WMU splits with No. 8 Notre Dame

By Karl Henkel/Western Michigan Beat Writer

Western Michigan came along way since its last-place finish last season.

After drawing a split during a home-and-home series with Notre Dame over the weekend, the Broncos finished the regular season fourth in the CCHA, the highest finish for a WMU team since 1994-95, when it went to the NCAA Tournament.

The Irish won the opener, 3-2, and the Broncos shut out Notre Dame 2-0 in the finale.

In the opener in Kalamazoo, Max Campbell scored twice and earned his 100th career point, but it wasn’t enough as No. 8 Notre Dame overcame a 2-1 third-period deficit and won 3-2.

Jeff Costello tied the game early in the third before Anders Lee scored a power-play goal with less than five minutes to play.

Jerry Kuhn made 26 stops for the Broncos and Mike Johnson stopped 16 for the Irish.

In the second game at Notre Dame, Western Michigan built a 2-0 first period lead with goals from Ian Slater and Trevor Elias less than two minutes apart and held on as Kuhn stopped all 35 shots fired his direction.

Western Michigan (16-10-10, 10-9-9-5 CCHA) secured a first-round bye in the CCHA Tournament and will play No. 5 Ferris State (17-14-5, 12-12-4-3 CCHA) in a best-of-three series beginning March 11 in Kalamazoo.