FARGO, N.D. – You can now add “Frozen Four Participant” among the achievements of the most successful season in Western Michigan hockey history.
Two goals scored on a late second-period five-minute power play got the Broncos going after a slow start, and they were able to hold on for a 2-1 victory Saturday night at Scheels Arena in the West Regional final, sending the NCHC regular season and tournament champs to both their school-record 32nd victory and their first-ever Frozen Four.
“I could not be more proud of this group or happy for them, the way they care about each other, the way they came together and the way they succeeded all season,” said fourth-year Broncos head coach Pat Ferschweiler.
Dans Locmelis scored a goal for Massachusetts to help earn himself all-region honors and Michael Hrabal made 25 saves, but a late-season run for the Minutemen ended just short of a third Frozen Four berth; they won the national championship in their previous appearance in 2021.
“I’m so proud of what we have here at UMass,” said defenseman Linden Alger, a graduate player who had been the last remaining player on the roster from the 2021 championship team. “I couldn’t thank the program enough for what they’ve given me, stuff that’ll stick with me for the rest of my life.”
“Always tough when your season ends,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. “Very proud of our kids.”
As the teams played each other tough throughout most of the first ten minutes, it was UMass breaking through first to go up 1-0 just over halfway through the first period. Locmelis, whose second of two assists Thursday came on Aydar Suniev’s overtime winner, continued his good play in the West Regional by scoring his eighth goal of the season. It was also the lone goal scored Saturday by either team at even strength, something that proved key at the end as Carvel noted.
“They were the better team, especially better special teams,” he said. “To me, that was the whole game.”
The Broncos looked lost offensively from that point on and when they badly needed a spark, it was Suniev who gave momentum back to the Broncos with two critical boarding penalties in the second period, the latter of which was successfully challenged by WMU into a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct at 18:14. Twenty-one seconds later, Liam Valente tied the game with a one-time blast from the top of the right circle. Then early in the third while still on the power play, Tim Washe camped in front of the net to tip home a shot from the top of the right circle by Brian Kramer to give the Broncos the lead.
“Power play this year has got to be able to decide the game,” Washe said. “And it did that for us tonight. We were able to score two. It was big.”
“Any goal lifts your team, you know, and you got to get that first goal. And then we really started to believe and come out,” Ferschweiler said. “The next one was big for us as well.”
Then came another big test in the quest for the first Frozen Four spot for WMU – killing a major themselves. Shortly after the Washe goal, Iiro Hakkarainen was penalized for contact to the head. But they were able to get the kill and keep momentum on their side.
“We want to help [Hampton Slukynsky] out and just kind of kill that clock down as much as we could,” Washe said.
The Broncos later held on with UMass pushing with the extra attacker for the final 1:49, sending the mostly WMU-pro crowd of 4,329 into a frenzy after the clock hit triple zeroes.
The Broncos will face Sunday’s Denver-Boston College winner in two weeks in St. Louis.
