KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Western Michigan will make its last road trip of the regular season, traveling west for a pair of games against Colorado College. The series will begin on Friday, Feb. 20 at 9 PM ET at Ed Robson Arena. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos claimed a series sweep against Arizona State, winning 6-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday. The Brown and Gold had 11 different goal scorers on the weekend. 

Zaccharya Wisdom and Owen Michaels each lit the lamp twice, while Liam Valente, Ty Henricks, Grant Slukynsky, William Whitelaw and Zack Sharp all had three-point weekends. Hampton Slukynsky won both games in net, saving 51 shots between the two nights. 

ZACCH ATTACK
Junior forward Zaccharya Wisdom is making his first return to Colorado College since transferring to Western Michigan this summer. Heading into that matchup, the Canadian winger is playing some of the best hockey of his career. 

After a slow start to the 2025-26 campaign, Wisdom has started to heat up over the last several weeks. The Seattle Kraken draft pick has 18 points (11-7-18) in his last 18 outings and is fresh off of earning NCHC Forward of the Week honors. He tallied two goals and two assists in a weekend sweep of Arizona State on Feb. 13-14. 

In true storybook fashion, Wisdom will play in his 100th career game on Friday night. He has 65 points on 32 goals and 33 assists in his career, with 14 goals and 10 assists coming as a Bronco. His 24 points and 14 goals this season are both career highs. 

SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS
WMU has been one of the top teams in the nation throughout the season, but an increase in production between the power play and penalty killing units has taken the team to another level over the last few weeks. 

The Bronco PK has been on a roll over the last month, killing off 23 penalties in a row and 29 of the last 30. A big reason for the success has been Western Michigan's ability to limit shots on net. Opponents are averaging less than 1.5 shots on goal per power play over the last 30 chances. WMU has also blocked 22 shots in that stretch. 

Thanks to that hot stretch, the Brown and Gold are up to 85.2 percent on the penalty kill. That is good for second in the NCHC and eighth in the nation.

Western Michigan has been just as effective on the power play over the last month, lighting the lamp on just under 30 percent of its chances. Liam Valente has four power-play goals in the last month, and he leads the NCHC with nine goals on the man advantage this season. 

WMU's power play was operating at a high level this past weekend against Arizona State. The Broncos went 6-for-13 on the weekend, scoring four times on the power play in Saturday's win. For the season, Western Michigan is up to 21.6 percent, which ranks 22nd in the nation. 

DYNAMIC DUO
As one of the top offenses in the country, Western Michigan has leaned on a pair of powerful wingers to lead the charge. William Whitelaw and Liam Valente each have 17 goals, which ranks third in the NCHC and 12th in the NCAA this season. 

To say the duo has played a key role in WMU's success would be an understatement, as the Broncos are 19-2-0 when getting a goal from either player. The Brown and Gold have won 14 straight games when getting a goal from Whitelaw or Valente. On the opposite side of that, WMU is just 3-6-0 when the duo is held scoreless. 

Both players enter the weekend with 29 points, which is second on the team and 10th in the NCHC. They both scored against Arizona State last weekend, finishing the series with a combined six points on two goals and four assists. 

DOMINATING THE DOT
The Broncos have been one of the top faceoff teams in the nation over the last several years, and 2025-26 is no different. Entering the weekend series at Colorado College, WMU is second in the NCHC and fourth in the nation with a 54.8 percent faceoff winning percentage. 

Owen Michaels has been key to that success, as he leads the league with a 61.7 percent win rate. Along with that, he is second in the nation with 382 total faceoffs won. The Northville, Mich. native was dominant against ASU last weekend, winning just under 66 percent of his draws. 

Grant Slukynsky has been great as well, winning 270 total faceoffs this season. That number ranks eighth in the NCHC and 41st in the nation. Percentage wise, Slukynsky is 12th in the league with a win rate of 53.6 percent. Like Michaels, he dominated the Sun Devils last weekend at Lawson Arena, winning more than 75 percent of his faceoffs. 

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Colorado College is 2-2-1 over its last five game and sits at seventh in the NCHC standings with 24 points. This is the only meeting of the regular season between the Tigers and Broncos. 

WMU leads the all-time series, 25-15-7, including an 11-7-4 record in Colorado Springs. Western Michigan is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games at CC. 

Klavs Veinbergs leads the charge for the Tigers, entering the weekend with 20 points on 10 goals and 10 assists. Owen Beckner is the team's leader in points per game, recording 19 points in 24 games played. 

In net, CC has started to split its goaltenders, Kaidan Mbereko and Jackson Unger have split time each of the last three weekends. Mbereko boasts an 11-11-3 record, 2.62 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Unger has a 1-3-1 record, 2.77 GAA and .900 save percentage. 

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Western Michigan has been consistently among the top teams in the nation, and the polls reflect that. The Broncos have now made four straight NCAA Tournaments and sit at No. 4 in the national polls. The Broncos have been ranked in the top 20 since Oct. 11, 2021. 

WMU has taken things a step further over the last year and a half, ranking among the nation's top 10 since Nov. 18, 2024. Since that point, Western Michigan has gone 50-14-0 and won the 2025 NCAA Division I National Championship. The Broncos haven't been ranked lower than No. 9 since mid November of 2024.