Box Score Kalamazoo, Mich. – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers (14-5-3, 6-5-1-1) fell to the No. 13 Western Michigan Broncos (14-8-1, 7-5-1-1) 3-1 on Saturday in Lawson Arena to snap their eight-game unbeaten streak.
 
"They played with a lot more desperation than we did," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "They had us on our heels for 40 minutes tonight. We didn't have the level of desperation that we needed and it took us two periods and being down two goals to get that, which is disappointing at this time of year."
 
Western Michigan controlled the opening period, outshooting the Pioneers 12-3 and holding Denver without a shot for the first 8:46 of the game. The Broncos took the first lead of the night at 1:51 of the second period as Hugh McGing stripped Michael Davies of the puck at the blue line before racing ahead for a shorthanded breakaway goal. Larsson prevented a 2-0 deficit on a second breakaway halfway through the second, but the save only postponed Western Michigan's two-goal lead. Ethen Frank doubled the Broncos' lead at 9:35 of the second with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right circle. 
 
Outshot 22-7 through 40 minutes, the Pioneers struggled to create in the offensive zone aside from Emilio Pettersen finding Brett Stapley for a shot off the post on the power play with 2:20 remaining in the second.
 
Denver started the third period with back-to-back power plays, but Trevor Gorsuch stopped a rebound attempt from Pettersen and Lukosevicius' shot from the slot. The Pioneers broke through at 6:06 of the third period as Liam Finlay deflected Davies' shot from the point to make it 2-1. Denver's goal was followed by a five-minute major and game misconduct to Mattias Samuelsson, but Gorsuch bailed out his teammate with a plethora of saves to kill the penalty. The power play gave the Pioneers momentum for the duration of the game, but the effort was not enough as Frank's empty netter sealed the game for the Broncos with 1:07 left.
 
The Pioneers finished 0/6 on the power play and 2/3 on the penalty kill. Larsson made 22 saves in the loss.

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