DULUTH — After rallying from a pair of two-goal deficits Friday in a 5-4 loss to Minnesota Duluth, third-ranked Western Michigan battled back from two one-goal deficits on Saturday to beat the seventh-ranked Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime at Amsoil Arena.
Broncos fifth-year senior wing Josh Passolt of Hayward, Wisconsin, scored twice, including the game-winner in 3-on-3 overtime after Western was able to create a two-on-one chance.
OT winner! 🚨🙌
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) January 30, 2022
Passolt's 2nd of the night earns the extra point for @WMUHockey #NCHChockey // #LetsRide pic.twitter.com/ZIz3eOIoKD
“I thought our team took a step forward this weekend, I thought we played pretty well for 120 minutes,” said Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs took four out of six points in the NCHC to remain fourth in the league, just one point back of the third-place Broncos. The coach would have liked six points, however.
“It’s the fifth weekend during that we’ve had during the year that we were in that position (to sweep),” continued Sandelin, whose team does not have an NCHC sweep this season, but also has gotten at least three points from every series. “You don’t get in those positions too much in this league. Usually your back is against the wall to get points, but we have to start taking advantage of that.”
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Bulldogs senior captain Noah Cates — who leaves Sunday morning to join Team USA in Los Angeles before flying out on Wednesday for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing — scored the lone 5-on-5 goal of the evening. UMD’s other score by sophomore defenseman Connor Kelley came on a power play.
In addition to the 3-on-3 game-winner, Western scored shorthanded and on the power play as the two sides combined for 13 penalties that resulted in 11 power plays.
Cates got the Bulldogs on the board 1-0 late in the first period as part of a committee that crashed the net to put away a rebound. Fifth-year senior center Casey Gilling took an initial crack at the puck before Cates put it in, though senior wing Kobe Roth was also there to finish if necessary.
“It was a good play by Kobe coming out of the corner,” Cates said of his eighth goal of the season and 94th career point at UMD. “Gilling got a shot and the rebound was sitting loose. I just poked it in. I think we need more of that moving forward, just being hard at the net fronts.”
I think our @usahockey Olympians are ready for China!
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) January 30, 2022
Cates puts @UMDMensHockey in front 🐶#NCHChockey // #BulldogCountry pic.twitter.com/96Fry384l7
UMD scored a pair of power-play goals in the second, however, only one counted.
Sophomore wing Blake Biondi knocked the first power play goal in, scoring off a rebound in the crease at 10:12 of the second, but the goal was thrown out for a dubious goaltender interference call following a video review.
The second power-play goal of the period by the Bulldogs came from sophomore defenseman Connor Kelley, whose blast from the blue line got in and out of the net so quick, officials needed a quick, slow-motion video review to confirm that Kelley did indeed score his first goal of the season and fourth of his career to put UMD ahead 2-1 going into the third.
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The Broncos tied the game at 1-1 shorthanded 7:20 into the second via a steal and score by Passolt. The goal was part of a second period that included seven penalties and five power plays, with 87 seconds of the Broncos’ second advantage carrying over into the third period.
Western only needed 58 seconds of the power play to tie the game as junior defenseman Ronnie Attard put the puck in off the iron.
The Broncos finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play, but also got the shorthanded goal. The Bulldogs went 1-for-6 on the power play, giving up the shorthanded goal.
UMD had one final power play late in the game Saturday. It started with less than seven minutes to play in regulation, but the Bulldogs couldn’t convert.
“It’s when we need the timely goal, from our power play, right? They got theirs to tie the game and we had opportunities and chances, but we’re not finding the back of the net,” Sandelin said. “I thought we played very well. That was a good game for us 5-on-5. As I said to (KDAL’s) Bruce (Ciskie in the pregame), it’s probably going to come down to special teams, and it did. Their power play is obviously really good.”
Western Michigan 0-1-1-1—3
Minnesota Duluth 1-1-0-0—2
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First period
1. UMD, Noah Cates (Casey Gilling, Kobe Roth), 14:44
Second period
2. WMU, Josh Passolt, 7:20 (sh)
3. UMD, Connor Kelley (Kobe Roth, Wyatt Kaiser), 16:11 (pp)
Third period
4. WMU, Ronnie Attard (Drew Worrad, Michael Joyaux), 0:58 (pp)
Overtime
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5. WMU, Passolt (Joyaux, Max Sasson), 1:51
Saves — Brandon Bussi, WMU, 28; Ryan Fanti, UMD, 16.
Power plays — WMU 1-5, UMD 1-6. Penalties — WMU 5-14, UMD 6-12.
