Owen Beckner had a goal and an assist for Colorado College, but Grant Slukynsky scored twice for No. 4 Western Michigan to lead the Broncos to a 5-2 victory over the Tigers in game one of the NCHC quarterfinal series Friday night at Lawson Arena.
 
Slukynsky put the Broncos (25-9-1) on the board with a power-play goal at the 17:31 mark of the first period. The Tigers killed off a penalty earlier in the opening frame, but couldn't do the same after a boarding call to Drew Montgomery as Slukynsky took a pass from Samuel Sjolund and beat CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko with a wrist shot from the left circle.
 
Garrett Szydlowski made it 2-0 with just 21.2 seconds left in the first period when he took a crossing pass from Tyler MacKenzie and finished a 2-on-1 rush.
 
The Tigers (13-16-6) roared out of the gate in the second period and took the momentum back with a pair of goals in a span of 2:17. Beckner cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 5:19 mark by taking a pass from Wilson Björck deep in the Bronco zone and beating WMU goalie Hampton Slukynsky with a backhander.
 
Beckner then collected an assist from behind the net by feeding Seth Constance, who fired a wrister from the right circle past Hampton Slukynsky at the 7:36 mark. Ryan Koering also notched an assist on the play.
 
The Broncos regained the lead with 4:34 remaining in the middle frame when William Whitelaw beat Mbereko on a clean breakaway.
 
The Broncos took advantage of a power play in the first minute of the third period and Mbereko leaving the ice with an apparent injury just 1:22 into the frame. After Gavin Lindberg was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct, Liam Valente's shot from the right circle was blocked and went right to Cole Spicer, who had an open net from the left circle past backup goalie Jackson Unger for a 4-2 lead at the 2:13 mark.
 
Grant Slukynsky scored an empty-net goal with 1:52 left for the final margin.
 
Western Michigan outshot CC, 38-28, and was 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Tigers were 0-for-1. Mbereko finished the game with 30 saves, including 19 in the first period, while Unger made three. Hampton Slukynsky made 26 saves for WMU.
 
The teams will face off again on Saturday, March 7, in game two of the best-of-three series. The contest is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. (ET) at Lawson Arena.