THIS WEEK
Western Michigan returns to Lawson Ice Arena to take on National Collegiate Hockey Conference leaders St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday night. Friday's puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. and Saturday's is at 7:35 p.m. Friday's game can be seen on NCHC.tv, while Saturday's has been picked up by CBS Sports Network.
LAST WEEK
WMU went on the road for the first time outside of the NCHC pod and took five of six possible points at Miami.
On Friday the Broncos snapped a six-game winless streak with a 4-1 victory over the RedHawks. Miami's Ryan Savage scored just 3:13 into the game on the power play to put MU up 1-0. Ronnie Attard tied the game up with 1.2 seconds left in the first period to get WMU on the board. Ty Glover fired a shot on net and a scramble for the rebound saw the puck kick out into the left circle. Attard skated in and back-handed it past Miami goalie Ludvig Persson. Josh Passolt tallied on the power play at 8:19 in the second period to give Western Michigan a 2-1 lead with Aidan Fulp and Attard picking up assists on the eventual game-winner. Glover put the game out of reach with a power play goal at 13:17 in the third period, scoring his first collegiate goal during a power play. Drew Worrad picked up his team-leading 10th assist of the season on the goal and Ethen Frank tallied his third. Jason Polin added an empty-netter with 1:26 left to play. Freshman goalie Alex Aslanidis made 16 saves to earn his first career win in his first collegiate start.
Aslanidis made a career-high 25 saves in Saturday's 3-3 tie and shootout win. After a scoreless first period Miami took a 1-0 lead at 16:03 on a goal by Monte Graham. The lead was pushed to 2-0 just 37 seconds into the third period on a goal by Ryan Savage. Glover netted his second power play goal of the weekend to cut the lead the 2-1 at 7:59 but the RedHawks responded just 1:49 later to push the lead back to two on a goal by Alec Capstick. Jamie Rome scored 13 seconds later to cut the lead to 3-2. Rome picked up the puck from Brett Van Os and fired a shot from the slot for his first collegiate goal. Just 2:30 later Attard scored from just in front of the blue line, also set up by Van Os, to tie the game up at 3-3. The 3-on-3 overtime produced no results and the Broncos won the ensuing three-round shootout, 2-0, thanks to goals by Ethen Frank and Josh Passolt.
LONG TIME COMING
Junior forward Jamie Rome scored a pivotal goal in WMU's 3-3 tie with Miami last Saturday. MU had just expanded its lead to 3-1 when Rome struck just 13 seconds later, scoring from the slot to bring WMU within one, 3-2. The goal was the first of Cochrane, Alberta native's career in his 41st college hockey game. Rome has played in 13 if the team's 14 games this season and is on pace to surpass his career-high 19 games played he set during his freshman season.
CLIMBING THE RANKINGS
After his three-point weekend, sophomore Ronnie Attard moved up to third in the NCHC in scoring by defenseman. Attard has 10 points on three goals and seven assists through 14 games this season. He trails SCSU's Nick Perbix (13) and North Dakota's Matt Kiersted (12). His three goals are tied for second in the league by blue-liners. The Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick had the game-tying goal in both contests against Miami and added an assist in Friday's win. He was named Bauer NCHC Defenseman of the Week for his performance.
While Attard was individually climbing the rankings, WMU's power play also shot up the rankings over the weekend. Prior to the Miami series the Bronco power play sat at 25th in the nation at 18.9 percent (7-for-37). Western Michigan went 3-for-5 as it took five points from Miami, bumping its percentage up to 23.8 (10-for-42). The Broncos now head into the weekend ranked 17th in the nation.
ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES
- THE SERIES: After splitting games in the NCHC Pod, St. Cloud State leads the all-time series at 17-7-4. SCSU last came to Kalamazoo during the 2019-20 season and the Broncos swept the Huskies with a pair of 6-2 victories.
- SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: SCSU currently sits at the top of the NCHC standings with a one-point lead over North Dakota, with UND having a game in hand on the Huskies. St. Cloud State is coming off our four straight games against rival Minnesota Duluth, going 3-1-0 over the last two weekends. The lone loss came during overtime.
Freshman sensation Veeti Miettinen leads the time in scoring with 14 points on a team-high seven goals and seven assists. Junior defenseman Nick Perbix sits behind him with 13 points on five goals and a team-best eight assists. Senior Easton Brodzinski has five goals on the season, while Jami Krannila, Sam Hentges and Kevin Fitzgerald each have four goals for an offense that averages 308 goals per game.
Senior David Hrenak has started in 10 of the 13 games this season, posting a 7-3-0 record with a 2.39 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. Sophomore Jaxon Castor is 2-0-0 with one start and two appearances. He has a 1.65 save goals against average and a .9191 save percentage. SCSU allows 2.46 goals per game so far this season.
The power play sits at 21.4 percent (9-for-42). Miettinen leads the team with four tallies on the man advantage, while Brodzinski has three. The penalty kill is tied for 10th in the nation at 88. 2 percent (45-for-51).
ON THE HORIZON
The Broncos head back on the road for the next two weeks after hosting the Huskies. WMU is at Minnesota-Duluth on Jan. 22-23 and then at SCSU on Feb. 5-6.
