SEASON STATS
THIS WEEK
Western Michigan heads to Columbus, Ohio, to battle the Buckeyes on Friday and Saturday in CCHA action. Bronco fans can view both games via webcast on Bronco Insider.
LAST WEEK
On Friday WMU burst out to an early three-goal lead on tallies by Jared Katz, Ian Slater and Max Campbell. Lake Superior State battled back to force overtime on an extra-attacker goal with seven seconds remaining. Neither team capitalized in the overtime period, sending the Broncos to their first shootout of the season. Jerry Kuhn stole the show, stopping all three chances for LSSU and J.J. Crew beat Brian Mahoney-Wilson in the third round to secure two points for WMU.
On Saturday the Broncos picked up their first CCHA win of the season, defeating the Lakers 2-1. Ian Slater and Patrick Nagorsen each tallied goals to put the Broncos up 2-0 in the third and Riley Gill made 40 saves on the night to secure the win.
SERIES HISTORY - Western Michigan - 63-56-10
Friday will be the 130th meeting between the Broncos and the Buckeyes with WMU holding the all-time edge 63-56-10. The Broncos are 30-31-6 at Columbus and are 2-0-2 in their last four games at Value City Arena.
Max Campbell is averaging a point per game in his career against the Buckeyes, tallying a goal and three assists in four games. Riley Gill is the only Bronco goaltender to see action against OSU with a 3-1-2 record with a 2.50 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State (3-6-1, 2-3-1-1) sits in fourth place in the CCHA with eight points in six games. Since starting conference play the Buckeyes have managed to get points in each of its first three weekends with wins over Lake Superior and Northern Michigan and a tie with a shootout win over nationally ranked Notre Dame.
At times, the Buckeyes have struggled on both the offensive and defensive ends of the ice so far this season. OSU ranks 11th in the CCHA in scoring and eighth in defense. On the power play they rank at 11th, converting on six of 52 chances for 11.5 percent. The Buckeyes are last in the league on the penalty kill, killing off just 77.6 percent of chances.
Offensively the Buckeyes have plenty of balance. Ohio State's 21 goals have come from 12 different players, with half of them having at least two tallies. Forwards John Albert and Zac Dalpe lead the team in scoring, each with seven points off of three goals and four assists.
In goal the Buckeyes have split goaltenders for all 10 games with Dustin Carlson and Cal Heeter each starting in five. Heeter has been the better of the two, with a record of 3-1-1, a 2.17 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. Carlson is 0-5-0 but has a slightly better save percentage at .927.
WELL THE CALL IT THE STREAK, AND IT CONTINUES!
Freshman left-winger Trevor Elias has played eight games in his collegiate career with Western Michigan. It just so happens, he has tallied a point in every game so far this season. Elias started off with an assist in each of WMU's wins over Mercyhurst. He followed that up by a pair of goals in WMU's sweep of Alabama-Huntsville and then netted a goal in Friday's 2-1 loss to MSU and an assist in last Saturday's game. Elias tallied his fourth assist on the season in WMU's 3-3 tie with LSSU on Friday and followed it up with another assist in WMU's 2-1 win on Saturday.
ONLY THE LONELY
Western Michigan is the lone team in the CCHA to not have a goal scored by a defenseman so far this season. The Broncos rank eighth in the CCHA in total offense with 22 goals scored and 2.75 per game. While the defenseman have not scored goals, they have been tallying assists with 10 total in eight games played.
PENALTY KILLERS
Western Michigan ranks in at first in the CCHA and fourth in the nation on the penalty kill. The Broncos have only surrendered four goals while down a man, killing off 90.0 percent of the penalties they take. Not taking penalties have also helped the Broncos, as only Alaska has had fewer penalty kill opportunities, 30, than WMU's 40.
