Western Michigan's Brandon Bussi made 36 saves to record his second career shutout as the 13th-ranked Bronco hockey team swept No. 2 St. Cloud State after a 4-0 win at Lawson Ice Arena on Saturday night.
Jason Polin, Michael Joyaux, Paul Washe and Ty Glover all scored for WMU (8-4-0, 3-3-0 NCHC). Bussi made 28 of his 36 saves in the first two periods before Western Michigan held the Huskies to eight shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. SCSU outshot WMU 36-24 overall on the night and both teams finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
GAME 1 RECAP: Western Mich. hockey's Ethen Frank scores 4 goals, helps beat No. 2 St. Cloud State
After a scoreless first period, a 17-second stint midway through the second flipped the game on its head. The Huskies had been dominating on chances, but Polin banged in a rebound on a shot by Washe at 7:49 to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead. Josh Passolt also picked up an assist on Polin's fourth goal of the season.
Just 17 seconds later, Joyaux created space for himself in the right circle and fired the puck past Jaxon Castor into the top-left corner of the net for his third goal of the season and sixth career goal against SCSU. Chad Hillebrand picked up an assist on the goal as WMU took a 2-0 lead.
The Broncos did their best to slow down St. Cloud State's attack in the third period. A late penalty on WMU gave the Huskies a power play in the final minutes. SCSU pulled Castor for the extra attacker but Ronnie Attard broke up a rush and pushed the puck to Cedric Fiedler and he cleared it down the ice. Washe won the race to the puck and tapped it into an open net for the short-handed goal, pushing the lead to 3-0.
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SCSU pulled the goalie again minutes later and this time it was Glover tapping it in after getting Attard stole the puck at the WMU blue line with eight seconds to play.
Western Michigan heads on the road for Thanksgiving, traveling to New York to take on Saint Lawrence on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+. The Broncos don't return home until Dec. 10-11 when they host No. 9 Omaha.
