Western Michigan takes both from NMU

By Karl Henkel/Western Michigan Beat Writer

The streak has reached double digits.

With two more victories over the weekend at Lawson Arena, this time over Northern Michigan, Western Michigan is now unbeaten in its last 11 contests — the longest unbeaten streak in the nation — and are now alone in fourth place in the CCHA.

“Those are nice accolades, but we keep it one game at a time,” WMU forward Ian Slater said. “We know what we have in front of us and we don’t want to dwell on it too much because we know what we want to accomplish.”

The Broncos defeated the Wildcats 5-2 Friday before throttling them 6-1 in the Saturday finale.

In the opener, WMU led 1-0 and 2-1, but each time NMU answered with a power-play goal.

But in the third period, the Broncos scored three unanswered goals, led by Greg Squires’ seventh of the season at the 45-second mark en route to the 5-2 victory.

NMU's Reid Ellingson and Broncos' goalie Jerry Kuhn each made 21 stops in net.

In the second game, NMU (11-13-4, 9-9-2-0 CCHA) took an early 1-0 lead, but Western Michigan put on one of its better offensive showings and scored six straight times.

Shane Berschbach (seventh), Slater (sixth), Ben Warda (fourth), Danny DeKeyser (third), Chase Balisy (10th) and Ryan Watson (fifth) all scored for the Broncos.

Jared Coreau stopped 44 shots for NMU; Kuhn turned aside 17 for WMU.

Western Michigan (14-6-8, 8-5-7-4 CCHA) next hosts last-place Bowling Green for a weekend series next Friday and Saturday, with both games beginning at 7:35 p.m.

The Wildcats (11-13-4, 9-9-2 CCHA) host Lake Superior State next weekend for two games. Both start at 7:30 p.m.