THIS WEEK
Western Michigan wraps up the 2020-21 regular season with a home-and-home series against rival Miami on Friday and Sunday. Friday night's game at Lawson Ice Arena is set for 6:05 p.m. and can be watched live on NCHC.tv. The Broncos then travel down to Oxford, Ohio, to take on the RedHawks on Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunday's game can be seen live on CBS Sports Network, with both can be heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos were off last weekend after sweeping then No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth on Feb. 12-13 at Lawson Ice Arena.
 
The Broncos opened the weekend with a 4-0 win over the Bulldogs. Freshman goalie Alex Aslanidis made 24 saves to record his first collegiate shutout. Senior forward Josh Passolt finished the night with three points, scoring two goals and adding an assist and finishing +2. WMU also picked up goals from Cole Gallant and Ethen Frank.
 
After a scoreless first period Passolt and Gallant both scored to give WMU a 2-0 lead. Passolt added his second of the night at 6:39 into the third period before Frank cemented the win with an empty-net goal with 1:35 left to play.
 
On Saturday Aslanidis made 22 saves and the Broncos went 3-for-3 on the power play to complete the sweep. Sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard had two goals and an assist, Ty Glover and Gallant also tallied goals. Drew Worrad, Jason Polin and Paul Washe each finished with two assists.
 
Again after a scoreless first period the Broncos jumped on UMD in the second. Attard scored back-to-back power play goals within 60 seconds of each other to push ahead 2-0. Glover scored at 11:50 to make it 3-0, while Gallant tallied on the power play at 5:28 in the third period. The Bulldogs broke the shutout on a goal by Cole Koepke with 2:00 left to play.
 
THE SENIORS
Friday's game will be the final one for Western Michigan's senior class of Kale Bennett, Austin Cain, Ethen Frank, Josh Passolt, Lukas Samuelsson, Brett Van Os and Paul Washe at Lawson Ice Arena.
 
The group has played in a combined 585 games, score 116 goals and tally 128 assist for 244 points. Cain has appeared in 1,265 career minutes in net. The class has totaled 62 wins so far in four years, with teams twice finishing in the top four in the NCHC standings.
 
The seven have also combined for 17 Academic All-NCHC selections with more to come.
 
THE LAST 10
After a dismal start to the season the Broncos are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games heading into this weekend.
 
WMU has received consistent goaltending from freshman Alex Aslanidis, was recently named NCHC Goalie of the Week after his performance in a sweep of No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth. Aslanidis, who has started all 10 games, has posted a 2.61 goals against average and a .898 save percentage to post a 5-3-1 record. WMU as a whole has allowed just 2.58 goals per game.
 
Offensively WMU has kicked up its scoring, netting 32 goals and averaging 3.2 per game. Sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard and freshman forward Ty Glover have each scored five goals to lead the team. Drew Worrad has seven assists to lead the team, with Cole Gallant, Paul Washe and Michael Joyaux with six each right behind him. Attard also has five assists for 10 points, a team best during the stretch.
 
Western Michigan's special teams have also been lights out. The power play has scored at a 39.3 percent clip (11-for-28), with Glover netting four of his five goals with the man advantage. WMU's penalty kill has allowed just six goals at 82.8 percent (29-for-35).
 
A LOOK AT MIAMI
- THE SERIES: The Broncos are 1-2-1 against Miami this season, going 1-0-1 in the last meeting in Oxford. The Broncos lead the all-time season narrowly at 71-70-13.
 
- SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS: Miami is coming off a split at home with St. Cloud State, defeating the Huskies on Friday before falling on Saturday. Friday's win snapped an eight-game winless streak that saw MU go 0-7-1.
 
Junior forward Matt Barry leads the team with 16 points thanks to a team-high 14 assists and two goals. Freshman forward Matthew Barbolini leads the team with five goals, while junior defenseman Derek Daschke has four goals and 12 points from the blue line. Freshman Ludvig Persson has started in 15 games in goal this season with a 5-8-2 record, a 2.24 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.
 
Miami's power play has scored at 15.6 percent rate (12-for-77). Barbolini, Daschke, Casey Gilling and Joe Cassetti each have two power play goals on the season. MU's penalty kill sits at 78.9 percent (56-for-71).
 
UP NEXT
WMU is off next weekend with some NCHC action still to be played. The Broncos must wait to find out where they will be seeded for the NCHC Tournament, taking place from March 12-16 in Grand Forks, N.D. The tournament will be a single-elimination format.