Western Michigan Beats Boston University to Win 2025 NCAA Hockey Championship Bracket

Western Michigan men's hockey will end the program's first Frozen Four appearance as national champions.

WMU defeated Boston University 6-2 in Saturday night's national NCAA tournament title game in St. Louis.

Owen Michaels scored his fourth goal of the Frozen Four by sealing WMU's victory with a late empty-netter.

Captain Tim Washe then led the Broncos in lifting the first national championship trophy in program history.

Earlier that night, WMU's Wyatt Schingoethe deflected in the game's opening goal within two minutes before BU's Cole Eiserman answered with a tying goal six minutes later.

Cole Crusberg wristed a puck through traffic to give Western Michigan a go-ahead goal late in the first period.

Early in the second frame, Ty Henricks finished off an odd-man rush to double the Broncos' lead.

WMU threatened earned a flurry of high-danger scoring chances immediately following Hendricks' insurance goal.

But BU fended off the Broncos and drew a penalty, allowing Shane Lachance to score on the power play. Western Michigan lost a goaltender interference challenge on the play.

WMU's dominance at even strength continued as a deflected Broncos scoring attempt hit the post late in the second period.

In the third frame, it was the Terriers who came within inches of scoring as Los Angeles Kings prospect Hampton Slukynsky turned aside a point-blank attempt from New York Islanders draft pick Cole Eiserman.

Minutes later, Michaels took the puck down the ice on a two-on-one and finished off the rush himself to put the Broncos back ahead by two goals.

Boston University challenged for a goal after getting a puck over the line with just over eight minutes left in the third, but officials ruled the play had been frozen prior to the potential score.

Iiro Hakkarainen then caught BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov looking the other way to give WMU another insurance goal prior to Michaels' empty-netter.

WMU was overall dominant at 5v5 while Slukynsky stood tall with 24 saves in the win.

Boston University will finish the season as the NCAA Tournament runner-up for the second time since 2015. The program last won a national title in 2009.

The Broncos will meanwhile celebrate the most successful season in program history. Western Michigan led the nation with 33 wins and won the NCHC regular-season title before making it to the program's first championship game appearance thanks to a double-overtime national semifinal win over Denver.

BU forward Quinn Hutson will reportedly sign an ELC and join the Edmonton Oilers immediately after the Terriers' loss, per EliteProspect's Cam Robinson.

Western Michigan head coach Pat Ferschweiler could potentially get NHL interest of his own in the future. For now, he will focus on celebrating his program's first national title.