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Mitten Hockey story card: Western Michigan Broncos, NCAA Division I

Western Michigan Game Preview: vs. Notre Dame (Oct. 16) — Broncos open a home-and-home in Lawson’s final season

No. 6 Western Michigan hosts Notre Dame at Lawson Arena on Friday night to open a nonconference home-and-home series that finishes Saturday in South Bend.

Shaun
2–3 minutes

No. 6 Western Michigan opens a nonconference home-and-home series with Notre Dame on Friday at 7 p.m. at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo. The teams finish the set Saturday at 6 p.m. at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Indiana. Both teams are 2-0-0.

The Broncos

Western Michigan opened its final season at Lawson Arena by sweeping Ferris State, 6-0 at home on Oct. 8 and 5-1 in Big Rapids the next night, and climbed to No. 6 in the national polls. The Broncos then took last weekend off.

The opening weekend earned three of the NCHC’s weekly awards. Sophomore goaltender Quentin Miller stopped 47 of 48 shots in his first two games with the program, including a 24-save shutout on opening night. Junior defenseman Joona Väisänen led the team with four points, and freshman forward Adam Benák had four assists in the win at Ferris State. The penalty kill went 10-for-11 across the two games. Western Michigan has not announced a starting goaltender for Friday.

The Fighting Irish

Notre Dame also arrives unbeaten after sweeping Niagara at home, 3-1 and 4-0, on Oct. 8-9. The Irish won both of their exhibitions, 4-2 over the U.S. Under-18 Team and 2-1 over the University of Toronto. Notre Dame is coming off a 9-23-5 season in the Big Ten.

Storylines

Western Michigan won both meetings last season by identical 4-0 scores, at home and in South Bend on Jan. 2-3. Friday is also the Broncos’ first home game since the season opener, and every date at Lawson carries a little extra weight with the program set to move into a new arena next season. The series is a nonconference test before Western Michigan visits Michigan on Oct. 23.

How to watch

Friday’s game at Lawson Arena starts at 7 p.m. Eastern and streams on NCHC.tv, with radio on the Bronco Media Network. Saturday’s game in South Bend starts at 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock.

Sources

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