CANTON, N.Y. -- The seventh-ranked Western Michigan hockey team won its third straight game after downing St. Lawrence, 8-2, on the road at Appleton Arena on Friday night.
Senior forward Drew Worrad led the way with four points on a goal and three assists. Junior defenseman Ronnie Attard had three assists, while Jason Polin had a three-point night after a goal and two assists. Cole Gallant and Paul Washe each had two goals on the night, while WMU (9-4-0) also picked up tallies from Ethen Frank and Cam Knuble.
Brandon Bussi made 21 saves to pick up his third straight win and ninth of the season. The Broncos outshot the Saints 34-23 and finished the night 3-for-5 on the power play. Western Michigan held St. Lawrence's power play at bay with just one goal on seven chances.
The Broncos took an early 1-0 lead on Washe's first of the night at 2:56 in the first period. Attard played the puck into the SLU zone and Chad Hillebrand got it behind the Saints' net. His centering pass was slightly deflected but still found Washe in the slot and the fifth-year senior buried it into the top-right corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season. Hillebrand extended his assist streak to three games, while Attard picked up his first assist of the night.
St. Lawrence tied it up at 1-1 during a stint of 4-on-4 action at 6:07 in the first. Philippe Chapleau got behind the Bronco defense and fired one past Bussi for his second of the season.
Just 58 seconds later during a WMU power play Frank scored from the left circle for his NCAA-leading 13th goal on the season. Michael Joyaux tallied an assist on the goal, while Worrad picked up his first of the night.
Gallant scored just 1:35 into the second period to push the lead to 3-1. His first of the night came on the power play off a pass from Ty Glover from the slot and into the left side of the net. Gallant's goal was his third of the season, with Glover picking up his fourth assists and Worrad tallying his second of the night.
Washe opened the game up even more with his second of the night at 5:17. The power play goal came off a rebound on a shot by Attard for his sixth of the season and third in the past two games. Attard tallied his 10th assist of the season on the goal, while Polin also picked up his first of two assists on the night.
Just 2:15 later Polin played the puck to Worrad after a bad change by SLU and Worrad was in all alone for his fifth goal of the season.
Kaden Pickering added a power play goal at 14:48 in the second period to cut into WMU's lead, 5-2, on his fifth goal of the season.
Western Michigan went into the third period with the three-goal lead and extended it to four at 7:28 on Gallant's second of the night. Worrad won a draw in the St. Lawrence zone back to Aidan Fulp. The sophomore defenseman fired a shot on net and Gallant punched in the rebound with a back-hander. Worrad tallied his NCAA-leading 18th assist on the goal, Gallant's fourth of the season.
Polin added his goal at 14:13 in the third, redirecting a shot by Attard into the net for his fifth goal of the season. Attard picked up his 11th assist of the season on the goal and Josh Passolt tallied his sixth helper of the season.
Just over a minute later Knuble netted his first collegiate goal, banging in a pass from Luke Grainger at 15:40.
The two teams go at it again on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
