HAMILTON, N.Y. — The 13th-ranked Western Michigan hockey team scored six straight goals to erase a 5-0 deficit and defeat Colgate, 6-5, on the road on Friday night.
Junior defenseman Ronnie Attard scored his first collegiate hat trick, and only the second in National Collegiate Hockey Conference history by a defenseman, to lead the way. Junior forward Jason Polin had a career-high four points with two goals and two assists, while Paul Washe had the other goal for the Broncos (4-1-0).
Western Michigan was staring a 5-0 hole in the face with three minutes left in the second period when Polin finally got the team on the board with his second goal of the season with 2:37 left in the second. Ty Glover fired a shot on net and Polin put the rebound in the net to cut the lead to 5-1.
WATCH: @ronnieattard is now the second NCHC defenseman (both Broncos) to record a hat trick! WMU takes the lead! pic.twitter.com/LawTnGaSCB
— WMU Hockey (@WMUHockey) October 30, 2021
Just 42 seconds later Ethen Frank created a turnover behind the Raider net and dished it off to Cole Gallant, who found Attard in front of the net. He flipped it just under the cross bar in the right corner of the net for his second goal of the season. Frank's assist extended his point streak to five games.
WMU trailed 5-2 heading into the third period but Polin's second of the night just 3:55 into the third cut the lead down to two. Attard ripped a shot from the center point and Polin skated in to bang in the rebound for his third of the season. Attard picked up his third assist of the season on the goal.
Washe cut the lead to one with 7:04 left to play, scoring from the slot on a feed from Polin that deflected off a Colgate defenseman. The goal was Washe's second of the season, with Polin picking up his second assist of the year and Glover picking up his second of the night.
Attard tied the game up with his second of the night, this time a rocket from the left point into the top-right corner of the net. Polin fed Attard the puck and the Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick had a wide-open shooting lane for his third goal of the season.
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Attard completed the hat trick and with 1:13 left to play on a shot from the right point that bounced off two Colgate players and into the net. Drew Worrad and Cole Gallant picked up assists on the game-winner.
The Raiders pulled their goalie with 50 seconds left to play but Brandon Bussi made two key saves late to preserve the win.
Western Michigan outshot Colgate 53-25 on the night, including 22-7 in the third period. It was the first 50-plus shot night for WMU since Oct. 6, 2017 in a 6-1 win over Ferris State. The Broncos finished the night scoreless on five power plays, while Colgate went 3-for-6.
The two teams meet again on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and heard live on the Bronco Radio Network.
