KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan opens a home series with Omaha on Feb. 9 at Lawson Arena. WMU took four points from the Mavericks in Omaha back in November. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos dominated then No. 5 Denver last Saturday at Magness Arena, grabbing a 7-2 victory. Sam Colangelo netted two goals, while Joe Cassetti, Chad Hillebrand, Alex Bump, Matteo Costantini and Dylan Wendt each added one. Five different players finished with two or more points. 

WENDT'S PURSUIT OF HISTORY
Dylan Wendt has moved into the nation's lead for goals scored this season after lighting the lamp twice this past weekend at Denver. 

Wendt has 21 goals on the season and has found the back of the net in four of his last five games. 

The junior winger is following in the footsteps of some of the best Bronco goal scorers of all-time in Ethen Frank and Jason Polin. Frank led the nation in goals in 2021-22 and Polin followed that up by leading the country in 2022-23. 

Should Wendt finish the season at the top, Western Michigan would become the first program in college hockey to produce three consecutive NCAA goal leaders. 

ROWE'S BID FOR 50
Senior goaltender Cameron Rowe is just one win away from 50 in his career, which puts him in elite company. With a win against Omaha in the series opener on Friday night, Rowe would become just the fourth active goalie in the NCAA to reach 50 career victories. 

He would join Michigan Tech's Blake Pietila, Michigan's Jake Barczewski and Minnesota's Justen Close on the 50-win list. 

He posted 11 wins with Wisconsin between his freshman and sophomore seasons before transferring to WMU prior to last season. With the Broncos, Rowe has produced 38 victories, including five shutouts. 

BUMP'S BRILLIANT ROOKIE SEASON
Alex Bump has been WMU's best freshman this season and was recently announced as a member of the Tim Taylor Award Watch List. The award is given annually to the nation's best first-year player. 

The Philadelphia Flyers draft pick is among 32 players bidding for the award. Just five NCHC players made the list. 

In 26 games so far this season, Bump has produced 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists. He is currently riding a five-game point streak, where he has put up two goals and three assists. 

Over his last 10 games, the Burnsville, Minn. native has totaled nine points on four goals and five assists.

WASHE DOMINATES THE DOT
Senior center Tim Washe has become the go-to option for the Broncos in the faceoff dot, as he's won draws at an impressive 65.2 percent this season. 

That mark is good for first in the NCHC by nearly five percent, and only two players in the league are over 60 percent this season. Additionally, Washe's mark of 306 faceoff wins ranks first in the conference and seventh in the nation. 

Washe has been exceptional over the last 10 games for the Broncos, winning 126 total faceoffs. That has helped him produce a win percentage of 68.5 percent in that stretch. 

He's been over 60 percent on faceoffs each of the last two seasons and is at 58.8 percent for his career. With 20 more faceoff wins, he will reach a new career high. 

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Omaha enters the weekend after a sweep of Minnesota Duluth last week. The Mavericks are unbeaten in their last four games. Western Michigan took four of six points from Omaha back in November. 

As a team, the Mavericks are great in the dot, leading the league with a 55.2 percent mark on faceoffs. However, in 26 games, Omaha has allowed 80 goals, while scoring 79. 

The Mavericks like to spread the puck around, as 10 players have double-digit point totals this season. Leading the way has been Ty Mueller, who has posted 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists. 

Tanner Ludtke and Jack Randl are the next two leading scorers and have combined for 36 points on 18 goals and 18 assists. 

In net, the Mavericks have a pair of talented goalies. Simon Latkoczy has played the majority of the season, earning an 11-8-2 record, 2.96 goals against average and .900 save percentage. 

Seth Eisele is the other option in net for Omaha. In eight games, he has produced a 3-1-1 record, 2.61 goals against average and .905 save percentage. 

50 YEARS OF BRONCO HOCKEY
Throughout the season, WMU has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of varsity hockey, which has included a 50th anniversary logo at center ice and tributes to former players and coaches. 

On Jan. 26-27, the program welcomed back a bunch of former players and coaches for alumni weekend at Lawson Arena. The weekend series began with a special recognition of former WMU captain Danny DeKeyser, who was recently inducted into the Bronco Athletic Hall of Fame. 

The Broncos also had a ceremonial puck drop with Rob Hodge and Bernie Saunders to go along with a special in-game tribute to welcome back all of the former players and coaches that came back to Kalamazoo for the weekend.

Prior to alumni weekend, Western Michigan has honored former coach Bill Wilkinson, former captains Brian Tulik and Brent Brekke, former NHLer Joe Corvo, former teammates Derek Roehl and Brett Beebe and former off-ice official Bill Saunders. 

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Since early in the 2021-22 season Western Michigan has been consistently among the top teams in the nation, and the polls reflect that. WMU has made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and cracked the top-five of the USCHO poll each of the last two seasons. 

The Broncos have been ranked in the top-20 since Oct. 11, 2021 and currently sit at No. 14 in nation. 

A CHANCE AT HISTORY
The 2023-24 Broncos will have a chance to make history, as the program has never reached the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons. WMU has made back-to-back appearances on two separate occasions (2011 & 2012, 2022 & 2023). 

In 2022, the Brown and Gold earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament and picked up the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The Broncos upended Northeastern, 2-1, in overtime.