Where is the line between enough rest for a hockey team, and too much?
Western Michigan seems to have found it, albeit in less-than-ideal circumstances.
The Broncos jumped up one spot to No. 3 in the latest DCU/USCHO Division I Men’s Poll, following a home sweep last weekend against then-No. 9 North Dakota.
Two Ronnie Attard goals lifted WMU to a 4-1 win Friday, before Michael Joyaux and Max Sasson scored in a 2-0 victory Saturday. Brandon Bussi had 24 saves in the rematch and snapped North Dakota’s 88-game streak without a shutout defeat.
“Our compete level and consistency was really, really high,” WMU coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “Maybe the first 7-8 minutes of the first period Friday, where North Dakota played in our end a little there, we were resilient but then really started playing repeatable hard hockey.”
WMU might have had some rust to shake off in their first games since their 3-1 Great Lakes Invitational win Dec. 29 at Michigan State. The Broncos were meant to finish GLI action the following day at Michigan, but health and welfare protocols within the Wolverines’ program were cited as reasons for that game being canceled.
That decision irked WMU fans, especially as the Broncos had split a home-and-home series with Michigan early in the season. Western won 5-2 on the road Oct. 22 in Ann Arbor.
Sweeping North Dakota came after WMU’s scheduled road series Jan. 14-15 at Colorado College was postponed over COVID-19 protocols in CC’s program. Knock on everything, but WMU is yet to have any games postponed over coronavirus concerns in the Broncos’ program.
It almost feels like a luxury for a team to be able to claim that. At the same time, the Broncos would have had no excuse for tired legs last weekend.
“We had 10 days off before Christmas, and then we came back the day after that for three practices before Michigan State,” Ferschweiler said. “We were supposed to play Michigan the next night, but whatever, they couldn’t play, but then we really dug in and had a great prep for Colorado College but found out on that Wednesday that we wouldn’t play them.
“We were packing the bus and were going to take the bus to Chicago. We were originally going to fly out Thursday but had to switch our flight, and literally the bus was half-packed at 4 o’clock on the Wednesday. I had talked to their coach earlier, and he thought they had enough guys to play, but then they went back through with contact tracing, quarantining and things like that, and they ended up with not enough (available players).”
Ferschweiler has kept his team fresh in part by keeping practices to an hour or less. The Broncos have been keeping their end of the bargain off the ice, too. WMU’s entire team is vaccinated for COVID-19, and nearly all of the players have received their booster doses.
“Our guys are doing the best they can to put the team first at all times,” Ferschweiler said. “I know you can pick the virus up anywhere, but they’re just trying to be as smart as they can and protect the integrity of the team moving forward.
“Our guys live their lives for the most part. It’s college situations where you have to be a little more careful, but our guys have done a good job of putting themselves in good positions. We had some people with COVID last year, and I’m sure we’ll end up with some people with COVID this year. Everybody’s dealing with it, but you just have to move on.”
Speaking of moving, WMU will spend the next three weekends on the road: at No. 7 Minnesota Duluth this Friday and Saturday, CC next week and No. 6 St. Cloud State on Feb. 11-12. One week later, the Broncos will host No. 5 Denver.
WMU faces a tough lead-up to the postseason, but so much is going right for the Broncos these days. While they haven’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, they would hold a No. 1 regional seed for this year’s edition if the tournament started at the time this article was published.
“I’ve had a lot of belief in the players on this team from Day 1, and I wanted them to recognize how good they can be,” Ferschweiler said.
“We’re not going to win every game, but if we do our things right and do our job and work as hard as we can and stick together, we can play with anybody.”
