Men's Ice Hockey | February 28, 2019
THIS WEEK
Western Michigan hosts No. 1 St. Cloud State for its final home series of the 2018-19 regular season on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
LAST WEEK
The Broncos went on the road and split with Colorado College, winning on Friday and falling on Saturday.
WMU opened the weekend netting three-straight goals, including the game-winner just 18 seconds into overtime for the 5-4 win. CC's Chris Wilkie gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead just 9:49 into the first period.
Cam Lee squared it at 1-1 just 1:03 later with his seventh goal of the season. Westin Michaud retook the lead for Colorado College with 1:44 left in the first period. Trey Bradley pushed the lead to 3-1 but
Ethen Frank tallied with 1:15 left in the second period to cut the lead to 3-2. Ben Copeland scored his first of five goals on the weekend at 1:46 in the third period to extend CC's lead to 4-2.
Hugh McGing netted his 14th of the season at 4:24 to bring Western Michigan within one before
Austin Rueschhoff tied it up at 4-4 just minutes later. The teams battled to overtime, when McGing buried a pass by
Lawton Courtnall to give the Broncos all three points.
Penalties put Western Michigan in an early 2-0 hole on Saturday. Rueschhoff nicked a goal off the lead at 15:35 in the first period and McGing tied the game with a power play goal just 4:54 into the second period. Copeland gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead with 5:17 left in the period, starting a run of six unanswered goals. Grant Cruikshank tallied twice to open the third period, followed by two more by Copeland and a goal by Wilkie with 8:45 left in the game to set the final at 8-2.
ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES | 23-4-3, 15-2-3-1
• THE SERIES: After sweeping the Broncos up in St. Cloud back in January, the Huskies hold a 14-4-4 lead in the all-time series and are 4-0-3 in Kalamazoo.
• LAST TIME VS SCSU: Western Michigan traveled up to St. Cloud on Jan. 18-19, falling to SCSU 3-0 and 5-3. After getting shutout in series opener, the Broncos responded by taking an early 1-0 lead on a goal by
Dawson DiPietro at 8:55 in the first period. St. Cloud State scored the next four goals before
Jade McMullen cut the lead to 4-2 with 7:58 remaining in the game. The Broncos pulled the goalie to get an extra attacker but SCSU added an empty-net goal at 17:54.
Lawton Courtnall scored with 37 seconds left to make a last-ditch comeback effort that fell short.
• SCOUTING THE HUSKIES, AGAIN: St. Cloud State clinched the National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season championship last weekend with a sweep at Omaha. SCSU brings a 5-0-1 unbeaten streak to Lawson Ice Arena. The Huskies have only lost four games this season, with all four coming away from home.
SCSU has the second-best offense in the nation, averaging 3.87 goals per game. Five different players have tallied at least 10 goals so far this season, with Patrick Newell's 16 leading the way. Newel also has 19 assists for a team-high 35 points. Robbie Jackson is second on the team with 29 points on 13 goals and 16 assists, while Blake Lizotte has 28 points and 11 goals and 17 assists. Senior Jimmy Schuldt is the team's top scorer from the blue line with 27 points on eight goals 19 assists, while junior defenseman Jack Ahcan has a team-high 20 assists.
St. Cloud State has the seventh-ranked defense in the nation, allowing just 2.03 goals per game. Sophomore Dávid Hrenák has started 24 of the 30 games in net this season with an 18-3-2 record, a 2.06 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Hrenák's save percentage ranks only 46th in the nation due to the Huskies limiting their opponents to so few chances. SCSU has outshot its opponents on average 33.6 to 23.2 per game.
St. Cloud State's power play ranks 12th in the nation at 22.9 percent (27-for-118). Lizotte and Easton Brodzinski are tied for the team lead with five power play goals. Four of Schuldt's eight goals have come on the man advantaged, while Newell and Ryan Poehling each have three. The penalty kill is the fourth-best in the nation at 87.6 percent (85-for-97) and the Huskies are one of the least penalized teams in the nation at just 10.2 minutes per game.
SALUTING THE SENIORS
Prior to the start of Saturday's game the Broncos will take time to recognize its senior class of
Trevor Gorsuch,
Jade McMullen,
Colt Conrad and
Corey Schueneman. The group have combined for 63 wins, including the 22-win 2016-17 season that saw the Broncos earn a NCAA Tournament berth for the sixth time in program history. The four have appeared in 419 total games, scoring 62 goals and adding 143 points for 205 points. Gorsuch has made 36 career starts, winning 22 games. He has also contributed two assists to the class' point total.
Success for the class was not limited to the rink. All four have been named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference team all four seasons. Schueneman is also a four-time NCHC Scholar Athlete. All four are on course to graduate in the spring.
AT THE TOP
Junior forward
Hugh McGing is one of three players tied at the top of the NCHC goal-scoring list. McGing has 11 tallies in conference play, tying him with Denver's Jarid Lukosevicius and Minnesota-Duluth's Nick Swaney. McGing is also one of five players tied for the NCAA lead in short-handed goals with three.
PLAYOFF POSSIBILITIES
Western Michigan currently sits in third place in the NCHC and is in good position to host in the NCHC Quarterfinals with just four regular season games left. The Broncos can finish as high as second place and finish no lower than fifth.
WMU trails second-place Minnesota-Duluth by two points and holds a one-point lead over fourth-place Denver. The Broncos must finish in the top four to host and the only team that could catch them to prevent this is North Dakota. Western Michigan holds a seven-point lead over the Fighting Hawks, as well as the first tie-breaker after taking the season series, 3-1.
ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan closes out the regular season on the road, heading to rival Miami next weekend. Friday's game starts at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday's at 7:05 p.m. Both games are available on NCHC.tv and can be heard live on the Bronco Radio Network. For Saturday's game, fans can join the Bronco Hockey Blue Line Club at Niskers Char-Grill & Slap Shot Hockey Bar for a watch party.
