THIS WEEK
Western Michigan heads up to Grand Forks, N.D., for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Tournament, hosted by North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The sixth-seeded Broncos will take on third-seeded Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday at 8:37 p.m.
 
COVERAGE
Friday and Saturday's first round games will be available on NCHC.tv. Monday and Tuesday's semifinals and finals will be live on CBS Sports Network. The Bronco Radio Network will have the call for all of WMU's action.
 
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the format of the NCHC Playoffs has changed. The current format will be single elimination only and the tournament field will be reseeded prior to the start of the semifinals on Monday.
 
THE MATCH UP
• HOW THEY GOT HERE: Minnesota-Duluth wrapped up the regular season with an overtime loss to St. Cloud State. A win would have jumped the Huskies in the leagues standings and let the Bulldogs finish in second place.
 
• HOW WE GOT HERE: Western Michigan won its final five games during the regular season and finished in sixth in the NCHC standings.
 
• THE SERIES: During the regular season, each team earned a split during its home series. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series at 22-12-3. The two teams have met three times in the NCHC Playoffs and twice in the quarterfinals. WMU swept UMD on the road back in 2014 and was swept by the Bulldogs in 2018. The other meeting was in the 2017 NCHC Semifinals, with Minnesota-Duluth winning 5-2.
 
Senior forward Josh Passolt leads all Broncos with seven career points on four goals and three assists against UMD. Junior defenseman Michael Joyaux has six points, all assists. Sophomore goalie Brandon Bussi has a 1-2-0 record with a 3.63 goals against average against UMD.
 
• SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota-Duluth enters the NCHC Playoffs with just one win in its last five games. UMD had won six straight games before getting swept by the Broncos at Lawson Ice Arena back on Feb. 12-13.
 
UMD is averaging 3.00 goals per game this season, tied for 22nd in the nation. Senior forward Nick Swaney leads the team in all three scoring categories with 27 points on 13 goals and 14 assists. Junior Jackson Cates has 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists, while Cole Koepke has 19 points on 12 goals and seven assists. Freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser leads all UMD blue-liners with nine points, all assists.
 
Minnesota-Duluth is allowing just 2.25 goals per game this season, ranking 13th in the nation. Sophomore Ryan Fanti has started in 17 of the 24 games this season, posting a 9-6-2 record with a 2.28 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. Freshman Ryan Fanti has made seven starts on the year, with a 4-3-0 record, a 1.98 save percentage and a 9.23 goals against average.
 
UMD's power play sits at 27th in the nation at 18.4 percent (16-for-87). Cates leads all Bulldogs with five tallies on the power play, while Swaney, Koepke and Noah Cates each have three. The penalty kill ranks 44th in the nation at 75.3 percent (67-for-89).
 
INSIDE THE STREAK
The Broncos wrapped up the regular season winning five straight games, including three over Top 5 teams St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth.
 
The Broncos have averaged 4.40 goals per game during their winning streak. Ronnie Attard led WMU in all three scoring categories with 10 points on four goals and six assists. Junior defenseman Michael Joyaux, junior forward Cole Gallant and senior forward Paul Washe each had six points. A big reason for the goal production has been Western Michigan's power play, which is 9-for-18 over the past five games. The Bronco power play now ranks second in the nation at 29.7 percent (22-for-74).
 
WMU has allowed just 1.8 goals per game during the stretch. Sophomore goalie Brandon Bussi made his return from injury for the final two games of the regular season, posting a 2.03 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. The penalty kill is 14-for-16 for 87.5 percent, well above its season average of 77.1. 
 
RONNIE'S ON A ROLL
A big reason for WMU's recent success has been the play of sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard. Attard, who was recently name First Team All-NCHC and the NCHC's Offensive Defenseman of the Year, has 10 points in his last five games, including seven in his last three. 
 
The Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick got off to a slow start with just four points five points, one goal and four assists, in the first 10 games of the season in the NCHC Pod at Omaha. Since the league returned to its travel schedule he has posted 16 points in 14 games, with seven goals and nine assists. The Broncos are 5-0-2 this season when Attard scores.
 
Attard finished the regular season with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists, leading all NCHC defensemen. He also was tied for the second-most points among defensemen in the nation. 
 
BUSSI's BACK
In the final series of the regular season sophomore goalie Brandon Bussi returned to action, starting both games. Bussi suffered a lower body injury in the second period of the first game of the season against St. Cloud State.  In the opening game of the series against the RedHawks he made 20 saves, playing in 58 minutes before senior Austin Cain was subbed in for the final two minutes of "Senior Night." Bussi went the full 60 minutes in the season finale, making the 19 saves. He has a 2.05 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in 146 minutes of action this season.
 
EN FUEGO 
Western Michigan's power play has tallied a goal in each of the last seven games, going 11-for-24 (45.8 percent) during the run. Overall on the season the power play has scored in 16 of the team's 24 games. Thanks to WMU's consistency and hot streak in recent weeks the power play has risen to second in the nation. The 29.7 percent success rate is the highest of any team in head coach Andy Murray's 10 years at the helm, with the second-highest now at 20.8 percent from 2017-18.
 
Junior forward Drew Worrad has 10 points on the man advantage this season with one goal and nine assists to lead the team. Sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard has nine points on three goals and six assists, while senior forward Ethen Frank leads the team with five power play goals.