Frozen Four highlights: Western Michigan downs Denver in double overtime
Owen Michaels scored his second goal of the game 26 seconds into double overtime to lift Western Michigan to a 3-2 win against Denver in the first semifinal at the Frozen Four on Thursday evening in St. Louis.
Western Michigan (33-7-1), which is playing in its first Frozen Four in program history, will play Boston University in the championship game on Saturday.
Brian Kramer also scored and Hampton Slukynsky made 20 saves for Western Michigan, which has won nine in a row to become the first team from the state of Michigan to reach the national championship game since Ferris State lost to Boston College in 2012.
Aidan Thompson and Jared Wright scored and Matt Davis made 44 saves for Denver (31-12-1), which was trying to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Minnesota-Duluth in 2018 and '19.
Michaels received a pass coming down the middle and scored with a wrist shot from the slot to cap off the first double-overtime game at the Frozen Four since 1996.
In the second period, the Broncos were on their second power play of the night when Kramer scored with a wrist shot from the high slot after a faceoff win, giving Western Michigan a 1-0 lead at 6:16.
Western Michigan extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:32 of the second after a Denver player slipped and lost the puck along the wall in his own zone. Michaels took possession and skated into the right circle before scoring with a wrist shot.
Denver cut it to 2-1 at 6:49 of the third. Thompson took a shot that was blocked by Samuel Sjolund, but the puck came back to him and he put his second try into the net.
Wright pushed the puck across the goal line as it was loose beneath Slukynsky to tie it 2-2 with 2:39 left in regulation. After a video review, the goal was upheld.
The Broncos outshot the Pioneers 12-3 in the scoreless first period and 32-8 through two periods.
Western Michigan forward Zach Nehring had an open net off a rebound just 1:09 into the first period, but his shot hit the crossbar.
Boston University defeats Penn State
Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman scored second-period goals Thursday night as Boston University edged Penn State 3-1 in the second semifinal of the Frozen Four in St. Louis.
The Terriers (24-13-2) advance to the Saturday night championship match to oppose Western Michigan, which got past defending champion Denver 3-2 in double overtime in the first semifinal.
The Nittany Lions, who made their first Frozen Four, finished the season at 22-14-4.
Goalie Mikhail Yegorov made 33 saves for Boston University, including 17 in a third period that saw Penn State generate a steady push with two goals to make up. The Nittany Lions got one just 2:12 into the period via a rebound that Nicholas DeGraves swiped into the net for his fourth marker of the season, but they couldn't come up with the equalizer despite creating a spate of good chances.
The Terriers wrapped it up when Jack Harvey potted his 11th goal of the season into an empty net at 19:01, putting them in their first title game since 2015. The longtime Eastern hockey power, playing in its 25th Frozen Four, hasn't won a national title since 2009.
Arsenii Sergeev delivered 32 saves for the Nittany Lions but wasn't able to keep the puck out of his net in the second period. A turnover at the blue line sent Matt Copponi down the left side for a wrister that Sergeev stopped. However, the goalie couldn't locate the puck, then turned his body in a futile attempt to find it and Hughes poked it in at the goal mouth at 1:35.
Eiserman's goal came at the end of a classic two-on-one rush. Devin Kaplan won a battle in the corner in Boston University's end of the ice and hit Cole Hutson with a breakout pass. Hutson fed Eiserman at the right post, and Eiserman slammed the puck past Sergeev.
Neither team scored in a first period that started 80 minutes later than scheduled due to the length of the first game. The Terriers enjoyed an 11-7 advantage in shots.
This story was updated with new information.