GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- There's a saying of resignation when a puck thrown toward the net hits a defenseman's skate and slides into the net.

"That's hockey,'' is the common refrain.

That was heard from UND players and coaches alike tonight as Western Michigan sophomore wing Josh Passolt got the winning goal when his centering pass hit the skate of UND defenseman Hayden Shaw and found open net around UND goalie Peter Thome.

That fortunate play for the Broncos and unlucky break for the Fighting Hawks broke a scoreless tie at 12:24 of the third period, leading to WMU's National Collegiate Hockey Conference 2-0 victory over UND in front of 11,097 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Colt Conrad iced the win for the Broncos when he added an empty-net goal at 18:23 of the third period after Thome had been pulled for a sixth skater.

Senior goalie Trevor Gorsuch, who came into the series with a .897 save percentage, stopped all 32 shots he faced as UND outshot Western Michigan 32-19. 

That continued a troubling trend for UND (5-4-1), which has outshot its opponent in every loss this season. 

Thome had no chance to cover the puck when the pass from Passolt re-directed off a skate and into the net. "That's a tough play,'' he said, "but tough plays happen. It's disappointing, but it was a tough bounce.''

Thome, making his first start in the last seven games, faced just eight shots through two periods. The Broncos turned up the pressure and outshot UND 11-4 in the final period, to beat UND for just the fifth time in 23 overall meetings.

"First 40 minutes were pretty good, I thought,'' said UND captain Colton Poolman. "That was kind of our game plan. We were creating chances on the power play, just didn't score. They battled back in the third, and got a bounce.''

Still, the unfortunate bounce off a skate hurt, as UND lost its second straight game after a split last weekend at Miami.

"Sometimes that happens,'' Poolman said of the bounce going WMU's way. "That's the name of the game. That's hockey sometimes. You can do all the little things, but maybe it (the puck) won't go. Their goalie played really well, I thought, and they blocked a lot of shots. And we didn't bury our early chances.''

UND's best chances might have been a rebound that bounced off the stick of UND defenseman Matt Kiersted with the net open to him, a blast off the crossbar by Cole Smith early in the third period and a strong rush to the net by Joel Janatuinen that was turned back by Gorsuch.

And with that, UND had no cushion to offset the bounce that the Broncos got off a UND skate for the winning goal.

"They got a bounce there,'' Poolman said. "We didn't. That's hockey sometimes.''

UND coach Brad Berry liked the play of his team over the first two periods. Not so much in the third. "In the third period, the game's up for grabs, it's 50-50,'' he said "We kind of backed off a bit. We got to make sure the way we played for 40, even though we didn't score a goal, you've got to have that tenacity for 60.''

Berry said strong play in practice earned Thome the start in goal. "I thought he was sharp tonight. You can't fault him on the one goal.''

Berry said Shaw was doing all the right things, boxing out in front of the net in front of Thome. "That's hockey,'' Berry said of Passolt's pass off Shaw's skate.

"Hopefully things even out, the bounces even out,'' Berry said. "We need to have that tomorrow.''

Game notes: Western Michigan improved to 5-6 overall and 2-3 in the NCHC while UND dropped to 1-2 in league play . . . Gorsuch, Passolt and Thome were named the three stars of the game by the media, in that order . . . The Fighting Hawks were 0-3 on the power play with 8 shots on goal, the Broncos 0-2 with 1 shot . . . Grant Mismash had 6 shots on goal to pace UND, while defenseman Gabe Bast had 5 . . . UND lost the faceoff battle 33-28, but senior center Rhett Gardner led UND with 15 wins in 25 draws . . . Nick Jones, Ludvig Hoff, Josh Rieger and Jackson Keane were the scratches from UNDs lineup. Jones and Hoff have been battling injuries.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's reported on UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 50th season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.