Men's Ice Hockey | November 14, 2019

THIS WEEK
After playing seven of its first 10 away from home, No. 20 Western Michigan welcomes No. 19 Omaha for its National Collegiate Hockey Conference home opening series on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW
• FRIDAY – Video: NCHC.tv | Audio: 590 AM/106.9 FM/www.wkzo.com

• SATURDAY - Video: NCHC.tv. | Audio: 96.5 FM/www.jackfm965.com

LAST WEEK
• FRIDAY: Western Michigan hosted rival Ferris State, riding a two-goal third period to a 4-2 win over the Bulldogs in front of a sellout crowd at Lawson Ice Arena. 

Hugh McGing gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead at 12:28 in the first period, scoring off of a faceoff for his second goal of the season. Just 1:40 into the second period the Bulldogs tied it up on a goal by Justin Michaelian in transition. Paul Washe netted his fifth goal of the season to give the lead back to WMU, 2-1, at 10:15 in the second but the advantage was short-lived as Jake Transit fired a shot through traffic and into the net on the power play at 15:20. The game stayed tied until WMU scored on a power play of its own at 11:12 in the third period. WMU had a 5-on-3 power play end, but capitalized just as the FSU player was leaving the penalty box on a blast by freshman defenseman Ronnie Attard from the left circle. Austin Rueschhoff put the game away at 16:12 on his second goal of the season.

• SATURDAY: Western Michigan traveled up to Big Rapids and put a pounding on the Bulldogs, 8-2. 

The two teams headed into the second period tied up at 1-1 thanks to goals by WMU's Lawton Courtnall and Ferris State's Dominic Lutz. The Broncos opened the game up in the second period, scoring six goals. Rueschhoff scored at 1:58, followed by the first of three goals on the night by Rhett Kingston at 3:19. Kale Bennett pushed the score to 3-1 before Dawson DiPietro made the lead 4-1. Kingston netted his second of the period at 13:05, with Courtnall netting his second of the night at 14:42. Kingston finished off the hat trick at 14:42 in the third period on a power play goal. 

OMAHA MAVERICKS | 5-2-1, 0-0-0-0
• THE SERIES: Omaha holds a 26-19-6 lead on the all-time series and the Broncos are 11-12-0 under head coach Andy Murray against the Mavs. WMU is 12-11-4 at Lawson Ice Arena against UNO and 8-5-0 under Murray. 

Senior captain Hugh McGing leads the team in scoring with 11 points in 13 games on three goals and eight assists. Fellow senior forward Wade Allison has seven points in 10 games on three goals and four assists, while Dawson DiPietro has the same numbers in eight games. Junior forward Austin Rueschhoff leads all Broncos in goals against the Mavs with four goals to go with one assist in eight career games. Senior goalie Ben Blacker has a 5-3-0 record, a 2.88 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in nine career games against Omaha. 

• SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Omaha enters its first NCHC series of the season with a 5-2-0 record, with three of the five wins coming on the road. The Mavericks moved up one spot in the US College Hockey Online poll this week to No. 19 after splitting a pair of 5-2 decisions with Wisconsin last weekend.

UNO boasts the 11th-best offense in the nation at 3.62 goals per game so far this season. Omaha has done its scoring by committee so far with 11 players scoring at least two goals but no more than four through the firs eight games. Senior forward Zach Jordan and freshman forward Joey Abate are tied for the team lead with four goals each. Senior forward Tristan Keck, junior forward Kevin Conley and freshman defenseman Brandon Scanlin are each tied for the team lead in points with seven on two goals and five assists apiece. Freshman forward Ryan Brushett is the top assist man on the team so far this season with six. 

Freshman goalie Isaiah Saville has helped the team to a 17th-best defense this season, allowing just 2.25 goals per game. Saville has started in seven of the team's eight games, posting a 4-2-1 record, a .914 save percentage and a 2.27 goals against average. Classmate and backup Austin Roden has started in one game, an 18-save shutout win over Alabama Huntsville. 

Omaha's 11 power play goals are tied for fifth-most in the and its percentage of 26.2 (11-for-42) is tied for ninth. Scanlin leads the team with two power play goals, with nine other Mavericks scoring one. UNO's penalty kill has given up eight goals on the season at 78.9 percent (30-for-38) and ranks tied for 41st. 

DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN?
Western Michigan had a season-high eight goals in Saturday's win at Ferris State. Sophomore forward Rhett Kingston led all scorers with his first collegiate hat trick, while senior forward Lawton Courtnall scored twice and Austin Rueschhoff, Kale Bennett and Dawson DiPietro also netted goals. 

Saturday's win was the fourth time under head coach Andy Murray that the Broncos have reached eight goals in a game. The last time came on March 3, 2018 at Colorado College. That game was also the last time WMU scored six goals in a period. 

INSIDE THE STREAK
Western Michigan is in the midst of a five-game unbeaten streak, going 4-0-1 in the run. WMU's offense has exploded during the period, averaging 5.2 goals per game. Junior forward Paul Washe has had a point in each of the games, racking up 10 of his 12 on the season during the streak with five goals and five assists.  Sophomore forward Drew Worrad also has a point in each of the games, with four goals and three assists for seven points. 

WMU's power play has clicked, tallying at least one power play goal in four of the five games. Western Michigan is 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) with the man advantage during the streak. 

Defensively the Broncos have held opponents to just 2.4 goals per game, with freshman netminder Brandon Bussi making all five starts. 

SEASON NOTES
• LEAGUE LEADERS
Western Michigan returns the most goals and total points in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The Broncos return 112 goals, 22 more than Minnesota-Duluth's 90. Combined, WMU also returns 271 total points, once again just head of the Bulldogs, who return 265. 

Western Michigan did lose its leading point scorer in Colt Conrad, who wrapped up his career with a 38 points season on 11 goals and 27 assists. From there, WMU returns its next six top scorers, including senior captain Hugh McGing and junior forward Josh Passolt, who tied for the team lead with 16 goals each. The Broncos also return double-digit goal scorers in junior forward Austin Rueschhoff (13) and junior forward Ethen Frank (15). Senior defenseman Cam Lee is the top returning assist man after dishing out a career-high 19 last season. 

• SUPER SENIORS
WMU has nine seniors this season, the most ever by an Andy Murray coached team and the most in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The class is tied for fifth nationally with Michigan, Michigan State, Dartmouth and Yale. Boston College leads the nation with 11 seniors, followed by Penn State, American International and Alaska Fairbanks each with 10. 

• 47 & 46
Western Michigan begins its 47th season of college hockey, with senior forward Hugh McGing being named the 46th captain in program history. McGing will be assisted by senior defenseman Luke Bafia, senior forward Wade Allison, junior forward Josh Passolt and sophomore defenseman Mattias Samuelsson.