Men's Ice Hockey | January 11, 2018
THIS WEEK
Western Michigan resumes National Collegiate Hockey Conference play with a tough trip to No. 2 St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
WMU interrupted its semester break to travel to Bowling Green and finish off the season series by beating the Falcons, 5-2.
Hugh McGing,
Cam Lee,
Austin Rueschhoff and
Wade Allison all tallied in the first period to give the Broncos an early 4-0 lead. After an early BG goal in the second period, Rueschhoff added his second of the night to open the third period and push the lead to 5-1. The Falcons scored a late goal with under a minute left in the game to set the final at 5-2.
Ben Blacker made 19 saves and the Western Michigan power play finished 3-for-9 on the night.
ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES || 13-3-3, 7-2-1-0
• THE SERIES: The Huskies hold the all-time series lead at 10-3-3. Two of the three wins for the Broncos have come at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. SCSU has dominated the series recently, going 7-0-1 against WMU in the past eight games.
• SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: Up until a split with Minnesota last weekend, St. Cloud had been ranked No. 1 in the nation since Dec. 11. Now at No. 2, the Huskies sit at the top of the NCHC standings, tied with North Dakota with 22 points on 10 games. SCSU ranks third in the nation in scoring, averaging 3.89 goals per game. The Huskies have produced the output with a scoring-by-committee approach. No one on the team has reached a double-digit goal total yet through the 19 games. Junior forward Mikey Eyssimont leads the team with eight goals, while Robby Jackson and Easton Brodzinski sit just behind him with seven goals. Junior defenseman Jimmy Schuldt leads the team in points with 22 and assists with 16. He is also one of four players with six goals.
Junior Jeff Smith has started in 12 of the 19 games in goal this season and holds an 8-1-3 record with a 2.13 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Freshman David Hrenak has started in seven games with a 5-2-0 record, 1.71 goals against average and a .948 save percentage. Hrenak also has two shutouts for the fifth-best defense in the nation that allows just 2.11 goals per game.
St. Cloud's power play ranks eight in the nation at 24.7 percent (22-of-89). Schuldt, Jacob Benson and Blake Winiecki are tied for the team lead with four power play goals. The team's penalty kill ranks 14th at 84.2 percent (64-for-76).
APPROACHING 40
Sophomore forward
Wade Allison leads the team with 28 points through 20 games so far this season. Including playoffs, the Broncos have at least 16 games left in the season and Allison needs just 12 to become the first 40-point scorer since Patrick Galivan in 2008-09. Galivan ended up with 47 points on 19 goals and 28 assists that season, earning the Central Collegiate Hockey Association scoring title. Prior to Galivan it was Paul Sczcechura (45) and Mark Letestu (46) to reach the 40 point mark in 2006-07.
APPROACHING 100
Two Broncos are less than 10 games away from reaching 100. Junior forward
Colt Conrad heads into the weekend with 92 career games played, while junior defenseman
Corey Schueneman sits at 91. Three current Broncos have reached the century mark, led by senior captain
Scott Moldenhauer and his 128. Fellow senior
Neal Goff has 117 and
Aidan Muir has 110.
TWO OR MORE
In the 5-2 win over Bowling Green the Broncos tallied three times on the power play. It was the fourth time this season that WMU has netted at least two goals in a game and the third time in the past five games.
HOME SWEET HOME
Western Michigan returns to Lawson Ice Arena next weekend for one of just three home series in the second half of the season. The Broncos welcome Colorado College for a pair of games. Friday's game has been moved to 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network, while Saturday's game will be the regular 7 p.m. start time.
