Box Score Western Michigan University took its first -- and only -- lead of the game 7:49 into the third period and made it stick Saturday night, holding on for a 4-3 road victory over the University of Minnesota Duluth and a two-game sweep of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference first-round playoff series.  The Broncos now advance to next weekend's NCHC Frozen Faceoff while the Bulldogs end their season with a 16-16-4 overall record.

UMD outshot Western Michigan 37-11 on the night, including 12-1 in the first period when it went up 2-1 on goals from sophomore center Tony Cameranesi and junior right winger Adam Krause (the seventh of the year for both players). Chase Balisy drew Western Michigan (19-15-4) even 5:25 into the second period but seven minutes later, senior right winger Joe Basaraba put the Bulldogs back on top when he took a nifty feed from Caleb Herbert and roofed a shot from between the face off circles.  The Bulldogs, who were 17-0-3 over the last 20 games it had led heading into the third period, gave up two goals 87 seconds apart in the final period of play, the second coming on the power play at the 7:49 mark.

"Western's special teams were better than ours this weekend," said Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs went 0-for-7 on the power play while the Broncos were 3-of-7. "That was the difference."

The Bulldogs, now 24-12-0 lifetime in home conference playoff games, attempted 76 shots on the night, 24 of which were blocked by Bronco defenders. Exactly half of those blocks came in the first period.

"You have to give them credit," said Krause. "They had a game play and they executed it to a 'T".

The loss marked the end of the collegiate line for UMD's four seniors -- Basaraba, goaltender Aaron Crandall, forward Max Tardy and defenseman Tim Smith -- as well as fourth-year junior defenseman Luke McManus (who is retiring from the Bulldog program due to a chronic shoulder injury). All but McManus were in uniform  Saturday night.

"I really feel bad for the seniors," said Krause. "They put so much into this program and seeing them leave is a huge bummer."