AND HERE WE GO…
The 17th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team returns to action on Tuesday, opening the season in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference "Pod" against St. Cloud State at 8:35 p.m. The action continues for week one of the pod on Thursday against hosts Omaha at 8:35 p.m. WMU is the designated home team for both games. All games in the pod can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
MORE ON THE POD
The #NCHCPod will take place from Dec. 1-21 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha's Baxter Arena, featuring 38 games played between the conference's eight teams. Regular COVID-19 testing is provided by the University of Nebraska Medical Center based out of Omaha. In order for a team to be allowed to compete in a game, a team must have 15 healthy skaters, plus two goaltenders, two coaches and one medical professional (athletic trainer or doctor). If a game is unable to be played on its scheduled date it will be attempted to be rescheduled by the NCHC, however, if it is not made up it would be considered a no contest.
THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE
The 2020-21 Bronco hockey team has some work to be done on the scoring front. WMU returns just one of its top six scorers from last season in senior forward Paul Washe. Washe finished fifth on the team with a career-high 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists.
How much scoring is missing? Hugh McGing, Dawson DiPietro, Austin Rueschhoff, Wade Allison and Cam Lee combined to score 50 goals and tally 84 assists for 134 points. The 50 goals counted for 40 percent of the team's goal scoring. The group of five also combined for 38 percent of the team's assists and total points. With all graduating seniors and early departures, WMU loses a total of 161 points on 58 goals and 107 assists.
UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
Senior forward Paul Washe has been called upon to be the 47th Bronco to don the "C" in the 49th varsity season of Western Michigan hockey. Joining Washe is assistant captains senior defenseman Kale Bennett, senior forward Ethen Frank and senior forward Josh Passolt. This is the first time that Washe has been a captain at any level of hockey.
NEW FACES
Western Michigan's 11 freshman on the 2020-21 roster is tied for the fifth-most in the nation with Boston College. Upstart program Long Island University leads the nation with 14, followed by Alabama Huntsville with 13 and American International and Colorado College each with 12. The 11 freshmen are also the most in head coach Andy Murray's 10 seasons with the Broncos.
JUST TWO MORE
WMU head coach Andy Murray needs just two more victories to move into second place all-time on the program's wins list. Murray currently sits in third place with 157 victories, one behind Jim Culhane at 158. Murray has quite a way to go to catch up to all-time leader Bill Wilkinson at 317.
UP FIRST | ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES
- THE SERIES: St. Cloud State holds the all-time series lead t 16-6-4, but the Broncos swept the Huskies last season in Kalamazoo. WMU and SCSU were destined to meet in the NCHC Quarterfinals before the season was canceled due to COVID. Senior captain Paul Washe leads all Broncos with five career points on two goals and three assists in nine games against SCSU. Assistant captain Josh Passolt has two goals and two assists for four points in six career games. On the blue line, junior defenseman Michael Joyaux has four points in four career games against the Huskies with two goals and two assists, while sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard has two goals and an assist in two games. Sophomore goalie Brandon Bussi was in net for both wins last season, posting a 2.00 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
- SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: SCSU returns three of its top six scorers from a team that went 13-15-6 last season, including top point man Eason Brodzinski. The senior forward returns after posting 27 points on 12 goals and 15 assists. Brodzinski has 80 points in his career heading into this final season. Also returning is junior forward Sam Hentges. The Minnesota Wild draft pick had 24 points on seven goals and 17 assists last year, despite missing six games due to injury. Juinor Forward Micah Miller also returns after posting 18 points last season. Junior defenseman Nick Perbix is the top returning scorer from the blue line. Last season the Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick had 15 points on four goals and 11 assists.
Senior goalie Dávid Hrenák returns and has a career record of 49-23-10, a 2.37 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Hrenák is backed up by sophomores Jaxon Castor and Joey Lamoreaux.
- ON THE OTHER SIDE NOW: Standing behind the St. Cloud State bench will be a familiar face to Bronco hockey fans. Dave Shyiak coached at WMU for six seasons before joining the Huskies this offseason.
UP SECOND | OMAHA MAVERICKS
- THE SERIES: Omaha leads the all-time series at 28-21-6 after the teams went 2-2 against each other last season. Under head coach Andy Murray the Broncos are 13-14-0 against the Mavericks. Senior forward and Nebraska native Ethen Frank has averaged a point per game against UNO in his career. Frank, who grew up in Papillion right outside of Omaha, has five goals and two assists for seven points in seven games. Washe has five points in 10 games on three goals and five assists, while Cole Gallant has four points in eight games on three goals and an assist. Bussi started all four games last season, going 2-2-0 with a 3.06 goals against average and a .888 save percentage.
- SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Omaha returns all five of its top scorers from last season with forwards Taylor Ward, Kevin Conley, Tyler Weiss, Chayse Primeau and Joey Abate combined for 49 goals and 65 assists for 114 points. Ward and Conley tied for the team lead in points last season with 27, while Ward was the top goal-scorer with 16. Weiss led the team with 18 assists. Sophomore defenseman Brandon Scanlin was the top point producer from the blue line with 14 points on three goals and 11 assists last season.
Also returning is sophomore goalie Isaiah Saville. Saville started in 28 games last season, posting a 10-11-4 record with a .907 save percentage and a 2.85 goals against average.
COMING SOON | THE POD WEEK TWO
WMU has four games during week two of the #NCHCPod. The Broncos play North Dakota on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., Colorado College at 12:35 p.m. on Tuesday, St. Cloud State on Wednesday at 4:35 p.m. and then the Tigers again on Friday at 8:35 p.m.
