Men's Ice Hockey | November 22, 2017

THIS WEEK
Fresh off the sweep over Omaha, No. 9 ranked Western Michigan takes a break from conference play and hosts No. 18 Colgate on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. 

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL
Bronco fans can take advantage of a tremendous special and get a ticket to either hockey game, a hot dog, bag of chips and bottle of water for just $12. The tickets must be purchased in advance and are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and online at wmubroncos.com/tickets. 

LAST WEEK
The Broncos dispatched the Mavericks after wins of 4-1 and 5-2. On Friday WMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Paul Washe and Colt Conrad at 6:05 and 9:55 in the first period. Hugh McGing tallied at 1:07 in the second period to push the score to 3-0. Sophomore forward Dawson DiPietro scored a wonder goal in the third period to give Western Michigan a 4-0 lead. UNO's Teemu Pulkkinen spoiled Ben Blacker's shutout with a goal with 52 seconds left in the game. Blacker still ended up with 24 saves on the night, helping hold the nation's top power play scoreless on four power plays.

WMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead again on Saturday after Wade Allison scored two goals in the span of 15 seconds at 13:05 and 13:18 in the first period. Omaha's Mason Morelli tipped in a shot by David Pope on the power play at 4:02 in the second period to cut the lead to 2-1. The Broncos responded just 1:45 later with a goal by Jade McMullen to go up 3-1. Ethen Frank added a short-handed goal at 12:03 in the second period to push the lead to 4-1. Omaha got one back on a goal by Fredrik Olofsson but Conrad finished the game off with an empty-net goal in the final minute. 


COLGATE RAIDERS || 7-3-4
THE SERIES: Western Michigan leads the all-time series 7-5-1 but the Raiders won the most recent meeting back on Sept. 29, 2014 at the Three Rivers Classic. Colgate has not come to Kalamazoo since a series in 2003 that resulted in a sweep by the Broncos. 

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS: Colgate has been one of the toughest outs in college hockey so far this season, suffering just three losses. The three set back have only come against ranked teams in the form of a sweep from New Hampshire and a loss at home to Clarkson last Friday. CU is just 1-2-2 on the road this season. 

The Raiders are a very young team with 12 freshmen and sophomore skaters playing in at least 13 games this season. Colgate's top three scorers so far this year are all sophomores, led by forward Bobby McMann with 12 points on six goals and six assists. Fellow forward and classmate John Snodgrass has nine points on one goal and a team-best eight assists. Jared Cockrell is tied with McMann for the team lead with six goals. Freshman Nick Austin is the top point-man on the blue line so far this season with five points on three goals and two assists. 

Sophomore goalie Colton Point has been, statistically, the best netminder in college hockey this season. The Dallas Stars' draft pick leads the nation in goals against average, 1.46, and save percentage, .952. Point's record is 7-1-4 this season in 12 starts. With Point's help, the Raiders rank third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 2.00 goals per game. 

Colgate's power play ranks just 47th in the nation, converting 15.7 percent (8-for-51) of its power plays this season. McMann has scored three of his six goals this season with the man advantage, while senior forward Mike Panowyk has two, along with junior forward Adam Dauda. CU's penalty kill ranks tied for 22nd at 82.1 percent (46-for-56).

DOUBLING UP
Sophomore forward Hugh McGing sits second on the team with 17 points on four goals and a team-high 13 assists. Over the weekend he had back-to-back multi-point games with a goal and an assist in Friday's win and two assists in Saturday's victory. The Chicago, Ill., native is now up to seven multi-point games after having just five during his freshman season. 

HOW SWEEP IT IS
WMU picked up its second sweep of the season after brushing past Omaha last weekend. The previous sweep came against No. 1 Denver on Nov. 3-4 after 6-5 and 7-4 victories over the Pioneers. The Broncos are halfway to matching their sweep total from last season, after recording four during the 2016-17 season.

HOME SWEET HOME
Western Michigan is 7-1-1 this season at Lawson Ice Arena. The Broncos are averaging 4.2 goals per game and holding opponents to just 2.3, outscoring the opposition 38-21 overall. Junior forward has 16 of his team-high 18 points coming at home with seven goals and nine assists. Sophomore goalie Ben Blacker is also posting stellar numbers with a 6-1-1 record, a 1.98 save percentage and a .927 goals against average. 

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan returns to NCHC action next weekend, traveling to No. 3 North Dakota to take on the Fighting Hawks on Friday at 8:37 p.m. and Saturday at 8:07 p.m. It's the lone time WMU and UND will face off during the regular season. Both games can be seen live on NCHC.tv.