KALAMAZOO, Mich. – No. 14/15 Western Michigan scored two early goals and pulled away for a 4-1 win over the Omaha hockey team on Friday night at Lawson Arena.

The loss was the second in a row for the Mavericks who fell to 4-4-1 on the year and 1-2-0-0/0 in the NCHC.  The Broncos improved to 7-4-1 overall and 4-1-0-0/0 in the conference, taking over first place.

Western Michigan opened the scoring in the waning seconds of its first power play when Paul Washe knocked in a bouncing puck at 6:05.

The Broncos doubled their lead just 2:50 later when Colt Conrad scored during a scramble in front of Evan Weninger for his team-leading eighth goal of the year.

Hugh McGing made it 3-0 at 1:07 of the second when he beat Weninger with a hard wrist shot.

WMU's Dawson DiPietro scored off the rush at 6:51 of the third to extend the lead.

Teemu Pulkkinen broke up goalie Ben Blacker's bid for a second straight shutout when he slipped home a pass from Mason Morelli at 19:08 for his first goal of the season.  The goal also prevented the Mavericks from being shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since 2009.

Weninger, who was lifted in favor of Kris Oldham after the Broncos' fourth goal, took the loss in goal with 26 saves.  Oldham made three in relief.  Blacker stopped 24.

The two teams conclude the weekend series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CT.

NOTES:

• The Mavericks were held 0-for-4 on the power play while Western Michigan went 1-for-5.
• It was the second straight game the Mavericks had been held to four or fewer goals and the third time in nine games.
• With Pulkkinen's goal, thirteen players have now scored at least one goal for the Mavericks this season.
• David Pope, Tyler Vesel and Lukas Buchta led the team with four shots each. Buchta also paced the team with four blocked shots and a +1 rating.

Three Stars:  1. Ben Blacker (WMU); 2. Hugh McGing (WMU); 3. Paul Washe (WMU)