DU men’s hockey (11-5-1, 4-3-0) traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on the Western Michigan Broncos at Lawson Arena. It was a full house and the Lawson Lunatics were in midseason form on Friday night. It was a wide-open game with end-to-end action. Two empty net goals and three powerplay goals provided WMU the winning margin as they broke open a tight game in the final period.

Denver’s captain McKade Webster drew an early tripping penalty on WMU and then punished the Broncos at 2:36 of the first period with an early goal to give DU the lead, 1-0. Massimo Rizzo and Carter King helped on the early tally. Zeev Buium received a tripping penalty near the end of the first period. The Broncos took advantage and scored with a tip-in with one second remaining on the penalty from Sam Colangelo, 1-1. Off the draw  19 seconds later, the Broncos punished Denver again on the rush, 2-1. The Broncos outshot Denver 13-7 in the period.

Both teams came out flying to start the second period. Eight minutes into the period, Rizzo got stoned on a breakaway by WMU goaltender Cameron Rowe. Two minutes later, Rowe stopped a dangerous Aiden Thompson snipe from the top of the circle. The referees were letting both teams play and the result was end-to-end hockey action. Western Michigan began to control the puck for long periods in the middle of the period but Denver held on against the Broncos’ attack. The Pioneers finally broke the puck out to a streaking Miko Matikka who solved Rowe at 13:21, 2-2. A final-minute trip penalty was called on Denver’s Rieger Lorenz. The Broncos scored from the right circle off the draw on a wrister into the left corner of the cage with 20 seconds left in the period. The late goal was a brutal way to end what was otherwise a decent run of play by DU. 

Trailing 3-2 heading into the third period, it was a frenetic final 20 minutes. Five minutes into the frame, DU had a powerplay but was unable to light the lamp. Several minutes later, on a quick breakout, Miko Matikka found the short side of the goal on Rowe for his second goal of the night, 3-3, at 7:08. Less than two minutes later, a wrap-around goal in traffic by Joe Casetti regained the lead for WMU, 4-3 between the legs of Freddie Hylak. It was a furious last nine minutes. With 5 minutes to go. Boston Buckberger went into the box on slashing. WMU buried a laser into the top left corner of the goal, 3-for-3 on the PP, to give the Broncos a two-goal margin, 5-3. Carle pulled Halyk for the extra man for the final three minutes. Two empty-net break-away goals by WMU  finished off the Pioneers, 6-3 & 7-3.

Next up for DU is another game Saturday against Western Michigan at 4:00 pm Mt.