Eric Pohlkamp Archives - Minnesota Hockey Magazine

Broncos Answer The Last Call

Ryan Stieg — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 21:22:15 +0000

ST. PAUL, Minn. — If there’s one thing that Alex Bump definitely does well, it’s scoring goals at Xcel Energy Center.

The Prior Lake native became a legend during the 2022 Class 2A boys’ state hockey tournament, and on Saturday, he etched his name in the Western Michigan record books after scoring the winning goal in double overtime to lift the Broncos over Denver 4-3 to win the final NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Bump scored two goals in the game and Western erased a three-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime.

“I’ve scored a couple goals here, so it’s nothing new,” Bump said, with a laugh. “It’s always fun.”

With the victory, the Broncos finish as regular season and Frozen Faceoff champions, which is the first time that’s happened in the league since 2021 when North Dakota accomplished that feat.

Western coach Pat Ferschweiler said that a tight game like that benefits his squad as it gets ready for the NCAA regionals.

“I think it prepares both for the NCAA Tournament next week,” he said. “I’m proud of our team (for) the way we stuck with it there. We hung in there, and then I thought we took over the game at the end. I’m just excited to have another program first.”

Denver players Kent Anderson (left) and Zeev Buium (middle) celebrate one of their three second-period goals. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

For the Pioneers, who won last year’s Frozen Faceoff on their way to a national championship, it was a tough ending as they held what appeared to be a secure lead going into the third.

“That was a good hockey game,” said DU coach David Carle. “Our guys battled hard, they battled hard. Disappointed obviously that we couldn’t close the game out in regulation, but we had some looks in overtime. Especially with the offsides goal, that would’ve been the fourth for us, too. Tough game, but give them credit. They played extremely well, and they’re a great hockey team. For us, it’s trying to turn the page quickly. Certainly, it stings and it needs to sting, but turn the page quickly to Manchester and Providence and our next game.”

For some teams, it might be tough to bounce back quickly from a conference championship loss, but the Pioneers appeared to be already doing that in the postgame presser.

“Honestly, I think not having that much time for the next game makes it even easier to turn the page,” said DU captain Carter King. “I think it’s easy to sit there and dwell on the chances that we could’ve had, or plays that could’ve been made. At the end of the day, this year’s been about rolling with the punches and just working with the situations that we have. I think we have the team to learn and grow from what we just went through, and it’s just about getting ready for the tournament.”

Denver takes control on the scoreboard first
DU started off with a little more energy and almost scored on an early power play, but James Reeder just missed the net on a backdoor play. The Pioneers almost scored at the 5:20 mark as Aidan Thompson tried to put in a rebound, but he was denied by Broncos goalie Hampton Slukynsky.

Western started to take control after the midway point of the period and ended up leading 10-4 in shots. At the 9:20 mark, the Broncos’ Zach Nehring had a good chance down low and almost tapped in his own rebound, but DU goalie Matt Davis kept the puck out. Western’s best scoring chance came at 17:13 as Brian Kramer snapped a loose puck at the net, but Davis just got a piece of it to keep the game at 0-0 going into the second period.

Alex Bump scores the overtime-winner 22 seconds into the second OT period while being defended by Denver’s Zeev Buium. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Early in the second, Western still stayed in control, but then the Pioneers caught fire. At 5:46, DU got on the scoreboard on a goal by Jake Fisher. After Slukynsky stopped Samu Salminen’s shot, the rebound went right to Fisher, who tapped it into an open net to make it 1-0.

At 9:05, the Pioneers struck again as Rieger Lorenz left a drop pass to Eric Pohlkamp at the point and he blasted a shot past Slukynsky to put DU up 2-0. A little more than a minute later, DU went up 3-0 as Zeev Buium skated into the slot and notched his 11th goal of the season. The Pioneers almost went up 4-0 as Salminen put the puck in the net at 14:31, but the goal was waved off due to offsides, and it stayed 3-0 going into the third.

Broncos charge back
Western got on the board at 3:21 of the third to trim its deficit to 3-1 as Broncos defenseman Zack Sharp went top shelf on Davis. The Broncos started to put a little more pressure on Davis for a few minutes after that, but the netminder stood tall through that stretch.

The Broncos cut DU’s lead to one at 13:19 as Bump scored just off a faceoff in the Pioneers zone, blasting a shot past Davis. Just over three minutes later, Western tied things up as the Broncos entered the DU zone on a rush and Tim Washe’s shot went off Davis’ glove and into the back of the net to make it 3-3 and force overtime.

Western Michigan players celebrate their NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on March 22, 2025. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“That is a huge hill to climb, down 3-0 to Denver in the third,” Ferschweiler said. “That’s such a great hockey team, and they’re so dangerous. But I thought our players were getting better throughout the game and there was lots of belief in that locker room. We just talked about being urgent from the first shift on and not waiting ’til the end to try to press. We couldn’t. We had to get three goals, not one goal.

“Then the big-time play by Liam Valente to pull up and find Zack Sharp, who calmly buries it under the bar, and you could feel ‘Okay, the belief was there.’ This is a confident group. The belief is always there, but then you could just feel the momentum build, and I just thought we got better and better and better even throughout the overtime.”

Western brought that momentum into the first overtime as they controlled play for almost the entire period. The Broncos had three good chances to win the game in the opening three minutes of the period, but Davis stopped them all. At 7:02, Nehring almost ended things for Western, but his shot down low was denied by Davis. There was a scramble in front of the net, but Davis was able to cover the puck before it crossed the goal line.

DU had its best chance to win it at 5:09 as Sam Harris sent a shot on net that was saved by Slukynsky, but the puck came loose and the freshman netminder had to spin around and whack it out of the crease before it crossed the line.

The post Broncos Answer The Last Call appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

DI College Hockey Preview

John Gilbert — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 01:26:17 +0000

In the good ol’ days when the WCHA ruled college hockey in the country, the only team that had a chance to win an NCAA national championship was the Minnesota Gophers of the legendary Herb Brooks. Then along came University of Minnesota Duluth, which broke through and has now won three NCAA titles since the Golden Gophers last won one. Now, we have St. Cloud State and Minnesota State Mankato knocking on the door as elite level teams, with Bemidji State not far behind.

But wait. For the current 2023-24 season a sixth Minnesota Division I program has vaulted into immediate contention, with the University of St. Thomas opening the season with a startling split with St. Cloud State and taking the then-No. 1 ranked Gophers to overtime before falling 6-5 before more than 11,000 fans at Xcel Energy Center.

The WCHA is, of course, no longer in operation. It shattered when Minnesota went off to help start a Big Ten hockey conference, prompting Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State to start up with the new, and supremely powerful, National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) and leaving MSU-Mankato and Bemidji State in what was left of the WCHA. That league changed its name to the CCHA, recapturing the Central Collegiate Hockey Association call letters forced by Michigan when it branched off from the WCHA to form its “bus league.”

While St. Thomas, under proven mastermind Rico Blasi as head coach, raised all its sports to Division I status, nobody expected the Tommies to be the surprise of the state’s college hockey stalwarts this quickly.

Sophomore Ben Steeves scored a shootout goal as UMD solved a 2-2 tie with Michigan Tech. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Regardless, we have to turn back to Minnesota Duluth to find the new king of bargain promotions in college hockey. The Bulldogs started off this season unbeaten through three games, while giving their fans the benefit of a bargain for their ticket prices. In two of their first three games, the Bulldogs skated to ties, then through scoreless overtimes, and then through shootouts before prevailing to turn those deadlocks into symbolic victories.

A young student, new to big-time hockey, saw the teams prepare for the shootout after UMD and Michigan Tech tied 2-2 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game and asked: “Do they get a point if they win the shootout?” He was told no, that there was no tangible benefit, no points, no indication of winning, but only giving the fans the satisfaction of seeing the game end in something other than a tie.

He was unimpressed at the answer, but as the shootout saw Ben Steeves score a goal, and then freshman Anthony Menghini clinch it 2-1, the fans, all of whom stood in their AMSOIL Arena seats, erupted with a roar that would do a league playoff championship proud. The young man acknowledged, “OK, now I get it.”

A week later, in their first official non-conference game against Northern Michigan, UMD started with a 3-0 lead before allowing three unanswered goals and needing to rally to go back ahead 4-3 on Steeve’s second goal of the night, then fell behind 5-4. That left it up to Menghini, the freshman, to score another pivotal goal, tying the game 5-5 with 2:58 remaining. Then the Bulldogs and Wildcats sparred through six rounds of the shootout before Matthew Perkins, another freshman, scored to claim another 2-1 shutout victory. Again, however, it was not a victory, just an official tie. But don’t tell the 5,947 screaming fans that!

They went home happy and, thanks to the return of a previous promotional deal with area Culver’s restaurants, every fan turning in a ticket stub whenever UMD scores five goals or more gets a free scoop of frozen custard. How can you beat having extra-time hockey and free frozen custard after your team won the game — as far as you’re concerned.

The next night, UMD kept rolling through Northern Michigan in a second penalty-fest that saw a repeat of double-digit penalty calls with each team scoring three power-play goals and the Bulldogs getting an 8-5 victory and a sweep.

“These are games that test your inner strength,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said afterward. “I thought we handled the adversity a little better tonight than in the first game, and fortunately our power play was clicking.”

Fears of struggling to score were washed away in that series sweep, thanks to Steeves and a couple of freshmen, starting a trend that seems to have engaged the whole team, which Sandelin will welcome as he tries to take his team off to the NCAA tournament in quest of his fourth national title at UMD.

Snuggerud is back for the Gophers
Down Interstate 35 a couple of hours, Bob Motzko has assembled a flashy crop of talent led by Jimmy Snuggerud, who started off hot after several of his classmates turned pro after last season’s near miss at NCAA time. Motzko got his way by narrowing the Olympic-sized, 200-by-100-foot ice sheet at 3M Arena at Mariucci to a hybrid width, now 200-by-89 feet. With an inability to use the wider ice surface favored by the late Herb Brooks and Doug Woog to win his first national title with a dressing room filled with NHL draft choices, maybe a narrower rink will help.

At the start, Snuggerud made the plan work. After scoring the overtime winner against upstart St. Thomas to climax a rally from a 4-2 deficit in the third period, Snuggerud brought his teammates back to Mariucci for the second game and scored twice for a 2-0 lead that the Gophers expanded with an empty-net goal for a 3-0 victory and a sweep.

The media-heavy Twin Cities promotional backing may have helped the Gophers gain the No 1 ranking in the nation despite losing four players to early NHL contracts. But Snuggerud makes it appear they won’t be missed as the Gophers try to repeat as Big Ten champions.

Early adversity for St. Cloud State
The St. Cloud State Huskies, who rose up from a disappointing season to make a run at the NCAA tournament last spring, lost some big scorers. But coach Brett Larson has proven to be a master at fashioning his talent into contenders as the season progresses. The Huskies were the first victim of St. Thomas, losing 5-4 in overtime, and had to go to the Mendota Heights home of the Tommies to battle for a 1-0 victory and a split.

But next came a huge rivalry series against MSU Mankato, which spotted the Huskies the first two goals before roaring back to tie the game 2-2 in the second period and beat St. Cloud 3-2 on Adam Eisele’s overtime goal. The next night, Mankato stung the Huskies 5-1 for a sweep.

New coach leads Minnesota State Mankato
Minnesota State Mankato suffered what seemed like crushing setbacks when Mike Hastings left to become head coach at Wisconsin, and several of his top Mavericks entered the transfer portal to go with him. New head coach Luke Strand, however, has regenerated the Mavericks right from the start.

They were heartened by the return to form of Sam Morton, a fifth-year captain who went out after only 10 games with a knee injury last season. Alex Tracy looks solid in goal. The Mavericks have retained a great tradition, as they blocked 23 shots in the 5-1 game against St. Cloud State.

Beavers host Ice Breaker Tournament
Bemidji State is another team joining Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech in trying to unseat MSU Mankato as CCHA champion, and the Beavers got an early taste of the competition by co-hosting the Ice Breaker Tournament with North Dakota to open the season. That came after losing 5-2 at Minnesota in an exhibition opener. Back home, Bemidji State dropped a 4-3 overtime game to Wisconsin and the reappearance of old rival Hastings on the visiting bench.

The next night, Army came to Bemidji’s sparkling Sanford Center and the Beavers made a determined rally to tie the Cadets 2-2 on Eric Pohlkamp’s goal at 7:30 of the third period. Lleyton Roed scored the game-winner at 0:59 of overtime for a 3-2 triumph. Roed also had a goal against Wisconsin, when the Badgers outshot Bemidji 61-19 and only the 57 saves by goaltender Mattias Scholl kept the Beavers in the game.

Toms roll in game one
The state’s newest DI team, the St. Thomas Tommies, served notice of their intentions not only against in-state rivals like Minnesota and St. Cloud State, but challenging the CCHA as a legitimate contender. Blasi established his skills in building Miami of Ohio into a solid team in the NCHC. After he was let go by Miami he was a natural choice to lead the Tommies into DI. So, his team’s early successes this year shouldn’t be a surprise.

Benefitting by the transfer portal, Blasi has assembled speed and talent that went on display in the season-opener at St. Cloud State. Goals by Jake Braccini, Cameron Recchi, Luke Manning and Matthew Gleason got the Tommies into overtime, where former Duluth East star Ryder Donovan scored at 1:11 to win it 5-4. It won’t be easy for St. Thomas to keep knocking off powerful rivals, but Blasi has made a name for himself by sending tough, tenacious teams over the boards.

Now that St. Thomas is planning a new arena for its future, about all they need is to find an ice cream shop — or maybe a St. Paul pizza joint — and come up with a promotion whenever they score five goals.

The post DI College Hockey Preview appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.