By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer
ST. LOUIS — Owen Michaels scored his second goal 26 seconds into the second overtime and Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver, 3-2, on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four title game.
Western Michigan will face Boston University – a 3-1 winner over Penn State in the second semifinal – in the championship game on Saturday night.
Brian Kramer also scored and freshman Hampton Slukynsky stopped 20 shots for a veteran-laden Western Michigan team making its Frozen Four debut in its 10th NCAA tournament appearance. The Broncos (33-7-1) set a season record for victories, extended their winning streak to nine and won after blowing a 2-0 third-period lead.
Michaels’ deciding goal came on a rush into the Denver zone with Matteo Costantini driving up the right wing and sweeping the puck into the middle. Michaels accepted the pass and roofed a shot over goalie Matt Davis’ right shoulder.
“Blacked out a little. It was kind of a little bit of a broken play, just saw the puck squirt out to me,” said Michaels, a sophomore from Northville, Michigan. “I was in the middle of the ice and had some open time and space and figured I’d put it on net. And pretty happy it went in.”
Jared Wright, with the tying goal with 2:39 left in regulation, and Aidan Thompson scored, and Davis had 44 saves for Denver (31-12-1). The Pioneers, who have won a tournament-best 10 titles and two in the previous three years, failed in their bid to become the NCAA’s ninth team to repeat as champions, and first since Minnesota-Duluth in 2018 and 2019.
Pioneers defenseman and Hobey Baker finalist Zeev Buium was more disappointed with how his season ended with a loss than begin contemplating whether he had just played his final college game. The sophomore, who leads NCAA defensemen with 48 points, has the opportunity to make the jump to the NHL after being drafted 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild in June.
“I don’t know. It’s tough. We just lost a big game. I hate losing. I love this place more than anything in the world,” Buium said. “So I think for now I’m just going to spend time with my teammates and enjoy these days with them and we’ll see what happens. I’ll have to reflect on these next few days and I’ll see what happens.”
Except for the outcome, the game was reminiscent of the NCHC rivals’ last meeting in the conference tournament championship last month. That time, Western Michigan rallied from a three-goal, third-period deficit in a 4-3 double-OT win.
The Broncos dominated much of the game with Michaels and Kramer scoring second-period goals and Western Michigan having a 32-8 edge in shots. Zach Nehring had the best scoring chance a minute into the game when he snapped a shot off the crossbar while facing an open right side.
“It’s a focused group. They never lose belief in themselves,” said Coach Pat Ferschweiler, who has led the Broncos to a tournament berth in each of his four seasons in Kalamazoo.
“They came in unhappy with the third period. But I think our biggest mistake was not scoring on all our chances in the second,” he added. “Denver has a championship pedigree. They’re going to push and make it hard on you. … But we knew over the entirety of the game, I thought we were the better squad.”
In the second semifinal …
Boston University 3, Penn State 1: Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman scored second-period goals and Boston advanced to its first Frozen Four title game in 10 years.
Freshman Mikhail Yegorov stopped 32 shots and Jack Harvey scored an empty-netter with a minute left for BU (24-12-2), which lost in the semifinals in each of the past two years. The Terriers are five-time champions, who lost to Providence in the 2015 and are seeking their first title since beating Miami (Ohio) in 2009.
“We all came here for a reason to win a national championship, so just thinking about having the opportunity to do that in a couple of days is exciting,” Hughes said. “So it’s a little bit of a relief for now, and then we’re going to get back to work and hopefully win it all.”
Nicholas DeGraves scored 2:15 into the third for Penn State (22-14-4). The Nittany Lions – another Frozen Four first-timer – were making just their fourth NCAA tournament appearance since being established in 2011-12. Arsenii Sergeev made 31 saves in a showdown of two Russian-born goalies.
Hughes opened the scoring 1:35 by sweeping in a loose puck after Sergeev was unable to find it sitting in the crease after he stopped Matt Copponi’s initial shot.
Eiserman scored nine minutes later by converting a 2-on-1 break. Cole Hutson drove deep down the left side and swung around to feed a pass back through the crease to Eiserman, who one-timed it into the open side.
Yegorov, preserved the win with several key stops. He got his blocker up to turn aside Dane Dowlak’s shot off a breakaway with seven minutes left in the second period. And the 19-year-old briefly peeked behind him after smothering Jarod Crespo’s hard shot from the right circle with 4:19 left in the third.
Yegorov improved to 11-5-1 since joining BU in January after opening the season in the USHL. He was selected by New Jersey in the second round of the NHL draft in June.
The Nittany Lions still accomplished plenty in a season in which they opened 0-8-1 in Big Ten play before finishing 9-11-4 and closing with a 4-3 OT loss to Ohio State in the conference tournament.
“It’s always tough when the season ends. But I honestly just can’t help but feel so grateful and positive about this year and this team,” Coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We were left for dead not long ago and for these guys to come back and play in St. Louis is remarkable, and better than that is how they did it.”
Terriers coach and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jay Pandolfo has reached the Frozen Four a combined seven times, four as a player and in each of his three seasons behind the BU bench. He was a member of the 1995 championship team coached by U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Jack Parker.
“I was fortunate to play on really good teams when I was a player at BU, and we only won one time, so I have a pretty good understanding of how hard it is to win,” Pandolfo said.
“Certainly came up short the last two years, and I think it’s helped our team to have an understanding of you have to play a certain way if you want to get to that final game,” he added. “Yeah, it feels good to get there, but we certainly hope the job’s not done yet.”
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