Pioneers Were Looking for Revenge, But WMU Was Having None of It
by Anthony Travalgia/CHN Reporter (@atravalgia)
(photo: Rich Gagnon)
ST. LOUIS For the first time in program history, Western Michigan will compete in the national championship game.
A key part of the Broncos’ defensive plan was to keep Denver out of the middle of the ice. Easier said than done, especially against a Denver offense that averages a NCAA-best four goals per game.
Western Michigan’s aggressiveness in the neutral zone made it hard for Denver to create danger in transition.
“It’s stuff we’ve been working on all year, especially this week leading up to Denver,” WMU forward Zach Nehring said. “We know that they like to go to their center coming out their zone and we just focused on having that guy right above him.”
Knowing Denver was down to five defensemen, Western Michigan wanted to make sure its aggressiveness exploited Denver’s defense. It put pressure on the five all game long, something Boston College wasn’t able top do last weekend in the Regional final, using a much different game plan.
“I told our guys to stay on the gas and attack. We did know they were down a defenseman, that’s an obvious thing,” WMU coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “Make them work, put as much pressure on them as possible. I thought what we did, especially in the first two periods and the overtime was play the game with our feet.”
In Denver’s two matchups at the Manchester Regional, both Boston College and Providence tried to take advantage, to no avail.
“[Western Michigan] exploited it better than maybe Providence or [Boston College]. But we had plenty of time to rest and recover and do all that,” Denver coach David Carle said.
“I think it’s more a credit probably to how well they played. We were just challenged certainly in those first two periods to win a lot of puck battles, extend a lot of possession. They were winning more races and more puck battles than we were. When you’re defending that much for two periods, it gets really challenging.”
While Boston College may have come out with a more physical approach, Western Michigan had a different plan in mind. It used its speed to poke holes in Denver’s structure.
“We’re a really good skating team and we can…
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