Monday, March 12, 2012

Broncos sweep Lake Superior to reach the Joe

Compiled by MiCHO Staff

Western Michigan swept a game Lake Superior State squad in two straight contests last weekend at Lawson Ice Arena and will venture to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA semifinals for the second consecutive season.

"We're pretty excited," said WMU coach Andy Murray. "There's four teams from the CCHA left that have a chance to win the championship, and we're one of them, so that's gratifying."

Friday night, the Broncos skated to a 4-2 win and then sealed the deal with a 5-2 victory the following evening.

"Our guys were very determined," Murray said Saturday night. "We thought we needed to play better than we played last night. We challenged our guys today. The first thing we did at our meeting here this morning was I asked everybody who in the room thought they could play better tonight than they played last night, or could be better than they were last night. I put my hand up and everybody else put their hand up as well. We all needed to be better and I thought we were tonight."

WMU captain Ian Slater scored twice and Mike Leone had a goal and an assist Friday night, while goalie Frank Slubowski needed to make just 20 saves. Dane Walters notched the other goal.

Zach Sternberg and Colin Campbell scored for LSSU, who got a 29-save outing from Kevin Kapalka.

Saturday night, Kyle O'Kane tallied twice and Leone and Dan DeKeyser each registered two assists for the Broncos. Matt Tennyson had a goal plus a helper, while Slater and Luke Witkowski scored other goals in the win.

Slubowski made 27 saves, compared to Kapalka's 35 stops.

Campbell and Zach Trotman scored for the Lakers, whose season is more than likely over as an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament seems unlikely.

The Broncos will play in the first semifinal Friday night at the Joe, taking on Miami at 4:35 p.m.

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