation at just 70.8 percent (34-for-48).

NOTES ABOUT THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
• WMU's sweep of No. 1 Denver was the first sweep on program history against the Pioneers. 

• The Broncos are now 4-3 in their last seven games against the No. 1 team in the nation.

• Western Michigan earned Team of the Week honors from College Hockey News for the sweep.

• Two Broncos came away with weekly awards after the sweep. Wade Allison earned NCHC Offense Player of the Week after a five-point series with four goals, including his first collegiate hat trick, and an assist. Junior defenseman Corey Schueneman earned NCHC Defenseman of the Week after five assists and finishing +2.

KEEP ON STREAKING
Colt Conrad's career-best point streak keeps on going. After a four-point weekend the junior forward has now recorded points in all nine games this season. Conrad has 15 points on seven goals and eight assists so far. His season point total is already over half-way from his career-best output of 29 points last season.

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan returns to Kalamazoo next weekend to host Omaha on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. The Broncos then remain at home to host Colgate over Thanksgiving weekend.