KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The 13th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team killed off over nine minutes of penalties in the third period to hold on and defeat No. 4/3 Denver, 3-1, at Lawson Ice Arena on Friday night.
Ethen Frank tallied twice, while Hugh McGing netted a short-handed goal and tallied an assist for the Broncos (14-8-1, 7-5-1-1 NCHC). Senior goalie Trevor Gorsuch made 21 saves, including 14 in the third period, to pick up his career-high 12th win of the season. Both the WMU penalty kill and power play stood out in the game. The penalty kill finished 6-for-6, including a 5-minute major power play in the third period. The power play finished 1-for-3 on the night, ending a three-game drought.
WMU dominated the first period, outshooting DU 12-3 but was unable to get anything past Pioneer netminder Filip Larson.
McGing broke the deadlock at 1:51 in the second period. Western Michigan took an early penalty to open the period and McGing broke up a pass, deflecting the puck out to the neutral zone. The St. Louis Blues' draft pick picked up the puck and skated in on the breakaway for the short-handed goal. The unassisted goal was his 12th of the season and second short-handed goal of the season.
WMU pushed the lead to 2-0 at 9:35 in the second period on a power play goal by Frank. McGing won the opening draw of the power play, pushing the puck forward. Austin Rueschoff skated into the left circle and dropped the puck back to Cam Lee. Lee found Frank in the right circle and he fired a laser past Larsson and into the top-right corner of the net for his 10th goal of the season. Rueschhoff tallied his career-high 11th assist, while Lee notched his 12th.
The Broncos opened the third period taking back-to-back penalties but DU scored shortly after on a goal by Liam Finlay. Finlay redirected a shot from Michael Davies into the net from just in front of Gorsuch to cut the lead to 2-1.
Just over a minute later Mattias Samuelsson was given a 5-minute major for contact-to-the-head roughing and a game-misconduct. The Bronco penalty kill held strong during the five minutes, with Gorsuch making five saves during the stretch.
Denver pulled Larsson for the extra attacker with 2:01 left in the game but the Broncos quickly capitalized. McGing won a battle on the boards in the WMU zone and flipped the puck out to Frank and he skated in for the empty-net goal. Lee also picked up an assist on the goal for a two-point night.
Western Michigan and Denver battle again on Saturday night at Lawson Ice Arena a 7 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and online at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.
