KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Throughout Western Michigan’s decorated hockey history, there have been numerous All-Americans, NCAA Tournament Appearances and Conference Tournament Championships.
But the one thing eluding the program has been a regular season title.
Picked sixth in the NCHC preseason poll, expectations were mixed for the 2024-25 Broncos. The Brown and Gold opened NCHC play with a 6-0-1 record, putting the league on notice. From there, WMU didn’t slow down.
The Broncos opened the second half of the season with five straight wins in conference play, including a sweep at North Dakota. After a couple of February sweeps against St. Cloud State and Omaha, Western Michigan was in the driver’s seat for the conference title.
Needing just three points to claim its first regular season title in program history, the Broncos entered this weekend with big dreams. Those dreams turned into reality, as WMU downed North Dakota 6-4 on Friday night at Lawson Arena.
In the win, WMU got goals from Matteo Costantini, Grant Slukynsky, Alex Bump, Iiro Hakkarainen, Tim Washe and Samuel Sjolund. Hampton Slukynsky earned his ninth win of the season in net.
FIRST PERIOD
Western Michigan was given a power play early in the opening frame and made UND pay right away. The Broncos played tic-tac-toe in the offensive zone, and Costantini buried a shot to push the Brown and Gold in front 1-0.
Not even 30 seconds later, Slukynsky got a drop pass from Zach Nehring and ripped a shot into the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game. A little bit after that, UND was again sent off. This time for cross checking.
On the man advantage, WMU got two shots on net. However, the Fighting Hawks were able to work back to full strength. Late in the first frame, UND got on the board to make it a 2-1 game going to the second period.
SECOND PERIOD
Western Michigan killed off three consecutive penalties to open the second frame. However, UND was eventually able to tie the game about 11 minutes into the middle period.
UND would get sent off for tripping with under five minutes to play in the second frame, setting WMU up on another power play. Bump hit a nice toe drag move to create space and buried a shot top shelf to give the Broncos the lead back 3-2.
UND killed off another penalty to close the period, and the Broncos carried a one-goal lead into the final 20 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
After some back-and-forth action, WMU was able to push ahead by two, thanks to Hakkarainen’s goal. Assists went to Tristan Lemyre and Washe. Three minutes later, the Fighting Hawks would bring the game back within one.
However, as it has all season long, the Broncos showed some resilience. Washe used a pass from Hakkarainen to push the lead back to two. After Bump hit the post on an empty net, UND would score to make it a one-goal game again.
To end the game, Sjolund fired a shot from the length of the ice into the back of the net to put an end to any hope of a UND comeback. The Broncos went on to close out a 6-4 victory and the program’s first ever Penrose Cup.
UP NEXT
Western Michigan and North Dakota will conclude their series tomorrow night at 6 PM EST.
BRONCOS WIN FIRST EVER PENROSE CUP
