Wade Allison's first career hat trick could not have come at a better time.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Wade Alison tallied his first collegiate hat trick as the Western Michigan hockey team erased a 3-0 deficit to sweep the defending National Champions and No. 1-ranked Denver Pioneers, 7-4, at Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday night.
Jarid Lukosevicius netted a power play goal to give Denver a 4-2 lead at 7:48 in the third period but the Broncos (5-3-1, 2-0-0-0 NCHC) responded with three goals in 43 seconds to take a 5-4 lead.
Colt Conrad netted his seventh just 15 seconds after Lukosevicious' goal to cut the lead to 4-3. Corey Schueneman played the puck up to Dawson DiPietro and the sophomore forward found Conrad in the slot. Conrad moved to the left edge of the right circle and beat DU goalie Tanner Jaillet over his left shoulder for the goal. The assist was DiPietro's second of the night and first of the night for Schueneman.
How about that? @WMUHockey rallied past #1 @DU_Hockey in the 3rd on back-to-back nights, including 5 tonight #NCHCHockey
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) November 5, 2017
of WMU's win pic.twitter.com/X42jTYdmTg
Just 15 seconds later Hugh McGing tied the game up at 4-4. Lawton Courtnall pushed the puck ahead to Jade McMullenand McMullen skated to the net through the left circle. He left the puck behind for McGing and the sophomore forward pushed the puck into the top-left corner of the net for his third goal of the season and second on the weekend.
At 9:04 Paul Washe netted, what ended up being, the game-winning goal for the Broncos. Paul Stoykewych broke up a pass and Aidan Muir dished it off to Washe. The freshman skated in on net from the right side and punched in his own rebound for his second career goal.
Allison completed his hat trick at 13:03 in the third period to give WMU a 6-4 lead. A 5-on-3 advantage just ended for the Broncos when McGing passed it to Allison in the slot and the Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick beat Jaillet on his stick side for his sixth goal of the season.
McMullen sealed the win and the sweep, after last night's 6-5 win, with an empty-net goal with 3:28 remaining.
WMU outshot Denver 35-19 on the night, including holding DU to five shots on goal in the third period. Ben Blacker made eight saves in relief after Austin Cain was pulled in the second period to earn his fourth win of the season.
NO. 1 GOES DOWN AGAIN!@WMUHockey finished the sweep of Denver with a 7-4 victory highlighted by a hat trick by Wade Allison. pic.twitter.com/5fJMB29yKE
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) November 5, 2017
Denver took an early 1-0 lead at 8:52 in the first period on a power play goal by Henrik Borgstrom. WMU had just killed off a five-on-three advantage when Borgstrom fired the puck past Cain from the right circle for his fourth goal of the weekend.
The Pioneers went up 2-0 with 6.6 seconds left in the first period. Michael Davies created a turnover in the DU and passed it to Troy Terry. Terry then pushed it ahead to Gambrell. Gambrell raced down the ice and came to a sudden stop in the slot and beat Cain for his fourth goal of the season.
Denver went up 3-0 on a goal by Jaakko Heikkinen at 5:43 in the second period, finishing off a feed by Liam Finley on a two-on-one rush. That would be it for Cain, who made seven saves on the night.
Allison took over toward the end of the second period, scoring two goals in 1:23. The first came during a 4-on-4 spell, finishing a feed from Conrad at 16:37. He netted his second of the night at 17:50 after deking Jaillet out of position and burying it for his fifth goal of the season to cut the lead to 3-2.
Western Michigan heads on the road for the first time in National Collegiate Hockey Conference action, taking on Minnesota-Duluth on Friday and Saturday at 8:07 p.m.
