2 weeks Ago
ST. LOUIS — Western Michigan won its first NCAA hockey national championship in program history on Saturday, as a pair of goals by sophomore wing Owen Michaels helped the beat five-time champion Boston University 6-2 in the final of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four at Enterprise Center. Michaels, the tournament MVP, finished with four goals in the Frozen Four after scoring the double-overtime game-winning goal on Thursday in the 3-2 win over NCHC rival and defending national champion Denver.
ADVERTISEMENT “It’s not about me, it’s about this group, the Western Michigan Broncos doing something we’ve never done,” Michaels said. “Each and every year it seems like the bar keeps getting raised and we took a lot of pride this year in doing our part. We sure did.
” Senior wing Wyatt Schingoethe, sophomore defenseman Cole Crusberg-Roseen, freshman wing Ty Henricks and freshman wing Iiro Hakkarainen also scored for the Broncos, who were the clear favorite of the 16,953 fans in attendance playing 414 miles from their modest home of Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Players said it felt like a home game Saturday in St. Louis.
“They travel well, too. Holy ..
.,” said fifth-year senior center and captain Tim Washe about the Broncos fans, who were shown on the video board drinking beer from a shoe and taking their shirts off. “The support is phenomenal.
You can’t ask for better fans.” Washe had two assists for the Broncos, who also won their first NCHC regular and postseason title in 2024-25, finishing 34-7-1 to complete the best season in the 51-year history of a program that started as an NCAA Division II team in 1973. Freshman goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 24 saves, only giving up goals to Boston University freshman wing Cole Eiserman and sophomore Shane Lachance after delayed whistles by the referees allowed the Terriers to poke loose pucks through.
Western led by just one heading into the third period before pulling ahead by two seven minutes in, and then getting two goals late. ADVERTISEMENT “I’m so proud of this team,” Broncos coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “They stuck together and believed in themself from start to finish, not only this season, but in this game.
They stayed focused on each individual game, one-by-one, all season.” Slukynsky, of Warroad, is one of five Minnesotans on the Broncos’ roster along with his older brother, Grant, who transferred to Western in the summer from Northern Michigan. The Broncos also feature sophomore wing Alex Bump of Prior Lake, and freshmen Grady Gallatin of White Bear Lake and Zach Blade of Inner Grove Heights.
Ferschweiler, the NCHC and national coach of the year, is from Rochester, Minnesota, while his associate head coach, Jason Herter and his family, make the Duluth/Hermantown area home. Herter was an assistant coach and associate head coach at Minnesota Duluth for nine seasons, helping the Bulldogs win NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019. The NCHC, which only had two teams in the tournament his year, now has seven national championships in the league’s 12 seasons, with the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 NCAA tournament.
All seven have come in the last 10 years. Freshman goaltender Mikhail Yegorov made 22 saves on 27 shots for the Terriers, who were making their third-straight Frozen Four appearance this year and seeking their first NCAA title since 2009. “You're proud to get here, but you want to finish the job.
So it hurts,” Boston coach Jay Pandolfo said. “I really feel for our players more than anything else because it's hard, and it's special to win this thing. I want to see those guys experience that.
That's my goal is for me to see our players and our program experience that again. That's what I want to see.”.
