KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The 19th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team scored three goals in the span of 1:49 in the third period to upend No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth on Friday night, beating the Bulldogs 5-3 at Lawson Ice Arena on Friday night.
WMU picked up goals from Dawson DiPietro, Ethen Frank, Austin Rueschhoff, Hugh McGing and Jason Polin in the victory. Freshman goalie Brandon Bussi made a game-high 37 saves to picked up his 16th win on the season. Western Michigan finished 1-for-3 on the power playm but were outshot 40-32 on the night.
The Broncos trailed 3-2 in the third period when Rueschhoff fired a rocket past UMD goalie Hunter Shepard to tie it up at 3-3. Mattias Samuelsson played the puck up to McGing in the WMU zone. The senior captain left the puck for Rueschhoff, who skated in and blasted it into the top-right corner of the net to tie the game at 7:22.
McGing scored the game-winner just 29 seconds later from the right circle to push the Broncos ahead 4-3. Cam Lee got the puck from Cole Gallant at the top of the left circle and faked a shot. The Bulldog defenseman down low bit on the fake and left McGing all alone for Lee to find for the goal. McGing tallied his eighth of the season, with Lee picking up his second assist of the night and 12th of the season. Gallant tallied his career-best 15th assist.
Polin sealed win at 9:11 in the third period, tipping a pass from DiPietro past Shepard to push the lead to 5-3. Rueschhoff found DiPietro at the top of the right circle and the senior forward skated through the slot before throwing a pass to Polin. The freshman reached out his stick and picked up his fifth goal of the season. DiPietro tallied his 13th assist of the season, while Rueschhoff picked up his 13th and second of the night.
The Bulldogs took the initial lead at 7:27 in the first period. Nick Swaney found Scott Perunovich streaking through the slot and he tipped it past Bussi for his fifth goal of the season.
Western Michigan answered at 18:10 with a power play goal from DiPietro. Rueschhoff won a faceoff back to Lee in the deep slot and the senior defenseman found DiPietro open in the left circle. Rueschhoff went to the net to set a screen and DiPietro ripped the puck into the bottom-right corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season. Rueschhoff's assist on the goal pushed his career-high point and assist streaks to seven games.
The Broncos took their first lead of the game just 2:52 into the second period. Frank scored from the slot to push ahead 2-1 with his eighth goal of the season. Drew Worrad had the puck behind the UMD net and got it to Michael Joyaux near the right point. Joyaux skated into the right circle and found Frank open in front of the net. Worrad picked up his 11th assist of the season and Joyaux his 15th.
UMD took the lead on two straight power play goals. The first by Cole Koepke from the right circle at 8:28 in the second period. The Bulldogs pushed ahead 3-2 at 11:05 with the man advantage after Justin Richards finished off an odd-man rush in transition.
The two teams battle it out for the final time during the regular season on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Standing room only tickets are still available by visiting www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.
