No. 17 Western Michigan stuns No. 1 Michigan, No. 7 Quinnipiac handles No. 6 North Dakota, No. 12 Providence rallies past No. 8 Denver in wild Friday

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Five different players scored goals as No. 17 Western Michigan upset top-ranked Michigan, 5-2, in Ann Arbor on Friday (Photo: Ashley Huss/Western Michigan Athletics

Visiting Western Michgan took a 3-0 lead before the midway point of Friday’s game against No. 1 Michigan as the 17th-ranked Broncos skated to a 5-2 victory.

Five different players scored goals for Western Michigan, which improves to 3-0-0 while Michigan suffers its first loss to drop to 4-1-0.

Aidan Fulp gave the Broncos the early lead scoring with 53 second remaining in the first. That was followed by second period goals by Rhett Kingston and Ethen Frank.

Once Michigan’s offense solved netminder Brandon Bussi at 10:28 of the second, Western immediately responded with a back breaking Dylan Wendt goal 2:05 later.

Bussi finished the game with 23 saves.

Michigan becomes the third team to drop a game in its first weekend holding the number one ranking. Massachusetts was swept by Minnesota State in the opening week of the season. The Mavericks ascended to number one the following Monday but dropped a game to St. Cloud State the following weekend.

Now Michigan, after knocking off Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State to win the IceBreaker last weekend, has fallen in the first of two with the Broncos this weekend.

The pair will square off at Western Michigan’s Lawson Arena on Saturday.

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No. 7 Quinnipiac 5, No. 6 North Dakota 2

In one of the most anticipated games in the short history Quinnipiac’s Frank Perrotti Arena, the host Bobcats sent home the capacity crowd happy.

Graduate transfer Oliver Chau scored twice and the Quinnipiac defense held a potent North Dakota offense to just 16 shots on goal as the Bobcats defeated the Fighting Hawks, 5-2, in the first game of a two-game series.

While North Dakota took an early lead on Matteo Costantini, Quinnipiac had an answer and more. After Chau scored at 13:51 of the first to tie the game, the Bobcats piled on with three more goals by the midway point of the third for a 4-1 lead.

Though North Dakota tried to battle back on a Jack Sanderson goal with 3:43 left, Chau capped off the scoring with an empty-net tally in the closing minute.

No. 12 Providence 6, No. 8 Denver 5

In the craziest game of Friday, Providence rallied from third period deficits of 4-1 and 5-4 and Brett Berard scored with 1:01 left in regulation as the Friars knocked of Denver at Schneider Arena.

Four Denver goals in the second period surrounded by a Max Crozier tally for the Friars spotted the Pioneers a 4-1 advantage headed to the third.

But Providence’s offense came out motivated in the final frame. By the 4:14 mark, the game was tied on two goals by Nick Poisson at :33 and 3:41 and a Jamie Engelbert tally at 4:14.

Denver had an answer, though, on the power play. Carter Savoie scored with the man advantage with 9:40 left, a seemingly crushing blow.

Not for Poisson, though, who completed the hat trick just 91 seconds later before setting up Berard’s last minute goal to complete the dramatic comeback.

Despite allowing five goals, Jaxson Stauber earned the win with 39 saves on the night.

 

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