ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The 10th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team fell to National Collegiate Hockey Conference leaders St. Cloud State, 5-2, on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
WMU picked up goals by Dawson DiPietro, Jade McMullen and Lawton Courtnall, but the Broncos (13-8-1, 6-5-1-1 NCHC) were outshot 37-16, including behind held to just five shots in the third period. The Huskies finished the night 2-for-6 on the power play, snapping Western Michigan's streak of three games without surrendering a power play goal. WMU was held scoreless on three power plays.
DiPietro gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead in the first period, scoring his second goal of the season at the 8:55 mark. Colt Conrad chased down a loose puck in the SCSU zone and passed to DiPietro behind the net. The junior forward took the puck in front of the net and put it between David Hrenak's legs. Conrad picked up his team-leading 15th assist of the season.
The Huskies scored four straight goals in the second period to put the Broncos in a 4-1 hole, beginning with a goal by Blake Lizotte, just 57 seconds into the period. Lizotte capitalized off of a WMU turnover at center ice and beat WMU goalie Trevor Gorsuch for his seventh goal of the season.
Easton Brodzinski tallied on the power play at 6:17, followed by Micah Miller at 11:32. Nolan Walker added a power play goal with just 44 seconds to go in the period to push the lead to 4-1.
McMullen, in his 100th career game as a Bronco, netted his third goal of the season to cut the lead to 4-2 with 7:58 left to go. Kale Bennett fired the puck wide of the net but Paul Washe picked it up behind the net and centered it to McMullen for the tap-in.
Ben Blacker, who came in to play the third period, was pulled from the net with just under three minutes left to play. Jack Poehling scored the empty-net goal with 2:06 left to push the lead to 5-2.
Courntnall fired a blast past Hrenak with 37 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 5-3.
Western Michigan returns back to Kalamazoo to host No. 3 Denver on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Both games can be streamed live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network. Tickets are available at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets and by calling the WMU Ticket Office at 1-888-4-WMUTIX.
