This is the second of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Western Michigan Broncos
Season record: 32-7-1
How they got to St. Louis: Won the Fargo Regional, defeating Minnesota State 2-1 and Massachusetts 2-1
Top players: F Alex Bump (23-24-47), F Grant Slukynsky (10-26-36), D Samuel Sjolund (4-25-29)
Top goalie: Hampton Slukynsky (17-5-1, 1.91 goals-against average, .923 save percentage).
Why they’ll win the national championship: Playoff hockey is meant to be tight, and Western’s last three games have each been decided by one goal. But with as loaded as WMU’s lineup is, with 10 players who have each posted at least 20 points this season, the Broncos might be due to not only win two more games, but also beat the brakes off people in the process.
Why they won’t win the national championship: Two sides of the same coin, and all that. Three of WMU’s four goals in the Fargo Regional came on power plays. What if those kinds of bounces don’t go the Broncos’ way in St. Louis?
It’s tempting to say, at this point, that Western Michigan is playing with house money.
This has been a historic season for the Broncos by anyone’s metrics, as most any coach in college hockey would snatch your arm off for a season with 30-plus wins. But this feels different. WMU had been picked sixth in the NCHC’s preseason poll, yet here the Broncos are, playing in their program’s first-ever Frozen Four.
Where did it all go right? Ask Broncos coach Pat Ferschweiler, and he’ll tell you a lot of it starts between the ears.
“We’re going to approach it like we do every other game — that our next game is our most important game,” Ferschweiler said of his team’s mental plan of attack for the Frozen Four, beginning with Thursday’s semifinal with defending national champion Denver. “We haven’t lost that focus all year, and we’re not going to lose it now.
“We know the quality that Denver has. We know that they’re well coached, they’re extremely well organized and they’re an extremely talented team, but we’ll focus on us, our success, our path to success against Denver. We won’t vary on that at all.”
And they’ve done well not to.
WMU’s last four games have all been close-run things, with the last three each decided by one goal. The Broncos’ road to St. Louis has been anything but easy, especially lately, and getting there speaks to the fast-growing maturity of Ferschweiler’s group.
“It always, to me, starts with the leadership in the locker room, and for this group to come together as quickly as it did, and as well as it did, that’s on (WMU captain) Tim Washe and our leadership corps of Alex Bump, Matteo Costantini and Cam Knuble,” Ferschweiler said. “They’ve helped everyone feel comfortable, and I don’t think you can play at your best unless you’re comfortable, so certainly that’s a big piece of them starting well and ending well.
“We have 16 new hockey players on this squad that have had this kind of success. I think it’s pretty phenomenal, and that’s our locker room, but our D-core is totally revamped. Two returning players. Last year, we were kind of a big, heavy, harder D-core, but this year, we have six extremely mobile guys. We play a different style: we use our feet to defend, we use our sticks to defend, more than our bodies, but I think it also allows us to separate teams from pucks earlier, it allows us to break out cleaner. I think that has been a big key to our defensive numbers this year, simply not playing in our own end.”
Freshman goaltender Hampton Slukynsky has been exceptional whenever the Broncos have been. He vied for playing time all through the regular season with graduate student Cameron Rowe, but eventually, the youngster stood out most.
“As we inched toward the playoffs, as a staff, we talked about wanting one of them to take the reins and one of them to be the starter, but neither would give up that time,” Ferschweiler said. “They were both playing quality games, and the last couple starts of Cam’s, there might have been some cracks in the foundation there a little bit, and not that he played poorly, but Hampton seemed to be edging ahead there, so we just made the decision to go with Hampton.
“I’m comfortable with both our goaltenders, but I’m certainly happy that we have one that’s taking charge and demanding the net, and that’s Hampton.”
Now it’s time for the Broncos to try and put it all together, but that won’t be easy. Next up on WMU’s plate is a Denver team that the Broncos beat in double overtime in the NCHC playoff final.
“Obviously we’re familiar with Denver, and we’re also familiar with the quality of a hockey team that Denver is,” Ferschweiler said.
“We’ve faced them three times this year, there’s been two overtime games and a very tight 3-2 contest, I believe, so we know that, at times, they can be overwhelming, at times their big-time talent can really make some special plays, but our job is to be as consistent as possible, play the best brand of Bronco hockey as possible, and to make sure we represent ourselves well.”
