ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- The Western Michigan hockey team fell 7-3 to NCHC leaders St. Cloud State on Saturday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
The Broncos (7-14-3, 4-9-1-1 NCHC) picked up goals from Frederik Tiffels, Scott Moldenhauer and Kyle Novak on the night but the The Husky power play went 4-for-5 on the night to keep ahead.
SCSU once again struck first with Joey Benik tallying on the power play at 8:02 in the first period. Benik was open in the left circle and fired it into the net for his 15th goal of the season.
WMU tied it up at 13:53 with a power play goal of its own. Hafner played the puck up to Taylor Fleming and Fleming took it into the St. Cloud State zone. Fleming found Tiffels at the bottom of the right circle and the sophomore fired faked the pass and fired it past Charlie Lindgren for his sixth goal of the season, tying it 1-1.
The Huskies responded with two goals in the span of 36 seconds between 16:30 and 17:06 at the end of the first period. Patrick Russell gave SCSU a 2-1 lead at 16:30 on his 11th goal of the season and then Nathan Widman tallied shortly after to push the lead to 3-1 heading into the second period.
Moldenhauer cut the lead to 3-2 with his first collegiate goal at 2:46 in the second period. Tiffels found Moldenhauer on the right boards at center ice and the defenseman took the puck to the net while his teammates changed up. Moldenhauer's initial shot was stopped but he punched in his own rebound. Hafner tied a WMU single-game record for assists by a goalie with his second on the night, tying Kevin McCaffrey, who last did it on Feb. 15, 1986.
St. Cloud State pushed the lead to 5-2 after two quick goals at 5:05 and 6:21. Mikey Eyssimont tallied on the power play before Blake Winiecki netted his eighth of the season.
WMU cut the lead to 5-3 on a goal by Novak at 7:17 in the second period after he tipped in a shot by Matheson Iacopelli. Iacopelli picked up a loose puck and fired it from the left point and Novak tipped it between Lindgren's legs for his fourth goal of the season.
SCSU pushed the lead back to 6-3 on another power play goal at 11:25, this one by Jimmy Murray after he punched in a rebound on a shot by Winiecki.
WMU could have cut the lead to 6-4 just prior to the end of the second period after Sheldon Dries deflected a shot by Chris Dienes into the net. After a lengthy review it was ruled that the puck hit Dries' high stick and it was disallowed.
St. Cloud State added their fourth power play goal of the game at 3:06 in the third period to push the final score to 7-3.
Western Michigan hosts North Dakota on Friday and Saturday next weekend. Friday's game is set for 7 p.m. on NCHC.tv. Saturday's will be broadcast on American Sports Network, picked up locally on CW-7, and simulcast on TSN2 across Canada.
