Broncos fall to Wildcats Saturday night in Kalamazoo

By Sam O’Toole –

KALAMAZOO – Despite an early 3-1 lead, the Western Michigan Broncos (3-4-1) gave up three straight goals to the Northern Michigan Wildcats (5-5-0) in the second period, which lead to a 5-4 NMU victory Saturday night at Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Kyle Novak recorded a career-high three points on the night, while Shane Berschbach had two points in the Broncos’ loss. Frank Slubowski stopped 17 of the 22 shots he faced.

Stephan Vigier and Erik Higby both had two goals for the Wildcats, while Mathias Dahlstrom stopped 41 shots on the night.

Broncos coach Andy Murray said after the game that having an early lead like his team had in the second, “you can start to lose attention to detail.”

Murray’s greatest concerns with his team Saturday night were defense and effort.

“I’m very disappointed with not getting the job done tonight, and I’m the one who is accountable,” said Murray.  “When you give up five goals in college hockey, you don’t win.  It’s ridiculous that we gave up five goals and I’m responsible.”

“In this league, if you give up two [goals] or more, your chances of winning are not good, said Murray.  “It’s a challenge every night.  We have young men, and they have to learn what the essence of competing for 60 minutes is like.”

The former Central Collegiate Hockey Association foes – WMU is now part of the NCHC, while NMU is in the WCHA – had no problem finding the scoresheet early, combining for seven goals through the first two periods at Lawson Ice Arena.

Sophomore winger Nolan Laporte started the scoring barrage in the first period for the Broncos, with a goal less than two minutes into the game.

Freshman winger Kyle Novak, a bright spot Saturday night for the home team, scored for the second weekend in a row, this time notching two goals less than a minute apart to push the Broncos lead to 3-1 after the first period.

Jordan Oesterle (Dearborn Heights) added a goal with seven seconds left in the third period for the Broncos.

Yet the Broncos struggled with Northern Michigan’s top line, who scored all five goals for the Wildcats tonight.

Forward Stephan Vigier scored his second goal of the game, off a shot from the point on the power play. The goal pulled the Wildcats into a 3-3 tie. Vigier, a senior, leads the Wildcats with nine goals through nine games.

Senior Erik Higby added to the Wildcats second period rally with nifty five-hole shot from the slot, for his first goal of the game.

Junior Reed Seckel tallied his first goal of the year to give the Wildcats the lead after the second period on a rebound shot off the stick of junior defensemen Mitch Jones. That goal turned out to be the game-winner for the Wildcats.

“They are great players who play hard,” said Murray.  “Vigier might be the top player in college hockey right now.  We had a plan to slow down their scoring tonight but obviously didn’t do a good enough job.”

The scoring took a backseat to tighter defense for the Wildcats in the third period, recording only five shots in the final 20 minutes of play.

“I give a lot of credit to Northern Michigan,“ said Murray.  “They are a scrappy group but, I don’t care if they bring in Steve Yzerman tomorrow, we need to play better.”

Broncos captain Chase Balisy said after that he felt the effort wasn’t there regarding the powerplay.

“I think we have to work harder.  It’s unacceptable when we have five guys to their four out there.”

Novak led the Broncos with three points Saturday night, and senior forward Shane Berschbach ended the game with two assists.

Mitch Jones, Shane Sooth and Dominik Shine (Pickney) added two assists each for the Wildcats, who will be looking for the sweep on Sunday night.

Both teams each received a major penalty for checking from behind during the high-octane second period, resulting in a game misconduct for the Broncos freshman forward Mike Mckee and Wildcats sophomore Cohen Adair.

The Broncos celebrated Military Appreciation Night on Saturday, sporting alternate jerseys for the game.

Western Michigan looks to bounce back and pick up their fourth win of the season on Sunday.  Puck drop at 5:05 p.m.