KALAMAZOO, Mich. – No. 17/15 Western Michigan secured home ice for next weekend's National Collegiate Hockey Conference Quarterfinals after defeating Miami, 5-2, at Lawson Ice Arena on Friday night.
 
The WMU (17-13-5, 11-9-3-2 NCHC) win combined with a loss by St. Cloud State at Minnesota-Duluth guaranteed the Broncos a finish of at least fourth place in the conference standings.   
 
Freshman forward Jason Polin had a career-high two goals, while Hugh McGing, Austin Rueschhoff and Wade Allison also lit the lamp. Dawson DiPietro had two assists, while Rueschhoff also tallied a helper to join Polin and DiPietro with multipoint games. Freshman goalie Brandon Bussi made 28 saves to pick up his 17th win of the season.
 
Polin gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead on his sixth goal of the season at 16:06 in the first period. Lawton Courtnall started a breakout in the WMU zone, dishing the puck off to sophomore defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. Samuelsson skated up the left side of the ice and found Polin on the cross-ice pass for the one-timer into the net. Samuelsson picked up his 12th assist of the season.
 
McGing pushed the lead to 2-0 just 16 seconds later on a wrist shot from the right circle for his 10th goal of the season. Bussi played the puck to Luke Bafia and Bafia found a streaking McGing out of the WMU zone as the senior captain sped up the ice to extend the lead.
 
Miami answered with a power play goal by Gordie Green at 17:18 in the first period. Green punched in a rebound on a shot by Casey Gilling from the left circle for his 13th goal of the season to cut the lead to 2-1.
 
Rueschhoff made it 3-1 with a goal at 9:56 in the second period. Rueschhoff was attempting to center a pass for Allison but the puck deflected off of MU goalie Ryan Larkin and into the net for his 11th goal of the season. Dawson DiPIetro tallied his 15th assist of the season and first on the night, while Jared Kucharek picked up his fourth.
 
Polin netted his second of the night, unassisted, to push the lead to 4-1 at 14:58 in the second period. A RedHawk attempted to clear the zone and Polin picked off the pas before firing the puck through traffic and into the net.
 
Carter Johnson deflected a shot by Jack Clement past Bussi with one second left in the second period to cut the lead to 4-2.
 
Allison scored just two minutes into the third period to push the lead back to three and the Broncos shut down the RedHawks for the rest of the period.
 
WMU closes out the regular season on Saturday night against Miami at 7:05 p.m. Fans are encouraged to come early to help celebrate the team's eight seniors. Tickets for Saturday's game and next weekend's NCHC Quarterfinals are on sale at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.