GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- UND junior hockey captain Colton Poolman had to fight back his emotions Saturday night after the Fighting Hawks were dismantled 6-2 by Western Michigan to complete a National Collegiate Hockey Conference sweep for the Broncos.

UND was on the brink of matching the largest margin of home loss since 2005 (7-2, Denver) until Rhett Gardner's tip-in on a power play with 10 seconds remaining erased that possibility.

Still, the third straight loss for UND was ugly in most every department, coming on the heels of a 2-0 Western Michigan win on Friday night

Poolman took on the leadership role he holds in addressing the issues head-on.

"We lost our cool. There was no resolve, no urgency,'' Poolman said.

But he had even stronger words. "We turned on each other for a little bit,'' he said. "It's hard to say . . . but that's the truth.''

The Broncos were led by senior center Colt Conrad, who had a monster 5-point game with a goal and four assists. Josh Passolt added two goals with other goals coming from Wade Allison, Hugh McGing and defenseman Corey Schueneman, who also had two assists.

All that offense easily erased a 1-0 UND lead built on freshman Jasper Weatherby's first college goal, coming on a power-play rebound at 6:17 of the first period.

The Broncos tied it at 1-1 on a Conrad rebound goal at 13:10, then blitzed UND with three straight goals in the second period to take charge and chase starting UND goalie Adam Scheel from the net with four goals going against him along with 14 saves. Friday's starting goalie, Peter Thome, allowed two goals on the eight shots he faced in his 26 minutes of play.

"We just didn't play well,'' Poolman said, "We started trying to do things by ourselves, and got a little selfish, a little individualistic . . . it's pretty embarrassing. I'm pretty embarrassed to be sitting right here (press room) after that kind of game, after that series. That's not Sioux hockey. That's not what we do as a family. But we're honest with each other and we call a spade a spade when we put on performances like that. We're embarrassed, and that's not good enough for the caliber of program we should be.''

Strong words from an emotional, powerful leader.

The game seemed to turn against UND early in the second period when a point shot by Schueneman was kicked out by Scheel, but the rebound bounced back into the net off the body of UND defenseman Andrew Peski for a 2-1 WMU lead. From that point on, it only got worse for the Fighting Hawks, who dropped to 1-3 in the NCHC and 5-5-1 overall, WMU improved to 3-3 in the NCHC and 6-6 overall.

UND coach Brad Berry said the Hawks got the start they wanted with Weatherby's goal, but didn't seem to recover from Conrad's tying goal, on a play where it appeared Scheel originally had the puck covered with his glove in the crease.

"The first one that they got, it was one that kind of put us on our heels,'' Berry said. "We didn't respond from there,'' Berry said. "From there on in, we couldn't put some shifts together, play in their zone. They took over the game.''

He gave the Broncos full credit. "Tip your hat, that's a good team over there,'' Berry said. "From our standpoint, we didn't play as a team. We had guys doing things that we don't usually do. The first 10 games, our play away from the puck has been impeccable, giving up less than 10 scoring chances a game. Tonight, it seemed like everyone was on a different page .  . . we weren't crisp in our team play, and that resulted in what you saw.''

A crowd of 11,262 at Ralph Engelstad Arena thinned considerably as UND's play went downhill rather than rally as the game went on.

"We just didn't have it, right off the puck drop,'' assistant captain Gardner said. "I thought our play in the third period last night (outscored 2-0) kind of crept into our start tonight. Selfishness kind of crept into our game. Got away from what we do. Cost us.''

Game notes: UND had a 32-26 edge in shots on goal, but was outshot 12-6 in the second period when WMU outscored the Fighting Hawks 3-0 . . . Grant Mismash led UND in shots on goal with 4 while Matt Kiersted, Casey Johnson, Hayden Shaw and Weatherby had 3 each . . . Lawton Courtnall led WMU in shots on goal with 4 . . . WMU beat UND in faceoffs for the second straight night, winning 35 of 65....Gardner led UND, winning 17 of 28....UND was 2-6 on the power play with 5 shots on goal, WMU 2-5 with 5 shots as well . . . UND stays home next weekend for a nonconference series with Alaska Anchorage.

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.