Michaels Named MOP After 4-Goal Weekend; Broncos Pulled Away in 3rd
by Mike McMahon/Staff Writer (@mikemcmahon)
(photo: Rich Gagnon)
ST. LOUIS Western Michigan defeated Boston University, 6-2, on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis to win the program’s first national championship.
“So proud of this team,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “They believed in themselves from start to finish. They cared about each other all year. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Added BU head coach Jay Pandolfo, “Western Michigan played a good hockey game. They’re a good team. I thought overall we played hard. We competed today. They got a couple more breaks and finished a couple more plays than we did and ended up on the right side of it.”
Owen Michaels was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after he scored four goals in the two Frozen Four games. He had two goals in his freshman season, and finished with 18 this year.
“Owen’s play was better than his point totals last year,” Ferschweiler said. “So we saw offense in him. He did have a huge summer in the gym. So he’s stronger. That gym just allows your skills to show, right? And we talked about that.
“But also getting him to really believe in himself as an offensive player, push him forward, play with Alex Bump. These are good things, right? But a lot of the credit goes into the work he put in in the summer.”
The Broncos completed the championship sweep, winning the NCHC regular season, NCHC tournament, and national championship. They managed to win without getting a point from star forward Alex Bump in four NCAA Tournament games, showing off the team’s depth.
“Just a great feeling being a part of this group,” WMU captain Tim Washe said. “We said at the start of the year it was special. We wanted to prove that. We did it every day by just focusing on each day at a time, getting better every day. And then just came down to belief.”
The Broncos took a 1-0 lead just 98 seconds into the first period. Wyatt Schingoethe drove to the front of the net and got his stick on a shot from Iiro Hakkarainen and tipped the puck past BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov.
The Terriers tied the game at the 7:12 mark of the period. Devin Kaplan took a shot from the left circle that Hampton Slukynsky stopped,…
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