Three years and a bit into his collegiate career, there’s little about the way Western Michigan forward Jason Polin operates that surprises the Broncos’ coach.
Pat Ferschweiler has been in Kalamazoo that whole time, starting in 2019 when he became Western’s associate head coach. Polin was fresh off a 35-goal campaign in his last of three seasons with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, and Ferschweiler, who was elevated as WMU’s head coach last August, quickly saw future captain material in him.
Polin wears the ‘C’ now in his senior season, and his leadership continued to shine through last weekend as he bagged consecutive hat tricks in a home sweep of Miami.
His second career hat trick came Friday in 17th-ranked WMU’s 7-1 win, on a night where underclassman teammates Ryan McAllister and Max Sasson each had three assists. Polin then had a career-high five points in the Broncos’ 5-2 victory Saturday, and McAllister again helped create three goals to finish the weekend with six assists.
Sasson had a four-point game of his own on Saturday, with three helpers. How his goal that night came about won’t show up on any box score, though. More’s the pity, from Ferschweiler’s telling of it.
“Jason was on a 2-on-0 breakaway with an empty net, and he passed the puck to Max Sasson so that he could get the empty-net goal instead of (Polin) scoring his fourth,” Ferschweiler said. “He made the whole play. He skated all the way around the D, the whole deal, was going in and passed to Max. I said, ‘Poley, what’s going on?’ He goes, ‘I had enough today, Coach,’ so he gave one to Sasson.
“He’s the epitome of leadership and professionalism, and is just a great kid, as well. I have zero, ever, problems with him. He’s a world-class kid, a very, very good hockey player and he does it right every day. It’s the perfect situation for a coach to have that kind of leader on your team.”
Ferschweiler feels Polin is the best defensive forward in the NCHC, but after a six-goal weekend, what he does around the other team’s net is getting more attention.
Polin collected a career-high 16 goals and 26 points in 39 games last season, but his nine goals and 16 points through 11 games this time around have him on pace to do even better.
“He came in as a good player, and now he’s such a mature, very good hockey player,” Ferschweiler said. “He has just super-sized his game, and he kind of did the same thing in junior, then came in as a freshman as a good, complete player that plays on the puck, a 200-foot player. He was doing all those things from the start.
“We always talk about how good and how professional he is and how he does everything right, and then sometimes his offense gets overlooked a little bit. He is a very good offensive player, as well, and certainly this year he’s off to a tremendous start.”
Ferschweiler hopes that continues during WMU’s challenging upcoming slate. The Broncos’ next five games, including this week’s trip to No. 4 St. Cloud State, are all against ranked teams, and as of now, seven of the Broncos’ next 11 would be. Michigan Tech and Michigan State, both of whom WMU could meet in the Great Lakes Invitational, are currently receiving votes.
But, future opponents are for a future version of the Broncos to concern themselves with.
“We take it one weekend at a time, one game at a time,” he said. “We’re programmed to play just the game that’s ahead of us, and we’re not a team that looks right or left, or forward or back.
“We’re going to have a real challenge on our hands with St. Cloud on their Olympic sheet against a veteran-laden team, and our singular focus right now is to find points up there if we can, and then move onto the next weekend.”
