Broncos push past Denver on senior night behind Balisy’s hat trick

By Sam O’Toole –

KALAMAZOO – On Senior Night for the Western Michigan hockey team, senior captain Chase Balisy stole the show.

Balisy netted all three goals for the Broncos (16-13-5, 10-10-2-2 NCHC) as they picked up a win to snap their three-game losing steak to Denver, defeating the Pioneers, 3-1 in front of 3,559 fans at Lawson Ice Arena.

It was Balisy’s first career hat trick as a member of the Broncos, and also the first in quite some time.

“It’s been at least six years,” Balisy said, with a smile on his face. “No, it had to be more than that, probably seven years. It was a pretty good feeling, obviously. My teammates worked hard all night, and it was pretty special night for all the seniors to go out on top with a win.”

“It’s awesome,” Berschbach said.  “It couldn’t happen to a better kid.  He works his [butt] off on and off the ice.  He’s a great kid and does the right thing all the time, and I’m happy for him.”

Fellow senior Shane Berschbach (Clawson) picked up two assists off of Balisy’s two goals. Berschbach only had one thing to say to the Western Michigan faithful after the game.

“Thank you, I’m really appreciative of everyone around Western,” Berschbach said.  “It’s a really good place and I’m sad it’s coming to an end.”

Lukas Hafner started in net for the home team and stopped 22 Pioneer shots, including some key saves for his team down the stretch.

The Toledo, Ohio native stopped all of Denver’s 13 shots in the final period and was excellent communicating with the defense on special teams and moving the puck up the ice.

Murray said that all three goaltenders for the Broncos have been working up their puck-moving skills this season.  It’s something that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but it was an integral part of Western Michigan’s success on Saturday.

Balisy opened the scoring for the Broncos just 3:22 into the game when Berschbach’s shot bounced off Denver goaltender Evan Cowley’s right pad and the Broncos’s captain put home his 10th goal of the season and 46th of his collegiate career.

Balisy would score the final two goals of his hat trick in the third period, including the game-winning goal with 12:41 remaining in the game.  He would add an empty-net goal with 12.1 seconds left on the clock.

Head coach Andy Murray appreciated the way his team battled on during the second game of the home series, especially during the last 40 minutes of play.

“I feel really good for our team, in particular our seniors,” Murray said.  “I really liked our last 40 minutes.  To me, it was the same way we played through the GLI and most of January.  We had lost that, and I felt that our play was really solid over the last 40 minutes tonight.”

Despite the lob-sided shot advantage for the Broncos, Murray felt that Denver (15-13-6, 9-10-3-2 NCHC) and their head coach Jim Montgomery did a great job with their matchups against Western Michigan, making it difficult for the Broncos to get the puck to the middle on Saturday night.

Balisy wasn’t the only component to the Broncos’ success as the “grey unit” stepped up all weekend for the Broncos, but their presence was felt most during Saturday’s contest.

“I thought they gave us all good minutes tonight,” Murray said.  “Michael Rebry, I thought this weekend was his best weekend as a Bronco, and I would say the same for Mike McKee.  Sam Mellor had the kind of game we had seen earlier in the season from him, so I thought that unit was really effective tonight.”

Saturday was potentially the final game for the seniors unless the Broncos are able to capture home-ice advantage for the first round of the NCHC playoffs.

Berschbach was happy to get the victory on senior night for Western Michigan.

“It was a special night, lots of emotion from our team,” Berschbach said.  “We really wanted to play for us four [seniors] and we put it all together.  It was a huge team win all-around.”

The Broncos finish off the regular season next weekend when they travel to North Dakota and attempt to clinch one last home playoff series.

“We definitely want it [home ice advantage], especially for our seniors,” Berschbach said.  “We want to play a couple more games in front of the Lunatics and all the fans here.”