College hockey scores below the story
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan hockey team handed Bowling Green its first loss of the season in a 6-2 victory on Thursday night at Lawson Arena.
Zach Nehring and Liam Valente each tallied two goals, while Owen Michaels and Alex Bump chipped in one a piece. Cameron Rowe made a season-high 23 saves in the victory.
FIRST PERIOD
The Broncos came out hot offensively, getting a goal in the opening minutes of the game. Nehring used some great passes from Cole Crusberg-Roseen and Grant Slukynsky to beat BGSU goaltender Cole Moore.
Not too long after that, Nehring lit the lamp again. Tim Washe and Iiro Hakkarainen played well off of each other to set up the second goal of the night. WMU was up 2-0 just over 10 minutes into the game.
BGSU responded moments later to bring the game back to 2-1. The Brown and Gold had a few good looks from Zach Sharp and Slukynsky down the stretch. Nothing would find the back of the net, and the Broncos carried a 2-1 lead into the second 20 minutes of play.
SECOND PERIOD
WMU was called for tripping early in the second frame and BGSU capitalized on the chance to even the game at 2-2. However, it was all Broncos from there.
A few minutes later, WMU got a power play of its own thanks to a too many men on the ice penalty. The Broncos worked the puck around the zone, and Bump fired a quick wrist shot by Moore to give Western Michigan a 3-2 lead.
Moments later, the Broncos scored on delayed penalty with Valente finding the back of the net for the first time in the Brown and Gold. He used a nice feed from Nehring to bury the chance. A little later in the period, Valente put the game out of reach with his second goal of the night. This time on the power play to make it 5-2 WMU with just over six minutes to play in the period.
Western Michigan wasn’t done there, as Michaels tallied his third goal of the season late in the second period. Samuel Sjolund fired a puck on net that Michaels was able to tip by Moore for the Broncos’ sixth goal of the night.
THIRD PERIOD
In the opening stages of the final frame, WMU was sent off for interference. Rowe made two saves and the Broncos blocked a shot to maintain a four-goal advantage.
After some back-and-forth action in the middle portion of the period, Valente and Sharp had back-to-back chances on Moore that he was just able to get a piece of. Following those looks, Matteo Costantini and Bump tested Moore again. He was able to make both saves.
In the back end of the frame, Valente had one last shot on net to try for a hat trick. Moore made the stop and the Broncos closed out a 6-2 victory.
UP NEXT
WMU will host York on Saturday night in an exhibition game. Puck drop is set for 6 PM
