ST. PAUL, Minn. -– With a No. 1 seed still within reach, Western Michigan continues to steamroll its way into another NCAA tournament.
Four different players scored goals and seven players had points overall as the Broncos knocked off North Dakota 4-2 Friday night at the Xcel Enercy Center, advancing to their second Frozen Faceoff championship game in four seasons and putting an end to North Dakota’s season.
“So certainly proud of our guys,” said WMU head coach Pat Ferschweiler, the NCHC coach of the year. “I thought we played a strong game. Happy with the win.”
Minnesota natives Alex Bump and Grant Slukynsky contributed to the outcome with a goal each, and Grant’s brother Hampton made 23 saves for the Broncos. Western Michigan is not only on the verge of their first NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, but they would also become just the second NCHC team to win both the regular-season and conference tournament titles in the same season; North Dakota accomplished the feat in 2020-21.
Newly named NCHC rookie of the year Sacha Boisvert scored twice to try to keep North Dakota’s season alive, but the Fighting Hawks just couldn’t sustain any heavy offensive zone pressure and they fell short of an NCAA tournament berth for the second time in the last three years with the defeat. Still, like they did a week ago in their road sweep of Omaha and all season long, UND just would not quit, and that’s what head coach Brad Berry was most proud of.
“I know we went through a little bit of diversity up and down here but couldn’t be more proud of these guys and the way they battled tonight,” Berry said.
Bump, a native of Twin Cities suburb Prior Lake roughly 30 miles southwest of St. Paul, got the scoring started for WMU with an unassisted goal as a well-aimed wrist shot found its way in down low past TJ Semptimphelter. It was the 21st of the season for the NCHC forward of the year as well as his 6th of the season against UND.
“He’s been our best player all year,” Grant Slukynsky said. “There’s no quit in his game.”
North Dakota found an answer late in the first to send the teams into the intermission in a tie game. After Tim Washe was sent off for slashing, the Fighting Hawks didn’t waste much time on their power play. Boisvert was found all alone in the low slot by Owen McLaughlin and Boisvert took the feed to finish off an easy score for his 17th goal of the season.
Warroad native Grant Slukynsky put the Broncos back ahead near the halfway point of the third when a shot from between the circles somehow bled through Semptimphelter. North Dakota finally ramped up the pressure afterward with their season on the line, but just could not get a puck in the net before Iiro Hakkarainen scored into an empty net with 1:54 to go. Boisvert scored his 2nd of the night with 50 seconds left to pull the Fighting Hawks back within one, but their hopes and season were finished when Sam Sjolund finished things off with another empty-net goal with 24 seconds left.
“Battled back. It was just not enough,” said UND forward Jake Schmaltz, whose collegiate career is now over. “At the end, it was just tough.”
Semptimphelter had 37 saves for UND in his final collegiate game.
Western Michigan will play in its second Frozen Faceoff championship game Saturday night against the defending champion Denver Pioneers. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 CT.
