Men's Ice Hockey | October 08, 2018

THIS WEEK
The 18th ranked Western Michigan hockey team opens up the 2018-19 regular season hosting No. 20 Bowling Green on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. That's not all for the Broncos this week, WMU will head up to Big Rapids, Mich., to take on rival Ferris State on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. before turning around and hosting the Bulldogs on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. 

LAST WEEK
After a long offseason the Broncos were finally back in action, defeating the University of Lethbridge in their annual Border Battle exhibition game on Saturday night, 4-1. 
Senior forward Colt Conrad scored twice and added an assist, while sophomore forward Josh Passolt and freshman forward Paul Cotter also tallied goals on the night. Sophomore goalie Austin Cain made seven saves in two periods of action to earn the win. 

Conrad and Passolt scored within 11 seconds of each other early in the first period. Conrad struck first on a 5-on-3 power play tap-in goal set up by Dawson DiPIetro. Shortly after Passolt, also on the power play, drove to the net and scored on a back-hand shot from the right circle. 

Lethbridge added a goal with 5:55 left to go in the first period to cut the lead to 2-1. Conrad netted his second of the night, again on the power play, just 3:42 into the second period. He finished off a pass through traffic from Hugh McGing to push the score to 3-1. Conrad then set up Cotter for the final goal of the game with 5:09 left in the second period. 

WMU outshot UL 47-11 and finish the night 3-for-10 on the power play. 

THE BOWLING GREEN FALCONS 
• THE SERIES:  Bowling Green leads the series 71-60-8, but Western Michigan is 5-0-1 against the Falcons since the breakup of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Junior forward Wade Allison and senior forward Colt Conrad have been a two-man wrecking crew against the Falcons. Allison has eight points on three goals and five assists in four career games. Conrad has five points in five games on two goals and three assists. Last season WMU swept BGSU with a 3-1 win in Kalamazoo and a 5-2 win at Bowling Green.

• SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Bowling Green already has one official game under its belt, an 8-2 thrashing of Mercyhurst on the road on Saturday. Senior forward Stephen Baylis recorded a hat trick in the win, along with an assist for a four-point game in the win. Baylis, also the team's captain, finished fourth on the team in scoring last season with 31 points on nine goals and 22 points. Junior defenseman Alec Rauhauser returns after leading the team with 39 points on nine goals and 30 assists. Sophomore Brandon Kruse was drafted in the fifth round by the Vegas Golden Knights after a stellar freshman campaign, scoring 13 goals and adding 17 assists for 33 points. 

BGSU returns both goalies from last season. Junior Ryan Bednard got the start at Mercyhurst, giving up two goals and making 18 saves to earn his first win of the season. Last season, the Florida Panthers' draft pick had a 15-8-4 record with a 2.24 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. 

Last season the Falcons' power play went 39-for-183, 21.3, percent. Sophomore Max Johnson had 10 of his 13 goals on the season come on the power play. BGSU went 3-for-5 with the man advantage in the win over the Lakers.

RETURNING SCORING
Heading into the season, Western Michigan ranks in the top 10 in the following categories: most returning goals (fourth, 101), most returning points (fifth, 270), highest percentage of returning goals (seventh, 88 percent), and highest percentage of returning points (seventh, 85 percent). 

Western Michigan returns all of its top eight scorers. Dawson DiPietro (13-22-35), Wade Allison (15-15-30), Hugh McGing (9-21-30), Colt Conrad (9-18-27), Corey Schueneman (5-21-26), Cam Lee (8-18-24), Austin Rueschhoff (10-7-17), and Luke Bafia (1-15-16) combined for 68 goals and 137 assists.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Western Michigan enters the regular season in the nation's top 20 for the fifth time under head coach Andy Murray, coming in at 19th in the USCHO.com preseason poll. The Broncos were also picked to finish fourth in the NCHC's annual Preseason Media Poll. 

Junior forward Wade Allison was voted Preseason All-NCHC by the league's media and was also named Preseason Second Team All-College Hockey News by the organization's writers. 

100
Tuesday's game against Bowling Green will be Colt Conrad's 100th career college hockey game at Western Michigan. He joins captain Corey Schueneman as the only other Bronco on the roster to have made it to 100. Senior Jade McMullen (75), Cam Lee (74) and Dawson DiPietro (64) could all reach 100 by the end of the regular season. 

QUICK TURNAROUND
There is no rest for the weary and the Broncos to open the season. WMU heads to Ferris State on Friday and then hosts the Bulldogs on Saturday night. It is part of WMU's stretch of seven games in 17 days. Western Michigan also has a home-and-home series with Michigan, heading to Ann Arbor on Oct. 19 and welcoming the Wolverines to Lawson Ice Arena on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. The Broncos then head to Bowling Green the following Tuesday, Oct. 23.