DENVER – The Western Michigan hockey team dropped its National Collegiate Hockey Conference opener, 5-2, at No. 8/7 Denver on Friday night.

DU's Jarid Lukosevicius recorded a hat trick to lead the Pioneers, while the Broncos (3-4-0, 0-1-0 NCHC) picked up two goals on the night. Denver outshot Western Michigan 29-28 and went 1-for-2 on the power play. WMU finished the night 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

Lukosevicius gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead late in the first period. The senior forward deflected a pass in the WMU zone out to center ice and skated in to beat Ben Blacker for the short-handed goal.

McGing tied it up just 11 seconds into the second period with his fourth goal of the season. Mattias Sameulsson sent the puck to the corner and it took an odd bounce off the boards and slipped past DU goalie Devin Cooley. Ethen Frank got to the puck behind the net and dropped a no-look centering pass to McGing for the tap-in goal.

Michael Davies punched in a rebound on a shot by Colin Staub to give Denver a 2-1 lead at 6:02 in the second period but the lead lasted all of 38 seconds before McGing banged in a rebound on a shot by Austin Rueschhoff while on the power play. Frank also picked up an assist, his second of the night as the game was tied at 2-2.

Pioneer defenseman Ian Mitchell skated around most of the Broncos on the ice to create Lukosevicius' second goal of the night at 10:31 in the second period, giving Denver a 3-2 lead. Liam Finlay netted his team-best sixth goal of the season to push the lead to 4-2 at 14:25 in the second period.

Lukosevicius completed the hat trick at 10:05 in the third period, redirecting a shot by Mitchell past Blacker on the power play.

The two teams battle again on Saturday at 9:07 p.m.