Broncos Sweep NCHC Frozen Faceoff, Tops Denver 4-3 in 2OT

**Xcel Energy Center- Saint Paul, MN**

SEMI FINAL #1 vs NORTH DAKOTA

Western Michigan never trailed in their semifinal win on Friday evening vs North Dakota, 4-2.

The Broncos opened the scoring at the 12:33 mark of the first period thanks to clutch star Alex Bump (MOP of Tournament), unassisted to take the lead. UND would tie it on the power play late at the 18:17 mark to enter the first intermission tied at 1. Sacha Boisvert got the Fighting Hawks on the board, assisted by Owen McLaughlin and Cameron Berg.

The second period saw some opportunities, but WMU seemingly had an advantage and felt like momentum was slowly building as their fans grew louder. The teams would remain even at 1, into the second intermission.

WMU would break the tie at 7:23 of the third with Grant Slukynsky finding the back of the net, assisted by Liam Valente, giving WMU the 2-1 lead. The outcome became evident after Iiro Hakkarainen found the net with 1:554 left to expand to a 3-1 lead via the empty net. North Dakota showed life when Boisvert netted his second goal with 51 seconds remaining. For insurance, Samuel Sjolund scored the team’s second empty netter with 25 seconds left.

CHAMPIONSHIP #2 vs DENVER

The Broncos were familiar with Denver, having hosted them for their only visit and going 1-0-1 (OTL) securing 3 of 4 points. WMU was rolling on a 5-game win streak including 7 of their past 8 games.

After a scoreless first period, the Denver Pioneers took control with 11 shots on goal, scoring on 3 of them past young, star netminder Hampton Slukynsky. Jake Fisher (Salminen and Brown), Eric Pohlkamp (Lorenz and Wright) and Zeev Buium all found the twine behind, staking Denver to a 3-0 lead through two periods. Things looked bleak and as a Bronco alumnus, my heart sunk in fighting the overwhelming feeling of inevitable dread. Despite that, the Broncos awoke thanks to Zack Sharp’s goal only 3:21 into the final period, assisted by Valente and Slukynsky. 10 minutes later, Alex Bump struck again at the 13:19 mark from Michaels to bring WMU within a goal and the crowd was boisterous. Almost three minutes later exactly, Tim Washe fluttered a wrister off the netminder’s glove and snuck under the cross bar to tie the game at 3 and overtime looming.

The Pioneers lost the momentum. They were playing on their heels and you could feel the shock they were trying to process. WMU came out and had multiple scoring chances including a power play at the 15:48 mark that saw 3 quality scoring tries. Both teams regrouped for a second extra period of play. Rejuvenated, Alex Bump pinched up on a forecheck after a dump in, sniped the pass, walked it down and let off a short side wrister, ending the marathon Championship game.

NCAA FROZEN TOURNAMENT:

WMU will lead the Fargo region as the top-seed. They drew Minnesota State (#14) and will play Thursday, 3/27 at 5:00pm EST on ESPU. Should they win, they would play the winner of Minnesota and UMASS.