KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The No. 13 Western Michigan Broncos used three power-play goals on Friday to defeat the No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team 7-3 at Lawson Arena.
 
Denver (11-5-1, 4-3-0 NCHC) goes for the series split on Saturday as the teams conclude their weekend series at 4 p.m. MT.
 
Miko Matikka tallied twice in the game to tie the score at 2-2 and 3-3, but the Broncos (11-3-1, 4-3-0 NCHC) tallied four times in the third period to pull away. WMU went 3-for-3 on the power play and netted two goals while DU had an empty net.
 
"Some good things tonight, but obviously very inconsistent with our battle level, our intensity," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "It is a very tough place to play if you don't have everybody going for the majority of the hockey game—it's a very tough place to win."
 
Denver captain McKade Webster opened the night's scoring for the Pioneers on a man advantage at 2:36 of the first period, but WMU took a 2-1 lead by tallying twice in a matter of 19 seconds in the final two minutes of the frame.
 
The Broncos' perfect power play made them the first opponent to have that success against the Pios this season. Among the man-up tallies was Zak Galambos netting a marker with 21 seconds remaining in the second period, and Sam Colangelo burying his second of three goals with 3:53 left in the third to push the advantage to 5-3.
 
Colangelo sealed the hat trick with WMU's second empty-netter of the night at 18:12 of the final stanza.
 
Denver goaltender Freddie Halyk made a career-best 30 saves while also facing a personal-high 35 shots. Western Michigan netminder Cameron Rowe stopped 28-of-31 shots faced.
 
Sean Behrens, Zeev Buium, Carter King, Rieger Lorenz and Massimo Rizzo all had assists for the Pioneers.
 
Matteo Costantini (three assists), Dylan Wendt (one goal, one assist), Luke Grainger (two assists) and Tim Washe (two assists) joined Colangelo with multi-point nights for Western Michigan.
 
UP NEXT: Denver hits the halfway point of its season on Saturday against Western Michigan before going on the holiday break. DU's next game at home is an exhibition against Minot State on Dec. 30, and the team returns to regular-season play versus Niagara on Jan. 5-6.


POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver is now 24-12-2 all-time against Western Michigan and dropped to 7-10 in games at Lawson Arena. The Pioneers are 7-2-1 in the last 10 meetings against the Broncos.
• Zeev Buium registered an assist to push his career-long point streak to 11 games (4g/14a), tying Lane Hutson of Boston University (Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023) for the longest run by a freshman defenseman in the last 21 years (since 2002, courtesy of College Hockey News).
• Miko Matikka recorded his second career multi-goal game and third-career multi-point outing with a pair of tallies. He now has points in each of the last 10 games he's played (9g/4a).
• Massimo Rizzo stretched his assist streak to five games (1g/7a), one shy of matching his career long.
• Carter King had an assist, and he is now on a four-game point streak (3g/1a) and has points in 13 of the last 14 games since Oct. 21 (10g/9a).
• McKade Webster scored his seventh goal of the season and has now set career highs this season in goals (7), assists (9) and points (16).
• Goaltender Freddie Halyk posted career highs with 31 saves and 35 shots faced.
• Defenseman Sean Behrens had four blocked shots, tying a career best..

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
2:36 DU (1-0) – PPG, McKade Webster went top shelf with a wrist shot from the right circle.
18:31 WMU (1-1) – PPG, Sam Colangelo tallied from the right side with one second left on a man advantage
18:50 WMU (1-2) – Alex Bump knocked in Dylan Wendt's centering pass during a rush up the ice.
 
2nd Period
13:21 DU (2-2) – Miko Matikka took a leading pass from Rieger Lorenz and tucked the puck between the left post and the goalie's right pad on a breakaway.
19:39 WMU (2-3) – PPG, Zak Galambos scored from the left side just five seconds into a power play following a faceoff win.
 
3rd Period
7:08 DU (3-3) – Miko Matikka went near-side with a shot during a rush up the ice.
9:19 WMU (3-4) – Joe Cassetti tallied five-hole on a wrap-around chance.
16:07 WMU (3-5) – PPG, Sam Colangelo went top corner with a shot from the point.
17:54 WMU (3-6) – ENG, Dylan Wendt pushed the puck into the gaping net on a breakaway.
18:12 WMU (3-7) – ENG, Sam Colangelo tallied into an open net to complete the hat trick
 

QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the start of the game: "I think early on the intensity was excellent from Western. I thought it took us a little time to figure it out. We were fortunate to be up 1-0. Disappointing to give up two goals in the last two minutes of the first period there. I thought we had a really good (penalty) kill at the end of the first—they scored on a puck that went off Freddie's pad and off Colangelo's leg and in."
 
On making in-game adjustments: "I thought our speed and our puck support was much better in the second. We were much more direct, we were going to pucks, making them uncomfortable, and I thought it showed. Unfortunately, we weren't able to carry that over fully. We get it to 3-3; we had a D-zone faceoff that we win, and they find a way to create the turnover and score a net-front goal against us."
 

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