OMAHA, Neb. – The 14th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team fell in a 13-goal thriller, 7-6, at Omaha on Friday night.
Freshman forward Ryan McAllister had two goals and an assist for the Broncos (10-7-0, 4-3-0), while Zak Galambos, Jamie Rome, Jack Perbix and Dylan Wendt also all tallied goals.
WMU jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to an early power play goal by Rome from the right circle, with Carter Berger and McAllister talling the assists. The Broncos then scored two goals in under two minutes. The first came at 11:04 with Jason Polin creating a turnover near the UNO net and finding McAllister in the right circle for the one-timer. Western Michigan took a 3-0 lead on a goal by Perbix at 12:50. Cedric Fiedler fired a shot that went wide but the rebound kicked out to Perbix and he back-handed it into the top-left corner of the net for his second goal of the season.
Omaha responded with seven straight goals. The first two came at 13:25 and 14:57 in the first period by Tyler Weiss and Nolan Krenzen. The Mavericks then scored five in the second period, including three power play goals. Jacob Guevin scored on the power play at 4:43 to tie the game up at 3-3. Minutes later Cameron Berg tallied at 7:55 to give UNO the lead. Ray Fust pushed the lead to 5-3 at 9:37 before Jonny Tychonick and and Ty Mueller scored on the power play to put the Broncos down 7-3 heading into the third period.
Wendt scored just 1:43 into the third period to cut the lead to 7-4. Jacob Bauer fired a shot from the center point and Wendt redirected it into the net for his fourth goal of the season. Galambos then scored on a blast on the power play to cut the lead to 7-5 at 7:03. The goal was his ninth of the season, the most by a defenseman in the nation. McAllister cut the lead to 7-6 at 12:52 with Max Sasson dishing him the puck for his 32nd point of the season.
WMU pulled backup goalie Kirk Laursen with over three minutes remaining but were unable to complete the comeback.
Western Michigan and Omaha go at it again on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.
