By Scott Wheeler, Joe Smith and Jeremy Rutherford
ST. Louis – Twenty -six seconds in double extension, Owen Michaels made a hero in Kalamazoo, marking the bar to send Western Michigan University in his first national championship match.
“I passed out a bit,” said Michaels after it was finished on Thursday evening. “It was a bit of a broken game and I just saw the puck spanning me in the middle of the ice, and I had an open time and a space and I thought I was putting it in the net.”
With its second goal of the evening, the Broncos, in their inaugural appearance in The Frozen Four, beat the national champions in the title of Denver, with their registration national titles, 3-2 in the second double extension match between the teams in a month.
Broncos are heading for #Mfrozenfour Championship game!
Owen Michaels with the OT winner!#Mfrozenfour X đ„ ESPN2 / @Wmuhockey pic.twitter.com/therjis4xi
– NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAICEHOCKEY) April 11, 2025
The Broncos checked the match throughout and almost opened the scoring for a minute when Freshman Forward and Winnipeg Jets Prospect Zachary Nehring, with the net wide open on the back post, beat a transverse bar.
Broncos got closer to striking first but the iron was mean#Nchchockey // #Mfrozenfour https://t.co/iuj6o8QDGY pic.twitter.com/pwk3inembj
– The NCHC (@thenchc) April 10, 2025
For the sections of the game, the pioneers looked completely overwhelmed. The Broncos exceeded them 12-3 in the first period and 20-5 in the second, ultimately crossing.
The fifth year defender Brian Kramer, 24, the oldest broncos player after being transferred from AIC for his last year of eligibility, opened the scoring for the inaugural goal of the Broncos at the Frozen Four, who jumped the Won Faceoff line on a second period power game and beating the senior goalkeeper Denver Matt Davis High.
At the end of the second period, Michaels again beat Davis High to do it 2-0.
The pioneers postponed the third, however, surpassing the 9-4 broncos in the last 20 and sending the match to the extensions of the goals of the junior striker and the blackhawks of Chicago Aidan Thompson and a Jam game late in the bridge ended by the junior striker and the prospect Kings Jared Wright, after a second vigor of the first defender and Sharks Prospect Prospect Eric Pohlamp. The goal was held after a challenge and a video review for the goalkeeper’s interference.
After examination, we have … a good goal! Jared Wright pushes him home to bind him to 2:39 to do! #Mfrozenfour X đ„ ESPN2 / @Du_hockey pic.twitter.com/hs9psyxh7b
– NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAICEHOCKEY) April 10, 2025
But that never ceased to have the impression that it was the match of western Michigan to win, and when it was over, it had exceeded Denver 47-22, beat him for the third time in four games this season, and the Broncos were gone for the final of Saturday with a chance in history.
Bold finish by Zeev Buium
This did not seem good when Zeev Buium hampered the bench in the second period after having made a step at the boards on a blow by Wyatt Schingoethe. Buium was not able to move away completely, and he had worked the rest of the period. But Buium found a way in the third to help pioneers rally. This included a beauty area entrance that set up the game goal with 2:39 on the left. Buium had three or four reversals on the blue line and operated a few quarters of work and hemmed, things he will have to manage at the next level. But he also made things happen, especially in the third and extension, when one of his dashes almost won him for Denver before the winner of the West Michigan match passed through his tense hands and on the stick of Michaels. He has been Hobey Baker finalist for a reason and should sign with nature in the coming days.
When asked after the match if he thought of his future, he said: “It’s difficult – we just lost a big game. I hate losing. I am a competitor. I love this place more than anything in the world. For now, I’m going to spend time with my teammates, enjoying these days with them and we will see what’s going on. â – Joe Smith
Slowly buium zeev on the bench … pic.twitter.com/l8ys02wpbc
– Goot Z (@Spokedz) April 10, 2025
Matt Davis leaves an inheritance to win in Denver’s net
Before Thursday, Davis had never abandoned more than one goal in the national tournament. He went Ajhl to Ushl at the double goalkeeper national champion (once as a safeguard and once as a guy) with a reputation to present himself to the big games. Despite the abandonment of three goals on Thursday evening, the story was no different from defeat. Davis made the difference while Denver in overtime, and it seemed that each of his 44 stops had been won.
A colleague asked me before the tournament on his NHL prospects, and it’s delicate.
Due to his long way and two years as a safeguard of Denver behind Magnus Chrona, he is now 23 years old (he will be 24 years old this summer). Nor is it important for a goalkeeper compared to today’s standards, with a 6 -feet 1 inch and 195 pound frame. But whoever has watched Denver in the past two years knows how important he has been for his success, and he has a percentage of career stopping over 0.921 to 93 games with the pioneers to sell himself. He is also a formidable competitor in the net, which was exposed overnight on Thursday. This could have been 4-0 or 5-0 to 40 minutes instead of 2-0. There have been whole changes where Denver was held up and made several escaped. Davis fought WMU. He fights in the fold and holds the line, without ever abandoning the washers. It plays the washer well too. I really respect the way he plays and what he did in Denver. He will obtain a professional contract. I do not know if it will be an NHL or an AHL, but it is the kind of guy that I would like to be part of my organization.
“It’s a sacred goalkeeper. Not too fun to play against him. His curriculum vitae talks about himself. He is a winner,” said Michaels about Davis.
And he is right. – Scott Wheeler
Pat Ferschweiler transformed western Michigan into a higher program
When Ferschweiler took the best job with the Broncos in 2021, they had just come out of a losing season and their third end of the consecutive quarter -final of the NCHC tournament. During its first season in charge, the program beat Omaha and the Dakota of the North in the NCHC districts and semi-finals before losing against Minnesota-Duluth in the final, returned to the national tournament and won its regional semi-final against the Northeast before losing in their regional final against Minnesota. Now, in his fourth season behind the bench, they won their first NCHC title and head for their first national championship match. They could have been the university hockey team with the clearest identity all year round. Without a first round choice on the list, he built a four -line team at the front and he made them all pulled on the same rope. They are large, strong and competitive. They win on the cycle, fights and are oriented towards details. Win or lose on Saturday, they have always been impressive and usually the best team all year round. – Wheeler
(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
