Western Michigan wins first NCAA title in school history

Watching the NCAA championship game with no foreknowledge, you would never have guessed which team was one of college hockey's most decorated programs, on its third consecutive Frozen Four appearance, and which had never experienced a game this late in the season.

But Western Michigan University, as it had done basically all season, established its game early, vexed its opponent throughout, and never trailed. End result? A whopping 6-2 win over Boston University for its first-ever NCAA title, in an arena close enough to their home in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that the crowd was largely cheering them on.

"It feels great, honestly," said coach Pat Ferschweiler, who took over at his alma mater just four years ago and elevated it to previously unimaginable heights. "The pride I feel as an alum and former captain of this program, to see it reach new heights and have this group of special young men execute at that level and care about each other at that level, is so special."

The game was close until it wasn't. BU was either tied or within a goal for about 40 of the game's 60 minutes, and it was only when Owen Michaels scored midway through the third that the game started to really run away from the Terriers. 

"I thought we competed all the way through," said BU coach Jay Pandolfo, who went to four Frozen Fours as a Terrier player and now three straight since taking the job at his alma mater. "Western Michigan's a good hockey team. They're well-coached, they're a heavy team, they play hard. Overall, it was a good game, I don't think it was quite a 6-2 game."

It wasn't so much that Western played a great first period — they rarely amped up the pressure for any extended lengths of time — but they certainly took better care of the puck and got a couple bounces. First, Wyatt Schingoethe just had his stick in just the right spot, as a shot he wasn't even facing ramped off his blade and over Mikhail Yegorov (22 saves), just 1:38 into the game.

And while Cole Eiserman scored his 25th goal of the game on a chaotic goalmouth scramble less than six minutes later, it was a little bit against the run of play and didn't divert WMU from its approach.

"We've had depth all year in scoring," Ferschweiler said. "We're not just carried by one guy. We have a superstar, Alex Bump, no doubt, but we have a lot of good supporting players. Some of the most important moments of the game Wyatt Schingoethe, Garrett Szydlowski, to Cam Knuble, to Ty Henricks. We believe in these guys, they believe in each other, and they knew they were gonna execute. They just played Bronco hockey and stuck with it."

Part of that "Bronco hockey" was that BU just wasn't doing the best job of managing the puck, and was trying to force things a little bit. When BU's top line turned it over in the attacking zone, and Western's own first unit took it the other way on a 3-on-2 with about five minutes to play, the Terriers' inability to corral a wide shot off the end boards gave Cole Crusberg-Roseen plenty of room to rocket it into the net and reestablish the lead. Which was bad news for BU, because Western is a team that gets on top of you and rarely lets you back up; they lost just four games all year when scoring the first goal, and half that many when they led through 20 minutes.

Attempts were 24-13 in the Broncos' favor, which felt about right, but they also had to be aware that with the skill at the top of the BU lineup, all it took was one chance for that lead to evaporate.

The only solution, then, was to make sure BU barely had the puck in the early minutes of the second period. When Cam Knuble and Ty Henricks drove the net a little over five minutes in and doubled the lead, it felt like they could breathe a little easier and settle a little deeper into their possession-focused, heavy game.

If there was desperation on BU's part after that, it was hard to spot. With Western just leaning on them like a boxer that was comfortably winning a fight on points, they were content to ride out the raining 35 minutes and get in offense where a window to do so opened. For the Broncos, that was preferable to letting BU start throwing haymakers that could unbalance their confidence or buoy that of their opponents.

“We're not panicking. We're a calm group, so nothing's gonna faze us,” Ferschweiler said.

But Nick Roukanakis, who hasn't scored a goal all season and only averaged 6:26 of ice time per game coming in, found the offensive wherewithal to drive the net and draw a penalty a few minutes later and just 16 seconds into the man advantage, Shane Lachance poked home another loose puck in the crease that Hampton Slukynsky (24 saves) simply failed to control. That's why they call it an insurance goal, but the answer from BU highlighted how unsafe leads would be against a quick-strike, out-of-nowhere offense like theirs.

"To be honest, I mean, that's just hockey," Slukynsky said. "Some nights you're controlling it well, sometimes it's just bouncing."

The teams traded power plays before the second intermission, but neither found much success. Still, the Broncos held the lead and were playing the game their way, holding BU to just 24 shot attempts and 16 on goal through 40 minutes, which had to be encouraging even if the prospect of an out-of-nowhere tying goal loomed.

And, no surprise here, BU came out pushing. Finally, they looked like the Terriers team that terrorized opposing defenses and menaced goalies consistently throughout the season. Scoring chances piled up for the top line, for Eiserman, for Cole Hutson (who wasn't a huge feature of the first two periods, which helps explain the BU deficit). Slukynsky was the only thing stemming the rising tide, and Western had few answers except in spurts, until Michaels broke in on a counterattacking 2-on-1, looked shot all the way, and pushed the lead to two goals once again, with 12:44 remaining in regulation.

"They were pushing there, when it was 3-2, and we talk about having to skate out of scrums. That's exactly what Owen Michaels did," Ferschweiler said. "There's a flurry around the net, a lot of people want to whack the puck outta there, and it's hard to skate. Now he skates all the way down the ice and then buries it at the other end. It's a winning hockey play, and something we talk about on a regular basis." 

Could BU claw it back in less than 13 minutes? Yes. But that fourth goal seemed to either awaken Western or deaden BU's resolve.

"We're pushing really hard there," Pandolfo said. "It's 3-2, we're pushing real hard, we're getting our chances, puck's not going in the net. They ended up getting a break and making it 4-2. It was a little tough from that point on.

The Broncos had the better of the play for most of the rest of the game, apart from a few disparate chances the other way. Iiro Hakkarainen scored WMU's fifth on a quick play from behind the net, before BU even had the opportunity to pull Yegorov in favor of the extra attacker. One goal might have felt possible. Two maybe doable. Three? Insurmountable. Michaels added his fourth goal of the weekend into an empty net, to secure not only the national title, but the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. He leapt into the WMU bench to celebrate with what is sure to be an iconic image.

"I'm not too sure what I was screaming, but just a ton of emotions," Michaels said. "That goal was not about me one bit. It was about this team and this group, and doing something this program's never done, so I just wanted to be with the guys."

Western ends the season with the NCHC regular-season championship, the NCHC postseason championship, and now the NCAA championship. That's a lot of hardware going back to Kalamazoo; this Bronco team has now more than doubled the total number of trophies in program history. They are also the sixth different first-time champion in the last 12 years.

And, with Ferschweiler behind the bench, it's hard to see a future where this kind of success does not continue for as long as he wants it to.

"We're a simple program because I believe simple is repeatable," Ferschweiler said. "Repeatable is successful. That's what we try to do every day. Our guys come to work, they love coming to the rink, and they love each other, and that's a recipe for success everywhere."