Michaels lifts Western Michigan to 3-2 2OT Frozen Four semifinal win over defending champion Denver

Owen Michaels s cored 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 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-leading 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 rival’s 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 2OT 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.”

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