{"id":131882,"date":"2022-01-27T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=131882"},"modified":"2022-01-27T12:36:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T18:36:51","slug":"this-week-in-nchc-hockey-with-more-rest-than-normal-between-games-western-michigan-finding-consistency-emerging-as-national-contender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/01\/27\/this-week-in-nchc-hockey-with-more-rest-than-normal-between-games-western-michigan-finding-consistency-emerging-as-national-contender\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in NCHC Hockey: With more rest than normal between games, Western Michigan finding consistency, emerging as national contender"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Western Michigan scores a goal and gets the Lawson Arena crowd on its feet earlier this season (photo: Ashley Huss).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Where is the line between enough rest for a hockey team, and too much?<\/p>\n

Western Michigan seems to have found it, albeit in less-than-ideal circumstances.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 88-game streak without a shutout defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur compete level and consistency was really, really high,\u201d WMU coach Pat Ferschweiler said. \u201cMaybe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sweeping North Dakota came after WMU\u2019s scheduled road series Jan. 14-15 at Colorado College was postponed over COVID-19 protocols in CC\u2019s program. Knock on everything, but WMU is yet to have any games postponed over coronavirus concerns in the Broncos\u2019 program.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 10 days off before Christmas, and then we came back the day after that for three practices before Michigan State,\u201d Ferschweiler said. \u201cWe were supposed to play Michigan the next night, but whatever, they couldn\u2019t play, but then we really dug in and had a great prep for Colorado College but found out on that Wednesday that we wouldn\u2019t play them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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\u2019clock 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).\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s entire team is vaccinated for COVID-19, and nearly all of the players have received their booster doses.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys are doing the best they can to put the team first at all times,\u201d Ferschweiler said. \u201cI know you can pick the virus up anywhere, but they\u2019re just trying to be as smart as they can and protect the integrity of the team moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys live their lives for the most part. It\u2019s 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\u2019m sure we\u2019ll end up with some people with COVID this year. Everybody\u2019s dealing with it, but you just have to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

WMU faces a tough lead-up to the postseason, but so much is going right for the Broncos these days. While they haven\u2019t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, they would hold a No. 1 regional seed for this year\u2019s edition if the tournament started at the time this article was published.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve 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,\u201d Ferschweiler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":131883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in NCHC Hockey: With more rest than normal between games, Western Michigan finding consistency, emerging as national contender - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Where is the line between enough rest for a hockey team, and too much? 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