The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff Championship game between the Western Michigan University Broncos and the Denver University Pioneers was held on Saturday evening, Mar. 22. The Broncos were in search of their first NCHC championship, while the Pioneers were looking to win back-to-back.
From the start of the game, it was clear that it was going to be a back-and-forth, tight-knit affair. The first period went by scoreless despite the Broncos outshooting the Pioneers 10-4. The second period was all about the Pioneers, as they scored three unanswered goals. Then, in the third period, the Broncos answered with three of their own goals to force overtime. A second overtime was required and the local Minnesota hero Alex Bump stepped up to win it.
Pioneers/Broncos Overtime Winner
The perfect scenario for a championship game is a hard-fought battle until the end unless you have a favorite team in the mix, and then as long as they win, it doesn’t matter too much. However, in terms of having a great game, the closer it is, the better, and at first, it looked like the Pioneers were going to run away with it.
Then the Broncos proved why they made it this far by answering back to tie it, and it took a second goal from Bump to win the game. It was hard to see a loser because both teams fought hard, especially the goaltending, but it showed how good each team was. It’s not great to go down three goals early or give up a three-goal lead, but each team is very talented, and it showed.
“Yeah, I’ve scored a couple of goals here so it’s nothing new, but it’s always fun,” said Bump about having the scoring touch at the Xcel Energy Center in reference to his five goals back in the Minnesota State Hockey Tournament a few years ago and he continued about why he has that touch, “I don’t know, there’s a lot of people here, it’s almost a pain to play but although I don’t pay, but yeah I mean it’s always great to come back home in front of a bunch of friends and family.”
Pioneers Strong at the Beginning
Like their semifinal win over the Arizona State University Sun Devils, the Pioneers had scoring come from all over their lineup. None of the goal scorers from their first win scored in the second game. Jake Fisher recorded the first goal, and then, just a few minutes later, Eric Pohlkamp followed up by putting their team up by two goals. Then the name that everyone expected to see on the scoresheet at least once this weekend, Zeev Buium, scored to make it a 3-0 game, and it looked like they were going to run with it after that.
However, in the third, they didn’t exactly let up, but they allowed the Broncos to climb back into the game slowly. There weren’t any horrible plays, just little mistakes that cost them. With the three-goal lead, they pushed, but not as hard as they had before their own three goals, and it seemed a bit of a different game after their fourth goal was overturned due to offsides.
“I didn’t think it was that big of a shift; it was in the second period, their goals were in the third. Obviously, when you look at the final score, the fourth goal would’ve been nice to have, but you know, we had a pretty good mindset on the bench of just continuing to keep going we thought we had them in a good spot, and obviously loved our second period and what we were able to do. They had a push in the third; we looked a little tired in overtime. I don’t know if that maybe is the three-in-three from a week ago and the amount of energy and effort expended there, but like I said, we’ll turn the page, we’ll make sure that our bodies are ready to go for Friday,” said Pioneers head coach David Carle.
Broncos Fought Back
When it looked like the game would be one-sided, the Broncos dug deep and forced one goal at a time in the third period. The play didn’t tilt their direction, but they kept pushing and found the back of the net three times to answer the Pioneers’ three goals. Zack Sharp started things, and then Alex Bump and Tim Washe followed to tie things up at three.
The biggest reason they could climb back into the game was that they kept shooting. They outshot the Pioneers the whole game but struggled to find the back of the net. Many teams would’ve given up, but they kept at it and had over 40 shots on goal. Eventually, they were rewarded and wore the Pioneers down to force overtime twice.
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“Yeah, no frustration; we’ve been taught since the start of the year just positivity, belief in this group, and yeah, we wanted things to go our way, and it took the effort to make it go that way,” said Washe about not getting frustrated after being down 3-0 early.
NCAA Bound
Regardless of the result, the NCHC will send both the Broncos and the Pioneers to the NCAA tournament, which starts this coming Thursday, Mar. 27. Both teams looked strong throughout the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, and they’ll both represent the conference well in the NCAA.
