Broncos and Wildcats play to Sunday night tie; WMU wins shootout
Sam O’Toole –
KALAMAZOO – The Western Michigan Broncos found themselves in a different type of game on Sunday evening at Lawson Ice Arena than the nine-goal scoring fest that took place the previous night.
The Broncos (4-3-1) tied the visiting Northern Michigan Wildcats (4-5-1), 2-2, after the Wildcats tied the game late in the third period.
Western Michigan won the ensuing shootout by a score of 1-0. Kyle Novak was the lone scorer in the shootout. Because the Broncos and the Wildcats are not conference foes, the game is recorded as a tie for each team.
The Broncos received goals from sophomore Nolan Laporte and senior Shane Berschbach (Clawson). Frank Slubowski recorded 25 saves for the home team.
Stephan Vigier netted the game-tying goal for the Wildcats, his third of the weekend. Reed Seckel scored the first goal for the visiting team, while Mathias Dahlstrom stopped 26 shots.
After a high-scoring affair to open the series, the two former CCHA members battled a grind-it-out type of game. Broncos coach Andy Murray felt more encouraged by his team’s effort Sunday.
“I think we were better today than we were yesterday,” said Murray. We have some lessons to learn. We have an awful lot of young players in our lineup and there is a way you need to play and you have to learn to play the right way.”
The Broncos opened the scoring for both teams on Saturday with a powerplay goal from Laporte mid-way through the first period. The sophomore notched his second goal of the year with assists going to his linemates, Chase Balisy and Colton Hargrove.
Berschbach slid a rebound past Dahlstrom on a shot from Jordan Oesterle (Dearborn Heights) for the Broncos second powerplay goal of the game just over seven minutes into the second period.
Berschbach ended the weekend series against the Wildcats with three points and is now on a six-game point streak. Murray has noticed a difference in commitment from the senior.
“When you look at [Berschbach], it’s what he did this summer,” said Murray. “His body weight is up by about 20 pounds of muscle mass. His nutrition and living habits have totally changed. He’s committed himself to be a hockey player. Before he just played hockey, now he’s a hockey player. There’s a difference.”
Murray and his coaching staff let the senior forward know what their expectations of him were before his senior season began.
“They pretty much just laid out their expectations,” Berschbach said. “They wanted me to be a leader, being a senior and I really needed to show the freshman coming in during the workouts and how it’s done. A lot of our seniors did that and took a good role in it.”
The Wildcats cut the Broncos’ two-goal lead in half late in the second period when Seckel tallied his second goal of the series with the assist going to Luke Eibler (Pinckney).
Northern Michigan completed the comeback with 2:47 left in the third period to force the extra period. Vigier riffled a one-time shot from the top of the circles on the power play past Slubowski to tie the game, 2-2. Ryan Daugherty recorded the lone assist on Vigier’s third goal of the series for the Wildcats.
After the game, Murray was quick to credit his opponent from this weekend.
“They play extremely hard and are a gritty group,” said Murray. “They don’t quit and we know that. The games this weekend were very similar to the ones we played with the them past two years.”
Berschbach noticed some good things that came from the home series to bring with the team on the road and what the team has to do against a conference foe.
“Just keep working,” said Berschbach. “Last night we didn’t have the performance we needed in the second [period]. Tonight, we play pretty solid most of the time. We have to carry this over to Denver and get a couple wins.”
The Broncos out-shot the Wildcats 28-27, with six different players chipping in with a point for the home team. Both teams also combined for eleven minor penalties, giving each team an ample amount of power-play opportunities.
The new member of the NCHC travels to Denver next weekend for their second conference match-up of the season.