Men's Ice Hockey | December 05, 2018

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan welcomes the reigning national champions, Minnesota-Duluth, to wrap up 2018 on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. 

LAST WEEK
The Broncos recorded back-to-back sweeps for the first time since 2012 after beating Niagara 3-2 and 7-3 last weekend. 

Ethen Frank netted two goals, while Trevor Gorsuch made 20 saves to earn his fifth win of the season in the series-opener. Frank tallied his third goal of the season just 1:39 into the game to put the Broncos up 1-0. Rhett Kingston netted his first collegiate goal at 8:48 in the first period to push the lead to 2-0. Niagara pulled a goal back early in the second period before Frank's second of the night gave WMU a two-goal lead. NU defenseman Noah Delmas netted his first of three goals of the weekend to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Broncos outlasted the come-back attempt by the Purple Eagles. 

On Saturday, the Broncos stormed out to a 4-0 lead on two goals by Josh Passolt and goals by Jade McMullen and Hugh McGing. Delmas cut the lead to 4-1 before heading in for the first intermission. McGing and Delmas traded goals to send WMU into the third period with a 5-2 lead. Kingston netted his second goal of the weekend to push the lead to 6-2 before Eric Cooley cut the lead to three with 3:36 remaining. Niagara pulled its goalie and Passolt scored an empty-net goal to complete his first collegiate hat trick. 

#3 MINNESOTA-DULUTH | 10-3-1, 4-2-0 NCHC
• THE SERIES: UMD leads the all-time series 18-8-1 and are 14-8-1 since the creation on the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Last season the two teams met six times with the Bulldogs winning five of the six. WMU's lone win came on the back of a 5-0 shutout in Duluth on Nov. 11, 2017. The Broncos saw their season come to an end at the hands of a sweep by Minnesota-Duluth in the NCHC Quarterfinals. 

• SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth opened the season going 0-1-1 against the University of Minnesota. After that brief struggle they went on to win the next eight games and climb to No. 1 in both polls. Since NCHC play started the Bulldogs swept Colorado College and split with Denver and North Dakota. The team is currently tied with Miami in second place, three points behind leaders St. Cloud State. 

Sophomore defenseman Scott Perunovich has picked up where he left off last season and leads the team with 17 points on two goals and 15 assists. His 15 helpers tie him for fourth in the nation and tops in the NCHC. UMD averages 3.36 goals per game, 14th-best in the nation, and spreads the scoring out amongst its roster. Nine different players have scored at least three goals this season, led by senior forward Parker Mackay's seven. Freshman forward Tanner Laderoute has five goals, while Nick Swaney, Riley Tufte and Kobe Roth each have four. 

UMD ranks fourth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 1.86 goals per game so far this season. Junior Hunter Shepard has started all 14 games with a 10-3-1 record, a 1.75 goals against average and a .922 save percentage. Shepard was recently named the NCHC Goalie of the Month for November.

The Bulldogs are 11th in the nation on the power play at 24 percent (12-for-50). All four of Tufte's goals have come on the power play season, while Roth has three and Jackson Cates has two. UMD has the best penalty kill in the nation at 90.7 percent (49-for-54).

INSIDE THE STREAK
WMU is currently on a season-best four-game winning streak. WMU has swept both North Dakota and Niagara during the run and have been averaging 4.50 goals per game. Josh Passolt has been the leading scorer during the streak, netting six of his 10 goals on the season. He also has two assists for eight points. Colt Conrad has had the most points, netting two goals to go with seven assists. A big reason for the increased offensive output has been Western Michigan's power play. WMU is 5-for-15 in the past four games, with Hugh McGing scoring two of the five. 

It hasn't been all offense, though. The Bronco defense has been stellar and senior goalie Trevor Gorsuch deserves a lot of the credit. Gorsuch has posted a 1.75 goals against average, a .940 save percentage and a shutout during the streak. 

BLOCK PARTY
Junior defenseman Luke Bafia currently sits fourth in the nation in total blocked shots at 41 and second in blocks per game at 3.15. Bafia got a big boost to his numbers after the Niagara series. In the 3-2 win last Friday he had a career-high nine blocked shots. In Saturday's 7-3 win, he followed it up with four more, all while contributing an assist in each game. 

GOING CAMPING
Freshman defenseman Mattias Samuelsson has been selected to the 2019 U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster ahead of the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships. This is the second straight year WMU has had representation on the preliminary roster after Hugh McGing participated in it last season but was cut prior to the start of the tournament. Should Samuelsson make the team, he would be the first Bronco to represent the United States at the World Juniors since Joe Corvo did in 1996. 

SKATE WITH THE BRONCOS
WMU will be hosting its annual Skate with the Broncos event on Sunday at 5 p.m. Admission is free with skate rental available to those who need it. Open skate will take place from 5-5:50 p.m., followed by autographs and free pizza while supplies last. 

OFF TO VEGAS
After the UMD series, WMU is done for the remainder of 2018. The Broncos resume action on Jan. 4-5 at the Ice Vegas Invitational at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. WMU opens the tournament battling UCONN on Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. The Broncos will then play either Air Force or St. Lawrence the following day at 8/11:30 p.m., depending on the outcome of the opening games.