Men's Ice Hockey | November 15, 2018

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan heads on the road in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play, traveling to Grand Forks, N.D., to take on North Dakota on Friday at 8:37 p.m. and on Saturday at 8:07 p.m.

WATCH PARTY
The WMU Hockey Blue Line Club will once again be hosting a watch party for Saturday night's game at Nisker's-Char Grill & Slap Shot Hockey Bar at 5051 W. Main St. (Corner of W. Main & Drake Rd.).

HOW TO FOLLOW
Both games will be streamed live on NCHC.tv and both can be heard live on the Bronco Radio Network on 96.5 FM in the Kalamazoo area and at www.jackfm965.com.

LAST WEEKEND
WMU hosted Omaha for its first pair of NCHC games at Lawson Ice Arena, splitting with the Mavericks.

The Broncos opened the weekend with an offensive explosion, scoring a season-high seven goals to take down UNO, 7-2. Freshman forward Cole Gallant tallied twice, while Colt Conrad, Austin Rueschhoff, Lawton Courtnall, Wade Allison and Drew Worrad also lit the lamp. Trevor Gorsuch made 16 saves to earn his second win. Conrad, Rueschhoff and Gallant all scored in the first period to give the Broncos a 3-0 lead. Courtnall scored short-handed and Allison tallied his first of the season to push the lead to 5-0 after two periods. Gallant netted his second of the night to push the lead to 6-0 before UNO responded with two goals. Worrad tallied with 2:01 left to go to set the final score.

On Saturday, Rueschhoff gave the Broncos an early 1-0 lead at 4:48  in the first period, but the Mavericks responded with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead into the second period. After a scoreless middle stanza, Mattias Samuelsson netted his third of the season at 4:45 in the third period but the Broncos didn't find the equalizer, with UNO's Zach Jordan adding and empty-net goal to hand WMU a 4-2 loss.

#11 NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS | 5-3-1, 1-1-0-0 NCHC
- THE SERIES: North Dakota leads the all-time series at 18-4-0, including 8-2-0 in Grand Forks. WMU's last road win came on Dec. 12, 2016, 3-1. Wade Allison leads all Broncos with five points in six career games against the Fighting Hawks on three goals and two assists.

- SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS: After opening the season 0-2-1, North Dakota responded with a five-game winning streak that was snapped last Saturday after splitting at Miami.

Sophomore forward Jordan Kawaguchi leads the team with seven points on two goals and five assists. Senior forward Nick Jones is tied with Kawaguchi for the team lead with five assists and also has a goal for six points, while fellow senior forward Rhett Gardner leads the team with four goals. Colton Poolman, Gabe Best and Matt Keirsted each have five points from the blue line, while Poolman has three goals.

Freshman goalie Adam Scheel has started in seven of the team's nine games this season, with a 5-2-1 record, a 1.70 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. The Fighting Hawks have allowed just 2.22 goals per game and only three times this season have opponents scored three or more goals.  

UND's power play ranks 45th in the nation at 14.6 percent (6-for-41), with six different players tallying the team's power play goals so far this season. North Dakota has been vulnerable on the penalty kill, ranking 44th at 77.4 percent (24-for-31).

MAGNIFICENT MATTIAS
Freshman defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is in the midst of a team-best five-game point streak. The Buffalo Sabres' draft pick has three goals and two assists in the past five games. All of Samuelsson's points this season have come during the streak and his five points ranks second among defensemen on the team. Samuelsson has also been +4 during the stretch and has blocked six shots. He has made efficient use of his shooting, scoring his three goals on just seven shots during the run.

NO HELP NEEDED
WMU has scored 36 goals this season and five of them have been unassisted. Sophomore forward Austin Reuschhoff leads the team with two unassisted goals, both coming off of steals by the big forward against Michigan and Omaha. In the 4-2 loss against the Mavericks, both of WMU's goals were unassisted and it was the second time Western Michigan has tallied two unassisted goals in a game this season, the other coming in the 5-4 win over Michigan by Rueschhoff and Josh Passolt.

ROAD WOES
After winning its first road game of the season, 4-3 at Ferris State, Western Michigan has been 0-4-0 away from Lawson Ice Arena since. The Broncos have been able to score on the road, averaging 3.0 goals per game, but have given up 4.40. Nine of the team's 22 goals allowed on the road have come on the penalty kill.

ON THE HORIZON
WMU has Thanksgiving off and returns to action hosting Niagara on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and online at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.