Western Michigan Wins Men’s NCAA Hockey Title

Western Michigan University has been playing Division I NCAA hockey since 1973, but had never made it to the Frozen Four until this year. The Broncos defeated defending champion Denver 3-2 on an Owen Michaels goal 26 seconds into the second overtime in their semifinal, and advanced to face Boston University in the championship game. The Terriers beat Penn State in their semifinal.

Any fears that Western Michigan was worn out from its long semifinal game were quickly dashed when Wyatt Shingoethe scored just 1:38 into the game. The teams traded goals and Western Michigan took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Each team scored once in the second period and it was 3-2 going to the third.

The Broncos took over from there. Michaels had a pair of goals, one an empty netter, and Iiro Hakkarainen added one more and Western Michigan prevailed with a 6-2 victory over Boston University. It was only the fourth time that a school had won the championship in its first appearance in the Frozen Four (not counting the initial championship) according to ESPN Research. Michaels, who scored a total of four goals in the Frozen Four, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Western Michigan finished the season 37-7-1 while Boston University was 24-14-2.