Men's Ice Hockey | November 01, 2018
THIS WEEK
Western Michigan opens up National Collegiate Hockey Conference play traveling to No. 9/8 Denver on Friday and Saturday. Both games start at 9:07 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Both games will be live streamed on NCHC.tv and can also be seen on the Altitude 2 channel (DirecTV 681-1). Fans living in Canada will be able to stream the game on the TSN app and at www.tsn.ca. Both games will also be carried live on the Bronco Radio Network and at www.z965fm.com.
WATCH PARTY
The WMU Hockey Blue Line Club is hosting a watch party for Saturday night's game at Nisker's-Char Grill & Slap Shot Hockey Bar located on 5051 W. Main Street (corner of W. Main and Drake Road).
LAST WEEK
The Broncos had the weekend off after falling at Bowling Green, 4-1, on Tuesday. Freshman defenseman Mattias Samuelsson netted his first collegiate goal to give Western Michigan an early 1-0 lead, but the Falcons responded with four unanswered goals and Ryan Bednard made 19 saves to keep WMU out of the net.
After Samuelsson's tally BGSU answered late in the first period on a short-handed goal by Stephen Baylis. Max Johnson added a power play goal midway through the second period to give Bowling Green the lead, 2-1. Lukas Craggs added a goal with just 1:25 left in the second period to push the lead to 3-1. His brother Sam added BGSU's fourth goal at 9:22 in the third period.
NO. 9/8 DENVER UNIVERISTY PIONEERS | 3-0-1, 0-0-0 NCHC
- THE SERIES: Denver leads the all-time series 14-7-1. Since the creation of the NCHC, the Broncos are just 1-6-1 at Magness Arena, with the lone win coming on Nov. 8, 2015.
- A NEW FACE BEHIND THE BENCH: Former head coach Dave Montgomery left Denver in the off season after being hired by Dallas Stars to the same position. The Pioneers promoted assistant coach David Carle to become the ninth head coach in program history. Carle, 28, is the youngest head coach in Division I college hockey and was an assistant coach for four season under Montgomery.
- SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: The head coach may have changed but the level of success hasn't at Denver. The ninth/eighth ranked Pioneers are off to a great start, going 3-0-1 in their first four games. DU lost its top three scorers due to early signings of Henrik Borgstrom, Troy Terry and Dylan Gambrell. The top returning scorer is senior forward Jarid Lukosevicius. Lukosevicius had a career-high 21 goals and 13 assists for 34 points last season and is off to a good start with five points on two goals and three assists. Emilio Pettersen was just named the NCHC Rookie of the Month for October and the freshman forward leads the team with eight points on two goals and a team-high six assists. Junior forward Liam Finley has a team-high five goals and an assist for six points. After a great debut season that resulted in 30 points on two goals and 28 assists, sophomore defenseman Ian Mitchell has four points in four games on three assists and a goal.
DU has been just as good defensively as it has been offensively this season, allowing just 1.22 goals per game so far. Sophomore Devin Cooley has been the only goalie to play this season and boasts a .943 save percentage and a 1.23 goals against average. Cooley made 16 saves to earn his first collegiate shutout in a 6-0 win over Alabama Huntsville.
Denver has been vulnerable in one area and that has been on the penalty kill. Four of the five goals that DU has given up this year have come while down a man. The Pioneers rank 32nd in the nation at 81 percent (17-for-32) on the penalty kill. Denver's power play ranks tied for 37th at 17.4 percent (4-for-23).
TIME TO START AGAIN
In WMU's loss at Bowling Green the team had a five-game power play goal scoring streak snapped after going 0-for-6. Prior to the loss the Broncos have gone 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) to open the season. Western Michigan has scored two power play goals in three of the team's six games, led by Hugh McGing and Austin Rueschhoff's two.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Western Michigan has had 11 different goal scorers in its first six games. Cam Lee has a team-best four, while Josh Passolt, Hugh McGing, and Austin Rueschhoff each have three. Three freshmen, Cole Gallant, Drew Worrad and Mattias Samuelsson, have also lit the lamp for the first times in the careers.
- WMU has been outshot by its opponents in each of the last three games after outshooting its opponents in the first three.
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