Boston University loses to Western Michigan in Frozen Four Championship
Boston University fell short in its bid for a sixth National Championship Saturday night in St. Louis. The Terriers lost to Western Michigan, 6-2, in the Frozen Four title game.
BU had its chances early in game but the Broncos were the more aggressive team throughout the contest. Western Michigan never trailed in the title bout, and scored three goals in the third period to secure the school's first National Championship.
Terriers freshman goaltender Mikhail Yegorov made 22 saves and kept the game close for two periods, but allowed five goals in the losing effort. Freshman Cole Eiserman and sophomore Shane Lachance scored BU's only goals in the game, as Western Michigan goalie Hampton Slukynsky made 24 saves for the Broncos.
"I'm extremely proud of our group. Not sure if anyone thought we were going to be here, but we always did," BU captain Shane Lachance said after the loss. "Just proud of our group for believing in each other. It just sucks we're not on the other side of this."
"Happy we got here, but we didn't win it so," said fellow captain Ryan Greene as he fought back tears. "It just sucks. Really proud of our group. We've been through a lot."
BU head coach Jay Pandolfo was proud his team was able to bounce back from a bumpy first half of the season to make it to the title game. He won a title with Boston University as a player in 1995, and knows how difficult it is to be the last team standing.
"You're proud to get here, but you want to finish the job. It hurts," Pandolfo said after the loss. "I really feel for our players more than anything else. It's hard, and it's special to win this thing. I want to see those guys experience that. That's my goal; I want to see my players and our program experience that again.
"We're going to keep knocking on the door," Pandolfo added.
BU falls to Western Michigan in NCAA Championship
Western Michigan jumped on top early in an action-packed first period. The Broncos created a lot of traffic in front of the BU net and it paid off when senior winger Wyatt Schingoethe deflected a deep shot by Yegorov just 1:38 into the game.
Yegorov came up with a big save at the 6:30 mark of the first when Western Michigan forward Liam Valente had an open lane to the net, and the Terriers tied the game a few moments later when persistence paid off for Eiserman. The forward kept poking at a loose puck in front of the Broncos net, and eventually poked it off the pads of Slukynsky and into the back of the net to knot the game at 1-1. It was the 25th goal of the season for Eiserman.
The Terriers had a great chance to take a lead a minute later, but Quinn Hutson's 3-on-2 slapper was turned away by Slukynsky. The Broncos took a 2-1 lead with five minutes left in the first when Cole Crusberg-Roseen sent a nasty wrister by Yegorov. Western Michigan's rush started off a turnover by Hutson, and Crusberg-Roseen put home a big rebound to retake the lead.
Western Michigan struck again just over five minutes into the second period as the Broncos kept pressuring Yegorov by rushing the net. Ty Hendricks put home a rebound off a Cam Knuble rush, putting Western Michigan on top 3-1.
A two-goal edge is the most dangerous lead in hockey, and the Terriers cut into Western Michigan's after they got their first power play of the night with 9:34 left in the second period. The Bronco's Brian Kramer was called for holding when he wrapped up Nick Roukounakis on a drive to the net, and BU took advantage just 16 seconds into the man advantage. Ryan Greene fired a shot on Slukynsky, who made an initial save, but Lachance poked it into the net to make it a 3-2 game.
Western Michigan challenged the call on the ice, believing Lachance interfered with Slukynsky on the play, but the call was upheld. It was Lachance's first goal of the tournament and 12th of the season.
Knuble hit a post for Western Michigan with just over five minutes left in the second, and then BU went back on the man advantage with 4:20 left in the period when Henricks was whistled for slashing. But the Terriers got just one shot off during the power play, and BU's Devin Kaplan was sent to the box with 1:46 left for kneeing on a knee-to-knee hit on Iiro Hakkarainen.
Yegorov stopped a shot by Alex Bump and two Western Michigan shots went wide to close the second period. BU was able to kill off the final 14 seconds of the power play to start the third.
Cole Hutson had a great scoring chance at 16:34 when he tried to go five-hole on Slukynsky, but the bid was turned away. Matt Copponi wasn't able to poke in the rebound with a herd of Broncos blocking the net, including defenseman Joona Vaisanen, who sprawled out in the crease to keep BU from scoring.
The Terriers had another golden opportunity at the 14:54 mark when Eiserman was all alone on Slukynsky, but the netminder turned away his point-blank scoring chance. Slukynsky had four big saves in a two-minute span, including stops on Cole Hutson and Greene, which helped set up the Western Michigan offense.
Slukynsky's stop on Greene started a 2-on-1 for the Broncos, and Owen Michaels took it the distance before beating Yegorov with a wrister with 12:44 to play to give Western Michigan a 4-2 advantage.
Terriers head coach Jay Pandolfo challenged a no-goal with 8:04 left in the game, when Copponi tried to poke in another puck that Slukynsky had covered up. Copponi was able to push the puck into the net, but it came after officials had blown the whistle. The no-goal call was upheld after the review.
The Broncos got an insurance goal with 3:58 to play when Hakkarainen got a beautiful pass by Schingoethe and flicked the puck off Yegorov and into the net. The Terriers pulled Yegorov to get an extra attacker, but Western Michigan kept clogging the middle of the ice and Michaels scored an empty-netter to make it a 6-2 game with 2:07 to play.
With Saturday's loss, the Terriers finish the 2024-25 season at 24-14-2.
Boston University in the National Championship game
Saturday night was BU's 12th appearance in the National Championship game. The Terriers are now 5-7 in those games, and haven't won a title since 2009.
