KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- It's simply called The Streak.

Against some of the top collegiate hockey teams in the nation, No. 3-ranked Western Michigan University has now killed off 40 straight penalties over 17 games without allowing a goal. That's against high quality opponents in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which has Denver, Arizona State, North Dakota, Colorado College and Omaha also ranked nationally. During The Streak are games played against Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech, too.

Unreal.

''Because of how good the league is and how many good players and goaltenders there are, it's remarkable,'' WMU Associate Head Coach Jason Herter, who is the defensive coach, said. ''In hockey, you like to be at 100 percent between the penalty kill and the power play.

''You try to stop at least 80 percent on the penalty kill and score about 20 percent of the time on the power play. We're above those numbers and that shows you the players care about the team's success.''

This season, WMU (20-5-1 overall, 13-2-1 NCHC), which hosts Omaha this weekend, has allowed just four goals when a man down in 60 chances for an unbelievable .933 percentage. That number easily leads the nation. The Broncos have only had 66 power plays this season, scoring 26 goals for a .273 percentage, good for third in the conference, which means WMU is easily over Herter's 100 percent number.

And by the way, while WMU has given up just four goals, the NCHC second place teams – Colorado College, Arizona State and Denver – are tied with 14.

''It goes back to what we practice every Tuesday in that we have a set thing, we're dialed in and we don't stray from it,'' junior defenseman Samuel Sjolund said. '' It's a special streak and we want to keep it going, but it's also not something we think about.

''We just stick to the same thing in practice and luckily, we have great goalies. They are the last checkpoint and stop a lot of shots for us.''

Freshman goaltender Hampton Slukynsky is third nationally with a 1.62 goals-against average and grad student Cameron Rowe is sixth at 1.73.

''It's a point of pride to not allow a goal on the penalty kill,'' Herter said. ''No one wants to be on the ice when someone scores, but we know it's going to happen.

''Our mentality is if you do a really good job and they score an ESPN highlight goal when you are forcing them to make great plays, that happens like one time out of 10 which means your PK is 90 percent. You just have to erase that out of your mind and go again.''

The two penalty kills against St. Cloud this past Saturday show how team-oriented the penalty kill units are. In the first one, Slukynsky made two tough saves, but sophomore defenseman Cole Crusberg-Roseen made two sliding blocks on shots. In the second, St. Cloud probably had the puck in the offensive zone for 30 seconds of its two-minute power play.

''We were trying our best to deny them our zone, make their life difficult and not give them any easy looks,'' sophomore winger Owen Michaels said. ''When I'm out there, I try to stay tight to their players, make it hard to enter the zone, force them out and support each other on our exit passes.''

Added Herter: ''Part of our structure is if they do get the puck into our zone, we work really hard to get it out of their hands and make them dump it. Then we have really good exit plans. It's not just one guy shooting it hard around the boards, but it's structured for them to get the puck out of the zone.''

Sjolund, Michaels, grad student Robby Drazner and grad student/captain Tim Washe went over the boards for the first part of the kill against St. Cloud. The second group was Crusberg-Roseen, sophomore Grant Slukynsky, senior Matteo Costanini and grad student Brian Kramer.

''In a pinch, I have no problem putting different guys out here on the penalty kill,'' Herter said.

Sjolund didn't play much on the penalty kill last year but has been a mainstay this season.

''The coaches decide who is the best on the PK and luckily I was on it,'' he said.

Added Michaels: ''I knew I was going to take a step up as far as my role and being on the PK would be a big part of it.''

While WMU has only allowed four goals when down a man, it has only had one short-handed goal. That came from Michaels early in the season.

''We caught them on a broken play trying to enter our zone and I was able to spring out for a breakaway, caught the goalie off guard and put the puck over his shoulder,'' he said.

Herter's penalty kill structure isn't designed to spring a guy loose for a short-handed attempt.

''We've had several opportunities to score short-handed, but our goal is to defend,'' the associate head coach said. ''If it happens, it happens, and a short-handed goal helps our team, but our penalty kill isn't structured to make that happen.''

The structure is to not allow a goal…and that hasn't happened for 40 straight penalties.

Unreal.