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THIS WEEK
After winning its first home playoff series since 1994 the Broncos head back on the road to Ann Arbor, Mich., to battle the No. 2 seeded Michigan Wolverines in a three game series.

LAST WEEK
Friday the Broncos spotted the Lakers an early 5-0 lead and were never able to recover. Western Michigan was able to shrink the lead down to three on goals by J.J. Crew, Kevin Connauton and Patrick Galivan but still fell 6-3.

On Saturday Connauton shot in a rebound off a shot by Kyle O'Kane to put an end to over 87 minutes of hockey and give the Broncos a new life and force a game three against Lake Superior State. The goal was Connauton’s second of the night and the third of the series as WMU won 4-3 in double overtime. Greg Squires and Jared Katz also tallied goals on the night and eight of the 10 points produced by WMU were by freshmen.

In game three Tyler Ludwig got the Broncos started mid-way through the first period. Ludwig walked the puck across the slot and fired a back-hander past LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis for the power play goal to give WMU a 1-0 lead. The Lakers responded a few minutes later on a goal by Nathan Perkovich, but that’s where LSSU’s scoring ended. Early in the second period O’Kane intercepted a pass by Perkovich and skated in on Inglis, beating him glove side.  Crew put the nail in the coffin with 14 seconds remaining in the second period, working the give-and-go with Galivan to beat Inglis. From there Riley Gill made 11 of his 29 saves in the third period to seal the series win.

SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan is 2-6 all time in CCHA Playoff games with the Wolverines. The Broncos won the first two but have lost the last six. The last time the two teams met in the post season was during the 1999-2000 CCHA Quarterfinals with Michigan sweeping WMU 6-2 and 4-2.

The Broncos are 2-1-0 in their last three games at Yost Arena, including beating the Wolverines 2-1 earlier this season.

RE-SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
The University of Michigan, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll, has two of the most dynamic players in college hockey in sophomores Aaron Palushaj and Louie Caporusso. Caporusso is the goal scorer and Palushaj is the assist man of the duo, with Caporusso netting 23 goals on the season and Palushaj tallying 32 assists. Each player has four points in four career games against the Broncos. Caporusso got all four of his this season, netting a hat-tick and an assist in Michigan's 5-0 win over the Broncos at Lawson Arena this season.

Sophomore Bryan Hogan has overtaken Billy Sauer as the top net-minder for the Maize & Blue, starting in 25 of Michigan’s 36 games. He made 20 saves in Michigan’s 5-0 win over WMU earlier this season. Backup senior Billy Sauer was in net for Michigan when the Broncos defeated them 2-1 at Yost Arena.

The blue line has been anchored by Chris Summers and Chad Langlais but recently saw the return of senior captain Mark Mitera. Mitera missed all but three games this season due to an injury. The Anaheim Ducks first round draft pick has tallied a goal and an assist since his return from the injury.

KEVIN CONNAUTON SCORES PLAYOFF GOALS
In just three career playoff games Kevin Connauton already has more goals in the playoffs than any other Bronco on the current roster. Connauton, a freshman from Edmonton, Alberta, tallied his first career playoff goal in Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Lakers but followed it up with two goals, including the game-winner in double overtime in Saturday night’s 4-3 win.

WMU PLAYOFF HOCKEY, POWERED BY FRESHMEN
Fourteen of WMU’s 26 points registered in the three game series were done so by freshmen, with seven of the Broncos’ 10 goals scored by first year players. J.J. Crew (2-2-4), Greg Squires (1-3-4), Kevin Connauton (3-0-3) and Kyle O'Kane (1-2-3) all tallied points in the series win over Lake Superior State. The non-freshmen to score goals were Patrick Galivan, Tyler Ludwig and Jared Katz, all three are paired on a line with at least one of the freshmen.

ALL GOOD THINGS.... CAN START AGAIN?
The streak is finally over. Patrick Galivan failed to extended his point scoring streak in Saturday night’s 4-3 double overtime win against Lake Superior State.

In all, there was 13 games, 11 goals, 16 assists and 27 points. The result? Patrick Galivan, 2008-09 CCHA Scoring Champion with 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points in 28 conference games. He is now one of five Broncos to capture the CCHA Scoring Title. During the 2000-01 season Mike Bishai and David Gove both tied with 43 points to capture the title, during the 1986-87 season Bronco great Wayne Gagne tallied 68 points and during the 1985-86 season WMU legend Dan Dorion won the scoring title with 82 points.

Until last Saturday night Galivan had registered eight straight games with at least two points. However all was back to normal on Sunday as Galivan tallied two assists in the Bronco victory

POWER-PLAYERS
While Galivan’s point scoring streak came to an end, the Bronco power play goal scoring streak continued on. WMU has tallied a power play goal in each of the last 11 games to close out the season and are 4-12 (25-percent) in the playoffs, netting a goal with the man advantage in each game of the LSSU series.  The Broncos have tallied 19 goals with the man advantage during the streak and are 11-10-5 on the season when tallying a power play goal and 8-5-1 during the streak.

LEAGUE RECOGNITION
Western Michigan received some post-season recognition during the week. Patrick Galivan was named Second Team All-CCHA and freshmen Kevin Connauton and Greg Squires were named Honorable Mention All-Rookie team. Riley Gill, Max Campbell and Tyler Ludwig also recieved votes for All-CCHA.