Western Michigan (3-0-1) at Denver (4-2)

Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) at Magness Arena

Last season: Denver won the series, 2-1-1, winning both Friday games but losing both Saturday games (technically, the 2OT loss at DU was a tie for NCAA purposes)

Overview: This is the NCHC opener for both teams, and lest DU fans think the Broncos have fattened up their statistics on a batch of cupcakes, bear in mind they swept Ferris State, which gave DU fits in the NCAA Tournament’s West Regional final. The Broncos, who were  8-25-3 last season (1-17-2 in the NCHC) have turbo charged their offense, scoring more than twice as many goals per game as a season ago and thus far have tightened up their defense substantially.

Offense

The Broncos are averaging nearly five goals per game after notching just 2.2 a season ago, and while they have a talented freshman class, led thus far by forward Wade Allison, who has five points, a number of returning players have stepped up their games in the season’s first month. Junior defenseman Scott Moldenhauer also has five points after getting three all last season. Senior blue liner Taylor Fleming has five assists after having six last season, and junior forward Aidan Muir has five assists after totaling eight points last season. Allison’s three goals are surpassed only by sophomore Matheson Iacopelli’s four (three of which came in one game). Senior captain Sheldon Dries and sophomore Griffen Molino (four points each) are other scoring threats up front. Molino led the team with 25 points as a freshman, and he and Dries each topped the Broncos with 11 goals.

Defense

So far, the Broncos have allowed 2.5 goals per game. A year ago, that number was just about four. Western typically plays four upperclassmen on defense. It has had a time share in net thus far between freshman Ben Blacker (2-0-0, 2.88 goals-against average and .892 save percentage) and sophomore Trevor Gorsuch (1-0-1, 1.81, .917), who only started two games all of last season.

Special teams

This is the biggest area of improvement for the Broncos, and given how much tighter games are being called this season, there is no better category to improve in. WMU is scoring on nearly 31 percent of its power-play chances, and has averaged three goals per game on the power play. THREE PER GAME. A season ago, WMU connected 17.5 percent of the team. The Broncos’ penalty kill is also improved, with a 87.5 percent success rate after 71.7 last season. Factor in that Western is taking two fewer penalties per game (eight) that it is drawing (10), and you begin to understand why it’s off to such a strong start.

@MagnessMayhem