The NCHC has seven out of the last nine Men’s College Hockey championship trophies in its trophy case.
Western Michigan won its first national championship in its first Frozen Four appearance last weekend.
The Broncos are the fourth team in NCAA history to win their debut championship game, joining Denver (1958), Cornell (1967), and Lake Superior State (1988).
It took down the previous champs in the semifinal and then rolled Hockey East powerhouse Boston University in the final.
Semifinal:
Western Michigan defeated Denver 3-2 in double overtime.
Boston University defeated Penn State 3-1.
National Championship:
Western Michigan defeated Boston University 6-2.
The Broncos depth shined throughout the tournament as their star forward Alex Bump did not record a point all tournament. He has never had a four-game point drought in his college hockey career.
“[Our depth] is a huge advantage,” WMU Head Coach Pat Ferschweiler told the Athletic. “We’ve had depth all year in scoring. 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 and some of the most important moments of the game: Wyatt Schingoethe, Garrett Szydlowski, Cam Knuble, Ty Henricks. But we believe in these guys, and they believe in each other, and they knew they were going to execute. They just played Bronco hockey and stuck with it. I’m happy for that group.”
Western Michigan had no NHL first-round picks on its roster this season. The last national champion to have more than one first-round pick was UND in 2016.
UND forwards Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeser were the last dynamic first-round duo to win it all.
Western Michigan forward Owen Michaels won the Frozen Four most valuable player award, becoming the eighth undrafted MVP in the last nine seasons.
The 2022 champion Denver’s MVP, defenseman Mike Benning, was drafted in the fourth round by the Florida Panthers.
Ferschweiler has led Western Michigan to four NCAA tournament appearances in his first four seasons at the helm.
“So proud of this team. They believed in themselves from start to finish,” Ferschweiler told ESPN. “They cared about each other all year. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The state of Michigan is now three-for-three when the Frozen Four is hosted in St. Louis. Western Michigan (2025), Michigan State (2007), and Michigan Tech (1975).
“Kalamazoo is only 150,000 people, and it felt like half the town was here,” Ferschweiler told ESPN. “You could feel the energy in the streets during the day.”
A down year for the NCHC turned out to be dominant. As the NCHC only had two teams make the NCAA tournament this season, both made the Frozen Four and had to face each other.
Some could say UND pushed Western Michigan to its national title this season, as the Broncos won 10 straight to finish the season after UND defeated them in overtime in Kalamazoo.
Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at elijah.andrews@und.edu.
