by Jordan McAlpine/CHN Reporter (@jordan_mcalpine)
The 2025 NCAA Tournament field is set and the road to St. Louis begins this week. Four of the 16 teams will be competing in Fargo, beginning on Thursday.
Western Michigan plays Minnesota State at 4 p.m. (CT), followed by Minnesota vs. UMass at 7:30 p.m. The winners will meet on Saturday with a Frozen Four berth on the line. All three games will be played at Scheels Arena.
Western Michigan (1)
Record: 30-7-1, 19-4-1 (NCHC)
Head coach: Pat Ferschweiler, 4th season
Leading scorer: Alex Bump, F, So. (23-23-46)
Between the pipes: Hampton Slukynsky, Fr. (15-5-1, .918 save percentage, 2.04 GAA)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 10
The Broncos erased a 3-0 deficit and completed their comeback in double overtime Saturday night at the NCHC Tournament final in St. Paul. Alex Bump scored 22 seconds into the second OT session, lifting Western Michigan to a 4-3 win over Denver and an NCHC title.
WMU also won the Penrose Cup as the NCHC’s regular-season champ, earning 57 of a possible 72 points.
It’s the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for Pat Ferschweiler’s club and the fourth-year coach is 99-50-4 behind the Bronco bench. He was named the NCHC Coach of the Year after leading the program to its first regular-season championship. WMU is 19-3-0 since the calendar flip and has lost in regulation just four times this season.
“Our leadership has been exceptional all season and that’s been a big part of our success,” Ferschweiler said. “When you have 16 new players you wonder how quickly and how well they’re going to come together, but our leadership group of Tim Washe, Alex Bump, Matteo Costantini and Cam Knuble made these guys feel comfortable from day one. That’s a massive reason why we’ve been successful and somehow with 16 new guys, we ended up as the number one scoring team in the country. But I give our guys a ton of credit for playing our style and we’ve gotten a ton of depth scoring.”
WMU is averaging an NCAA-best 4.1 goals per game while allowing 2.1, which is tied for fifth nationally. WMU’s penalty kill (86.6 percent) is tied for fifth, its faceoff win percentage (.540) ranks ninth, and its .919 team save percentage ranks…
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