KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Defenseman Mike Benning had a career-high four points and the No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team scored four unanswered goals on Friday at Lawson Arena to defeat the No. 5 Western Michigan Broncos 5-2.
 
With three games remaining, Denver (25-8-0, 16-5-0 NCHC) takes an eight-point lead over Western Michigan (21-11-1, 13-7-1 NCHC) in the NCHC standings and has the chance to secure the Penrose Cup as conference regular-season champions on Saturday. The series finale is at 4 p.m. MT and will be broadcasted on NCHC.tv.
 
Benning recorded his points on two goals and two assists, and it was the most points by a Denver defenseman in a game since Ian Mitchell had a goal and three assists on Jan. 19, 2019 versus Omaha.
 
Massimo Rizzo had three points with a goal and two assists, Carter Mazur tallied and added a helper and senior captain Justin Lee also scored. Jack Devine recorded a pair of assists in the game as well and goaltender Magnus Chrona finished with 17 saves as he stopped all 12 shots he faced in the final 40 minutes of play.
 
Western Michigan led 2-1 after the first period, but Mazur scored on the power play at 5:26 of the middle stanza to tie the game and Lee gave DU the lead with 4:28 left before the second intermission.
 
The Pioneers took advantage of a major power play in the third period, tallying twice in a matter of 1:13 while Jason Polin was serving a five-minute infraction for direct contact to the head. Benning scored his second of the night at 6:32 off a pass from Rizzo before returning the favor seconds later as Rizzo tallied into an open net off a Benning cross-feed.
 
Benning began the night's scoring at 9:15 of the first period before Polin and Dylan Wendt recorded markers in a matter of 3:26, giving the Broncos the lead heading into the first intermission.
 
DU outshot WMU 34-19 in the contest and tallied three times on eight power-play opportunities. Western went 1-for-6 on the man advantage.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The Pioneers are now 6-1-1 in their last eight games versus Western Michigan.
• Mike Benning was the fifth Denver player to record four points in a contest this season, with forward Jack Devine last doing so in the previous game on Saturday against Minnesota Duluth.
• Benning registered his seventh career multi-goal game and third of the season (Nov. 26 vs. Omaha, Dec. 17 vs. Lindenwood) and leads the country in goals by a defenseman with 12.
• Benning now has 30 career tallies, moving into a tie for eighth place with Petri Gynther (1993-1997) for the most goals by a defenseman in school history.
• Aidan Thompson had an assist to stretch his career-long point streak to seven games.
• Massimo Rizzo is now on a six-game point streak has points in 17 of his last 20 games, totaling 11 goals and 15 assists in that time.
• Tristan Broz had his personal-best point streak end at five games.
• DU tied a season high with three power-play goals in the game (fourth time).
• The Pioneers won 51.7 percent of their faceoffs, with Carter King leading the team with 13 wins at the circle.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
9:15 DU (1-0) – Mike Benning hit twine with a wrister from the right side with 11 seconds remaining in 4-on-4 play.
10:26 WMU (1-1) – PPG, Jason Polin evened the score with a close-in shot.
13:42 WMU (1-2) – Dylan Wendt scored five-hole.
 
2nd Period
5:26 DU (2-2) – PPG, Carter Mazur tallied on a shot that squeaked by the Western goalie.
15:32 DU (3-2) – Justin Lee took a pass from Aidan Thompson and scored short-side on a shot that deflected off the WMU netminder and into the cage.
 
3rd Period
6:32 DU (4-2) – PPG, Mike Benning received a pass from Massimo Rizzo and tallied with a one-timer from the top of the left circle.
7:47 DU (5-2) – PPG, Massimo Rizzo took a cross-ice pass from Mike Benning and scored into an open net.
 
 
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