Minnesota Duluth came out victorious 5-4 in game one against No. 14 Western Michigan in a tight game. UMD won their first Friday game on the road as well as the first Friday game of conference play. UMD will enter tomorrow 7-6 overall and 3-2 in NCHC play.
In game one against WMU, five different Bulldogs netted goals.
Kyle Bettens and
Cole Spicer recorded their first collegiate goals, along with
Darian Gotz scoring his first of the year.
Ben Steeves and
Quinn Olson both recorded two points, each with a goal and assists. Also recording assists tonight was
Owen Gallatin,
Isaac Howard,
Carter Loney, and
Derek Daschke who notched two.
Period one got off to a quick start. Smith brought the puck over the blue to make a pass across to Bettens during a two-on-one. From the right side, Bettens sent the puck into the net just 2:45 into the game and got the lead for UMD. Just two minutes later the Bulldogs were back in the offensive zone. Daschke fired a shot on net that was blocked but Spicer pulled the puck out enough to fire one in the back of the net at 4:33. As the Bulldogs were at 2-0 lead, the Broncos took 30 seconds to respond back with their first goal of the game and closed the gap 2-1. At 7:16, WMU was called for a delayed penalty. As UMD tried to bring the puck around the back of the net to set up the play they scored an own goal, making it a tied game. The Bulldogs then went on the power play. At the start of the power play, WMU netted a short handed goal to take the lead 3-2. Steeves made a pass from the face-off circle back to Daschke at the blue line. Daschke passed it back up the right side to Steeves for a one timer that tied the game back up 3-3 at 9:03. At the end of the period UMD led with shots on goal 14 to 13.
The Bulldogs went into the second period tied with the Broncos. Less than two minutes into the period, Howard picked the puck up off the face-off and made a pass through two WMU skaters to Olson. In the face-off circle Olson fired the puck into the top-shelf and took the lead 4-3. Halfway through the period UMD went on the penalty kill. Western Michigan netted a power play goal to tie the game back up. UMD led shots on goal at the end of the period 10 to 8.
Going into period three the game was still tied. The Bulldogs had a power play opportunity half way through the period, but could not get the puck past. As the game was near an end and still tied up, Gotz took a penalty with 3:12 left. The Bulldogs did not allow any shots on goal during the penalty kill. As Gotz was getting out of the box Olson made a pass up the ice. On the breakaway Gotz netted the game winning goal with 1:05 left.
UP NEXT Minnesota Duluth will take the ice at Lawson Arena again tomorrow night for game two against Western Michigan at 5:07 p.m. CT.
