THIS WEEK
The ninth-ranked Western Michigan hockey team heads on the road for the first time in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play to take on No. 14 Denver on Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m. Both games can be seen live on NCHC.tv and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network. Friday's game will be on WKZO 590 AM/106.9 FM due to coverage of WMU men's basketball.
 
LAST WEEK
The Broncos split with No. 4/3 Minnesota-Duluth in Kalamazoo last weekend. The Broncos took the series opener 4-3 before getting shutout on Saturday, 3-0.
 
In Friday's victory the Broncos got a pair of goals from Michael Joyaux early in the first period and Josh Passolt early in the second to build a 2-0 lead. UMD erased the lead with two goals in the final six minutes of the period, coming at 14:18 and 17:29. Ethen Frank gave WMU the lead back with a short-handed goal just 38 seconds into the third period, but Tanner Laderoute tallied with his second goal of the night to tie it up at 3-3 with 14:15 to play. Frank netted the game-winner on a breakaway with just 1:26 left to play to complete his three-point night. Senior forward Drew Worrad had three assists in the victory.
 
On Saturday the Broncos couldn't solve Bulldog goalkeeper Ryan Fanti, who made 35 saves to earn his first career shutout. Junior netminder Brandon Bussi made a career-high 40 saves. Ben Almquist opened the scoring at 9:28 in the first period, with Laderoute adding goals at 5:40 in the second period and 12:10 in the third period.
 
ALL GOOD THINGS…
With Saturday's shutout of the Broncos, fifth-year senior Ethen Frank saw his career-long seven game point streak came to an end. The Papillion, Neb., native has produced 12 points on eight goals and four assists in the first seven games before being held pointless on Saturday. The streak included five goals in the first four games and he has scored three of WMU's six game-winning goals this season.
 
Also snapped was Western Michigan's Bauer NCHC Player of the Week streak. WMU had won one of the NCHC weekly awards in each of the three weeks it played prior to the UMD series. The Bulldogs also became the first team to outshoot the Broncos this season, outshooting them in both Friday and Saturday's games.
 
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
Two weeks ago the Bronco penalty kill had its worst game of the early season, going 3-for-6 against Colgate in an eventual 6-5 comeback win for WMU. Since then Western Michigan is 12-for-12 when down a man. WMU was 4-for-4 in the series finale against the Raiders, 4-for-4 in the first night against UMD, including a five-minute major, and then 4-for-4 in Saturday's loss.
 
MOVIN' ON UP
Western Michigan enters the weekend series with Denver ranked No. 9 in the USCHO.com poll. It's the highest the Broncos have been ranked since they were eighth in the USCHO.com poll back on Feb. 18. 2019. It was part of a five-week streak of the Broncos being voted in the top 10. WMU has been in the top 10 in the USCHO.com poll for the past two weeks and entered the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll top 10 this week.
 
No. 14 DENVER PIONEERS
- THE SERIES: Denver leads the all-time series at 19-10-2, with a 17-8-2 record since the founding of the NCHC. WMU has struggled in Magness Arena, with a 2-9-1 record. Western Michigan's last trip to Denver was back on Nov. 22-23, 2019, with the Broncos earning a split. Last season the two teams met in the NCHC Pod in Omaha.
 
Ethen Frank leads all Broncos in scoring against the Pioneers with nine points on four goals and five assists in nine games. Paul Washe has six points in 10 games and a +5 plus/minus, while junior goalie Brandon Bussi has a 1-1-0 record against Denver.
 
- SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: After opening up the season with four straight wins, Denver returns to Magness Arena on a four-game losing streak. Last week the Pioneers opened NCHC play at North Dakota and were swept by the Fighting Hawks 3-1 and 4-1.
 
The Pioneers rank 5th in the nation in scoring at 4.0 goals per game. The team is led by sophomore forward Carter Savoie, who has 12 points on six goals and six assists in just eight games this season. Savoie is one of 12 NHL draft picks on DU's roster, a fourth-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers back in 2020. Massimo Rizzo has nine points on five goals and four assists and was named the NCHC Rookie of the Month for October. Sophomore Mike Benning has been the top point threat from the blue line this year with four goals and one assists in eight games.
 
Defensively Denver ranks 36th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 3.12 goals per game. Junior Magnus Chrona has started six of the eight games in net with a 3-3-0 record, a 2.93 goals against average and an .879 save percentage. Freshman Matt Davis has started in two games, including a 25-save shutout of Air Force.
 
DU is 18th in the nation on the power play at 23.5 percent (8-for-35). Savoie has half of the team's power play goals with four, with four other Pioneers also tallying on the man advantage. Denver's penalty kill has struggled at just 78.8 percent, ranking 57th in the nation. DU also ranks ninth in penalty minutes per game at 14.7.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan returns to Lawson Ice Arena next weekend to host No. 1 St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX and online at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.