THIS WEEK
Western Michigan is back on the road, this time heading to No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth for a pair of games on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. ET and Sunday at 5:07 p.m.
LAST WEEK
WMU stayed hot, extending its unbeaten streak to four games after a sweep of No. 4/5 St. Cloud State at Lawson Ice Arena.
The Broncos opened the series with a 6-2 win over the Huskies on Friday. Ronnie Attard gave WMU an early lead with a goal at 6:26 in the first period set up by Paul Washe. SCSU tied it up at 6:48 in the second period on a goal by Sam Hentges. Western Michigan responded with two straight goals to wrap up the second period, with Tim Washe scoring his first collegiate goal at 13:37 to retake the lead at 2-1. Scooter Brickey scored his second goal of the season with 1:31 left in the second to send WMU to the third period with a 3-1 lead. Kevin Fitzgerald brought St. Cloud State within one with a goal at 4:18 but the Broncos rattled off three unanswered goals to finish off the game. Josh Passolt scored on a delayed penalty to push the lead to 4-2. Ethen Frank scored his eighth goal of the season on the ensuing power play to make it 5-2 before Paul Washe finished off the night with a goal at 11:08. Freshman goalie Alex Aslanidis made 21 saves to pick up his second win of the season.
Saturday's game was a much tighter affair with Western Michigan winning 3-1. Cole Gallant scored just 1:26 into the first period to take a very early lead. WMU carried its lead into the second period and Frank extended it with his ninth goal of the season, coming at 5:20. Nolan Walker cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:14. The Broncos withstood a barrage by the Huskies during the third period and sealed the game with an empty-net goal by Frank at 19:50. Aslanidis was once again stellar in net, making a career-high 28 saves.
INSIDE THE STREAK
Western Michigan is unbeaten in its last four games, going 3-0-1 against Miami and St. Cloud State. The Broncos earned 11 of 12 possible points during the stretch, with the lone tie and shootout win coming over the RedHawks
During the stretch the Broncos have averaged 4.0 goals per game. Sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard has led the team in scoring with five points on three goals and two assists. Ethen Frank is one of five different Broncos with four points and has scored three of his NCHC-leading 10 goals in the last four games. WMU has outshot opponents on average 29-24.2 during the four games
A big reason for the success has been WMU's defense. The Broncos are allowing just 1.8 goals per game. Freshman goalie Alex Aslanidis has started all four games, posting a 1.71 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. He recently posted a career-high 28 saves in the 3-1 win over SCSU. Western Michigan's penalty kill has also been stellar, going 7-for-8 (93.2 percent). WMU's 4-1 win over Miami and 3-1 win over St. Cloud State tied a season low for goals allowed in a game.
The stretch has also pulled the Broncos out of the bottom of the NCHC standings and fifth place, with a chance to move up to as high as third this weekend against Minnesota-Duluth.
MORE ACCOLADES
With team success comes individual accolades. The Broncos picked up two more NCHC Player of the Week awards after their sweep of St. Cloud State. Freshman Alex Aslanidis was named NCHC Goalie of the Week and Ethen Frank was named Co-NCHC Forward of the Week. It was the third week the Broncos have earned honors. Frank already earned the honors back on Dec. 14 for the second week of the NCHC Pod. Last week Ty Glover was named NCHC Rookie of the Week and Ronnie Attard was named NCHC Defenseman of the Week for their performance in WMU's series at Miami.
MINNESOTA-DULUTH BULLDOGS | 6-5-2, 6-5-2-1-1-1 NCHC
- THE SERIES: UMD holds the all-time series lead at 20-10-3. Last season the Bulldogs went 2-1-1 against the Broncos, with WMU's lone win coming at home. This is the first the two teams will meet this season, with Minnesota-Duluth returning to Lawson Ice Arena on Feb. 12-13.
- SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: UMD started off the season and the NCHC Pod going 5-0-1. Since then the Bulldogs have posted a record of 1-5-1. Minnesota-Duluth was supposed to travel to Miami last weekend but COVID-19 issues within the team postponed the series.
Senior forward Nick Swaney leads the team in scoring with 15 points on five goals and a team-best 10 assists. Junior forward Noah Cates is the only other player with double-digit points at 10 on four goals and six assists. Senior forward Kobe Roth leads the team with six goals and also has two assists on the season. Freshman Wyatt Kaiser leads all defenseman with six points, all assists. Junior Hunter Lellig is the lone defenseman to light the lamp for the Bulldogs this season. UMD ranks 41st in the nation on scoring offense at 2.62 goals per game.
Defensively, Minnesota-Duluth ranks 15th the nation in scoring defense, allowing 2.38 goals per game. Sophomore Ryan Fanti has started in 11 of the team's 13 games this season. Fanti has a 5-4-2 record, a 2.51 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. Freshman Zach Stejskal has started in two games with a 1-1-0 record, a .935 save percentage and a 1.45 goals against average.
UMD's power play ranks 25th in the nation at 20 percent (10-for-50). Jackson Cates leads the team with all four of his goals coming on the man advantage. Roth and Noah Cates each have two, while Swaney has one and Cole Koepke has one. The Bulldog penalty kill ranks 32nd in the nation at 78 percent (39-for-50).
ON THE HORIZON
The Broncos are off next weekend before heading back to the state of Minnesota, taking on St. Cloud State on Feb. 5-6. Friday's game is scheduled for 8:37 p.m. and Saturday's for 7:07 p.m. Both can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
