COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Western Michigan hockey team rode a six-goal second period on the way to an 8-2 win at Colorado College on Saturday night.
The win put the Broncos (15-17-2, 10-13-1-0 NCHC) in sixth place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings and will head to Minnesota-Duluth for the NCHC Quarterfinals next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary). WMU's freshmen class combined for six of the X goals, led by Brett Van Os and Ethen Frank each scoring two. Corey Schueneman, Josh Passolt, Paul Stoykewych and Cam Orchard also tallied goals, while Colt Conrad and Hugh McGing each had two assists. Van Os had his first career multi-goal game and also added an assist for a career-high three points. Freshman Austin Cain made 25 saves to earn his second career win.
Colorado College jumped out to a very early 1-0 lead with a goal just 1:44 into the first period. CC won a battle on the boards and Trevor Gooch kicked it out to Christiano Versich. Versich skated into the slot and fired it past Cain for his fifth goal of the season.
Later on in the first period WMU scored two goals under two minutes to take a 2-1 lead. The first came courtesy of Schueneman on a 5-on-3 power play. DiPietro had the puck at the bottom of the right circle and passed it to Conrad behind the net. Conrad then pushed the puck to Schueneman in the left circle for the one-timer and the junior defenseman's fifth goal of the season at 13:27.
Van Os gave WMU the lead at 15:11 with a snipe past Tiger goalie Alex Leclerc McGing had the puck and passed it to Cam Lee. Lee skated into the right circle and left a drop pass for Van Os. The freshman forward took it to the net and beat Leclerc on his stick side for his second goal of the season.
Trey Bradley scored just 2:59 into the second period on a power play to tie it up at 2-2.
Passolt started the six-goal flurry at 9:12 in the second period. Austin Rueschhoff completed the long pass to Passolt and he skated to the top of the left circle and beat Leclerc on the stick side for his eighth goal of the season.
Stoykewych redirected a shot by Schueneman just 50 seconds later to push the lead to 4-2. The goal was reviewed to see if the redirection was the result of a high stick, but it was ruled a good goal. The tally was Stoykewych's sixth of the season, while Schueneman tallied his 20th assist and DiPietro picked up his 22nd.
Orchard put the Broncos up 5-2 on his second collegiate goal at 12:59. Aidan Muir found Orchard behind the net and he punched it in on the goalie's glove side in a scramble. Just 49 seconds later Frank's first of the night gave WMU a 6-2 lead. Passolt found Frank on the backdoor for the tap-oin goal and his sixth goal of the season.
Van Os tallied his second of the night at 15:28 to push the lead to 7-2, getting set up by his linemate Orchard.
The final goal of the game came at 18:02 in the second period, courtesy of Frank. The freshman forward blocked a pass on the penalty kill and created a breakaway for himself, finishing it off for his seventh of the year and second two-goal game of his career.
Cain made nine saves in the third period to keep Colorado College on two goals.
WMU travels to take on the Bulldogs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) with times still to be determined.
