The No. 6/7 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team attempted a late game comeback – complete with two goals 36 seconds apart in the final 83 seconds of play – but it was too little too late against No. 3 Western Michigan University in a 4-3 loss Friday night inside AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
The Bulldogs trailed the Broncos 4-1 with 1:23 left in the game, but struck twice to pull within a single goal.
"Our guys have got to play better," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "I mean, at the end of the day, you got to be a better hockey team from start to finish. You can't just pick and choose."
UMD never led in the contest, but after WMU's Zaccharya Wisdom scored 7:32 into the opening period, the Bulldogs responded less than a minute later with a backdoor score from sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson.
The Broncos took back the lead at the 15:40 mark, and owned a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. But despite outshooting WMU 20-4 in the second period, the Bulldogs were unable to find the twine, and late in the period William Whitelaw did just that to extend the Broncos lead to 3-1.
With 4:50 left in the third, Owen Michaels added a fourth WMU goal and the game looked all but out of reach for the Bulldogs. UMD stormed back, however, and it began with Jayson Shaugabay banging in a pass from Zam Plante for the Bulldogs first power play goal of the night. 36 seconds later, Max Plante found Callum Arnott on the doorstep, and just like that, UMD had pulled within a single goal 46 seconds left in the third period.
Time simply ran out on the Bulldog though, who are now 1-2 against WMU this season.
"I didn't want anyone to quit, and nobody did," said Hanson. "If there's one thing we want to take positive out tonight, it would probably be that, so hopefully we can build on it tomorrow. "?
UMD outshot WMU 37-21 in the game but the Bulldogs went 1-of-6 on their power play while holding WMU scoreless in six attempts. Adam Gajan made 17 games for UMD, while Hampton Slukynsky had 34 for the Broncos, who improve to 17-6-0 overall and 9-4-0 in league play.
The Bulldogs (17-8-0, 8-7-0) will look to split the series tomorrow night against the Broncos – puck drop is set for 6:07 p.m.
