What a wild Thursday night of action in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals.
Western Michigan and the University of Denver played an all-timer that went to double overtime before Owen Michaels went bar-down for the Broncos on the rush, sending WMU to its first NCAA men's hockey national championship game.
The NCHC championship rematch lived up to the hype. After Western Michigan made a comeback in the NCHC championship game to win in double overtime, the opposite almost happened on Thursday. Western Michigan went up early in this game before Denver tied it late to force overtime. The momentum swing didn’t deter WMU, though, as the squad finally broke the deadlock to end the game under a minute into the second overtime frame.
In the second game of the night, Boston University ended the Cinderella run Penn State was on, taking care of business in a game that was a tad less of a nail-biter.
BU went up two goals in the second period, and although Penn State pulled within one in the third, an empty-netter sealed the deal. BU will head into the national championship game for the first time since 2015.
NCAA Frozen Four: Predicting The Champions And Hobey Baker Winner
The final weekend of the NCAA men's hockey season has arrived. Let’s predict each game.
Championship Final Preview
Expect Western Michigan and Boston University to put on a thrilling game.
These are two of the top four highest-scoring teams in the nation going head-to-head, and each has a netminder who has helped solidify their back end.
It could come down to which netminder between Western Michigan’s Hampton Slukynsky or Boston University’s Mikhail Yegorov has the better single-game performance.
Western Michigan’s scoring depth has been one of its biggest strengths. The Broncos have six players with at least 30 points on the year, and they have gotten key goals from players up and down the lineup. They play highly detailed hockey, winning the little battles all over the ice to ensure they end up with the puck in positive situations.
The Broncos seem to understand that while other teams may have more raw skill on the roster, there isn’t another team in the nation that will outwork them. Whether on the cycle, deep in the zone on the forecheck or pestering opponents defensively, WMU has found a framework that works.
Boston University, meanwhile, is loaded with NHL-drafted talent. They have two first-round picks in winger Cole Eiserman (Islanders, 20th overall in 2024 and defender Tom Willander (Vancouver, 11th overall in ’23).
They also have Sascha Boumedienne, who should challenge for a late first-round pick in this upcoming NHL draft. Then add the nation’s second-highest scoring defender in Cole Hutson (Washington, 43rd overall in ’24), who was drafted just outside the first round. In total, they have 14 drafted prospects on their roster, doubling what Western Michigan has.
BU has plenty of talent and skill. That doesn’t mean they haven’t had their ups and downs this season.
Their first half was a bit underwhelming at times, which was to be expected to some extent after losing Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson to the NHL. They were 9-7-1 heading into the New Year, and they looked like they were missing their former stars.
Shortly after that, New Jersey Devils prospect Yegorov left the USHL’s Omaha Lancers to join BU and solidified the goaltending, which spurred the team on a dominant run down the stretch. The steadying situation in goal allowed their highly skilled players, such as Hutson, Eiserman and others, to open their games up. They’ve won eight of their last nine games heading into the national championship.
The two championship finalists will be highly motivated to capture the title. BU is one of the most successful schools ever, with five national titles tying it with its rival, Boston College, for fifth all-time in NCAA men’s hockey. An additional title would tie the Terriers with Wisconsin for fourth.
Western Michigan, on the other hand, is making its debut in the national title game, and winning it would boost them toward a more consistently competitive era.
The two teams will compete for the national championship on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET in St. Louis.
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