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It was Western Michigan's Colton Hargrove (Boston Bruins)that buried the first goal with under five minutes into the game, but for the first time this season, the Bulldogs came back to win a game despite being scored on first.
Florida Panthers prospect Joe Basaraba evened the score for the Bulldogs later in the first period with dual assists from Caleb Herbert (Washington Capitals) and Cal Decowski, but Western Michigan would finish the period in shots on goal 14-11.
Bulldogs Alex Iafallo and Austyn Young both scored in the second period giving the Bulldogs the 3-1 lead, but yet again the Broncos held the upper-hand in shots at 26-19.
Although no goals were scored, the Bulldogs tested Western Michigan's netminder Frank Slubowski by peppering 16 shots on the 5-11 junior all while the Broncos fired 7 shots on UMD's Aaron Crandall. With the help of the third period, the Bulldogs managed to outshoot the Broncos 35-33.
"Overall, we are naturally disappointed," said Western Michigan coach Andy Murray. "We played a team that was on top of their game and Duluth had a tremendous weekend. They had their skating legs, their work ethic, their work boots were on, and they played really hard."
"I thought tonight was a total difference from last night’s game in the sense that I liked my team tonight," coach Murray went on to say. "Last night, I felt at times I was coaching a group of individuals that had a focus that was beyond what was good for the team and tonight I thought we had a group that battled and competed hard, it was unfortunate that we didn’t score on some of the opportunities that we had."
Western Michigan will have a chance to bounce-back next weekend as they travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on the Miami Redhawks, while Minnesota Duluth will host the Colorado College Tigers at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minnesota.
Scoring Summary
1st Period - WMU (4:29) Colton Hargrove from Justin Kovacs and Josh Pitt
1st Period - UMD (15:27) Joe Basaraba from Caleb Herbert and Cal Decowski
2nd Period - UMD (5:12) Alex Iafallo
2nd Period - UMD (11:26) Austyn Young from Max Tardy and Willie Corrin
Goaltending Summary
Aaron Crandall (UMD): 13-13-6 = 31 (1 GA) - W
Frank Slubowski (WMU): 10-7-15 = 32 (3 GA) - L
Faceoff Facts
- This is the second time Western Michigan has been swept at home this season. The first time was to North Dakota in the first half of season play.
- Seven Bulldogs picked up one point each Saturday, including sophomore defenseman Willie Corrin, who had three assists in the series sweep
- Western Michigan is now 5-6-1 at home and Kenney Morrison's impressive seven-game point streak concluded on Saturday night.
- The Bulldogs, who are 9-4-1 away from home this season
- Both teams went without scoring a power play goal on the night; UMD went 0 for 5 and WMU went 0 for 6.
