Broncos comeback falls short, split with Bulldogs in regular season finale

Western Herald - sports









On senior night, the Western Michigan University Bronco hockey team finished the regular season with a 6-3 loss to the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Before the game the Broncos honored senior goaltender Collin Olson, senior forwards Mike McKee, Michael Rebry, Aaron Hadley, and Sheldon Dries, as well as senior defensemen Chris Dienes and Taylor Fleming.











However, after pre-game ceremonies were over and the game had started, the Broncos found themselves in trouble. Head coach Andy Murray says the rocky start wasn’t what the team was looking for.






“We didn’t get out of the box at the start of the game like we wanted” Murray said.





The Bulldogs would take advantage of two Bronco penalties in the first to grab a 2-0 lead. Junior forward Jared Thomas would net his first goal of the season on a power play. With two minutes left in the first and on another power play sophomore forward Adam Johnson found the back of the net to put the Bulldogs up 2-0.





The Broncos would cut the lead in half after sophomore forward Matheson Iacopelli netted his 20th goal of the season. Iacopelli becomes the first Bronco to collect 20 goals in a season since Mark Letestu had 26 in the 2006-07 season. Freshman forward Lawton Courtnall would continue his productive weekend when he tied the game midway through the second. Yet the Bulldogs would cause chaos in front of the net and stray freshman goaltender Ben Blacker out of his net which allowed Johnson to push in his second goal of the game with 4.4 seconds left in the period to take a 3-2 lead.





The Bulldogs would add two more goals in the first seven minutes of the third period. Junior forward Avery Peterson would collect his seventh goal of the season giving the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead. Minutes later freshman forward Joey Anderson ...


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