After two losses last weekend, Western Michigan returned home to Lawson Arena to take on the 4th ranked University of Denver. It was a matchup between two nationally ranked conference opponents as Denver looked to put their eight-game unbeaten streak to the test.
Friday Night
Friday night the Broncos took a 3-1 win over the Pioneers. In the first period, WMU outshot DU 12-3 but wasn’t able to capitalize on the advantage. The dry spell didn’t last long, however, as Hugh McGing scored less than two minutes into the second period on a shorthanded breakaway goal making it 1-0. WMU extended their lead later in the second off a powerplay goal by Ethen Frank. The Pioneers tried to rally late cutting the lead to one after a redirection by Liam Finlay found the back of the net, but Frank was able to counter on an empty netter in the final two minutes to seal the win for WMU.
Saturday Night
Saturday night saw the Broncos jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period off goals from Josh Passolt, Paul Washe, and Drew Worrad. In the second period, the Broncos did not slow down picking up two more goals in quick succession. The first coming from Cam Lee off a rush with Austin Rueschhoff and the second coming 30 seconds later when Dawson DiPetro had a shot deflect off him into the back of the net. Denver scored once in the third period off a power play by Emilio Pettersen, but it was too little too late as the Broncos completed the sweep with a 5-1 victory.
This weekend’s wins earned two Broncos weekly conference honors as goaltender, Trevor Gorsuch, won second NCHC Goalie of the week award and Cam Lee won Defenseman of the week for the second time. Gorsuch earned both wins this weekend with a .967 save percentage and allowed only one goal per game. Lee had 4 points off one goal and three assists and was a significant part on a red hot Bronco penalty kill.
The sweep put WMU in third place in the NCHC standings and put them back into the top 10 of today’s USCHO standings, coming in at 8. For Denver, the losses dropped them to fifth in the conference standings and from 4th to 7th in the new rankings. You can catch the Broncos back in action next weekend on the road against last place Nebraska-Omaha and the Pioneers will return home to face fourth place North Dakota.