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College Sports

Western Michigan wins in 2OT, gets Boston U. in Frozen Four final

ESPN News Services Apr 10, 2025, 09:46 PM ET Open Extended Reactions ST. LOUIS — Owen Michaels scored his second goal 26 seconds into the second overtime and Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver 3-2 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four title game. Brian Kramer also scored, and freshman Hampton Slukynsky […]

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Western Michigan wins in 2OT, gets Boston U. in Frozen Four final

  • ESPN News Services

Apr 10, 2025, 09:46 PM ET

ST. LOUIS — Owen Michaels scored his second goal 26 seconds into the second overtime and Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver 3-2 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four title game.

Brian Kramer also scored, and freshman Hampton Slukynsky stopped 20 shots for a veteran-laden Western Michigan team making its Frozen Four debut in its 10th NCAA tournament appearance. The Broncos (33-7-1) set a single-season record for victories, extended their winning streak to nine and won after blowing a 2-0 third-period lead.

Western Michigan moves on to Saturday night’s championship game against Boston University, which advanced to its first Frozen Four final in 10 years with a 3-1 win over Penn State in the other semifinal.

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    Michaels’ deciding goal came on a rush into the Denver zone with Matteo Costantini driving up the right wing and sweeping the puck into the middle. Michaels took the pass and roofed a shot over the right shoulder of goalie Matt Davis.

    “Blacked out a little,” said Michaels, a sophomore from Northville, Michigan. “It was kind of a little bit of a broken play, just saw the puck squirt out to me. I was in the middle of the ice and had some open time and space and figured I’d put it on net. And pretty happy it went in.”

    Jared Wright, with the tying goal with 2:39 left in regulation, and Aidan Thompson scored goals, and Davis had 44 saves for Denver (31-12-1). The Pioneers, who have won a tournament-leading 10 titles and two in the previous three years, failed in their bid to become the NCAA’s ninth team to repeat as champion, and first since Minnesota-Duluth in 2018 and 2019.

    Pioneers defenseman and Hobey Baker Award finalist Zeev Buium was focused more on how his season ended with a loss than on whether he had just played his final college game. The sophomore, who leads NCAA defensemen with 48 points, has the opportunity to make the jump to the NHL after being drafted 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild last June.

    “I don’t know,” Buium said. “It’s tough. We just lost a big game. I hate losing. I love this place more than anything in the world. So I think for now I’m just going to spend time with my teammates and enjoy these days with them, and we’ll see what happens. I’ll have to reflect on these next few days, and I’ll see what happens.”

    The game was reminiscent of the last meeting involving the rivals in the championship of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) tournament last month. That time, Western Michigan rallied from a three-goal third-period deficit in a 4-3 2OT win.

    The Broncos dominated much of Thursday’s game, with Michaels and Kramer scoring second-period goals and Western Michigan having a 32-8 edge in shots. Zach Nehring had the best scoring chance a minute into the game when he snapped a shot off the crossbar while facing an open right side.

    “It’s a focused group. They never lose belief in themselves,” said coach Pat Ferschweiler, who has led the Broncos to a tournament berth in each of his four seasons in Kalamazoo.

    “They came in unhappy with the third period. But I think our biggest mistake was not scoring on all our chances in the second,” he added. “Denver has a championship pedigree. They’re going to push and make it hard on you. … But we knew over the entirety of the game, I thought we were the better squad.”

    In the other semifinal later Thursday, Boston U. got second-period goals from Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman, and freshman Mikhail Yegorov stopped 32 shots for the Terriers (24-12-2), who lost in the semifinals in each of the past two years.

    Jack Harvey added an empty-netter with a minute left for the Terriers, a five-time champion seeking its first title since beating Miami (Ohio) in 2009. Boston U. fell to Providence in its last title game appearance in 2015.

    “We all came here for a reason, to win a national championship, so just thinking about having the opportunity to do that in a couple of days is exciting,” Hughes said. “So it’s a little bit of a relief for now, and then we’re going to get back to work and hopefully win it all.”

    Nicholas DeGraves scored 2:15 into the third for Penn State (22-14-4). The Nittany Lions, another Frozen Four first-timer, were making only their fourth NCAA tournament appearance since being established in 2011-12. Arsenii Sergeev made 31 saves in a showdown of Russian-born goalies.

    Hughes opened the scoring 1:35 by sweeping in a loose puck after Sergeev was unable to find it sitting in the crease after he stopped Matt Copponi’s initial shot.

    Eiserman scored nine minutes later by converting a 2-on-1 break. Cole Hutson drove deep down the left side and swung around to feed a pass back through the crease to Eiserman, who one-timed it into the open side.

    Yegorov, preserved the win with several key stops. He got his blocker up to turn aside Dane Dowlak’s shot off a breakaway with seven minutes left in the second period. And the 19-year-old briefly peeked behind him after smothering Jarod Crespo’s hard shot from the right circle with 4:19 left in the third.

    Yegorov improved to 11-5-1 since joining BU in January after opening the season in the USHL. He was selected by New Jersey in the second round of the NHL draft in June.

    Terriers coach and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jay Pandolfo has reached the Frozen Four a combined seven times, four as a player and in each of his three seasons behind the BU bench. He was a member of the 1995 championship team coached by U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Jack Parker.

    “I was fortunate to play on really good teams when I was a player at BU, and we only won one time, so I have a pretty good understanding of how hard it is to win,” Pandolfo said.

    “Certainly came up short the last two years, and I think it’s helped our team to have an understanding of you have to play a certain way if you want to get to that final game,” he added. “Yeah, it feels good to get there, but we certainly hope the job’s not done yet.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    College Sports

    USC Trojans’ Lincoln Riley Buying Time With NIL?

    USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley joined the program ahead of the 2022 college football season with high expectations. The program has yet to make the College Football Playoff under Riley, and are coming off a disappointing season. In 2024, the Trojans finished with a 7-6 record, going 4-5 in Big Ten conference play. Though the […]

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    USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley joined the program ahead of the 2022 college football season with high expectations. The program has yet to make the College Football Playoff under Riley, and are coming off a disappointing season.

    In 2024, the Trojans finished with a 7-6 record, going 4-5 in Big Ten conference play. Though the team did earn and win a bowl game, it was Riley’s worst season with USC. Only winning four conference matchups and going on a three-game losing streak was not a good look for Riley, leading to the belief that he is on the hot seat.





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    Can video game ratings affect NIL valuations for college players?

    With college sports video games making a return, players may have a valid reason for being concerned about their ratings. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe plays the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game at the McDonald Hughes Center in Tuscaloosa. Milroe is one of the players featured on the game’s cover. | Gary Cosby […]

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    With college sports video games making a return, players may have a valid reason for being concerned about their ratings.

    Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe plays the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game at the McDonald Hughes Center in Tuscaloosa. Milroe is one of the players featured on the game’s cover. | Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

    EA Sports’ new College Football 26 game has altered the way college players are compensated. Not only will players receive a check for being in the video game, but their schools will also see revenue depending on how often their university is featured in the game.



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    Livvy Dunne calls out New York Times for 2022 ‘Sex Sells’ headline, recalls aftemath

    Back in 2022, the New York Times put together an article about the new NIL era in college athletics. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne was a part of the story, with a picture of her being used. The headline ended with the two words “Sex Sells” and it’s something Dunne has been critical of ever since. […]

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    Back in 2022, the New York Times put together an article about the new NIL era in college athletics. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne was a part of the story, with a picture of her being used. The headline ended with the two words “Sex Sells” and it’s something Dunne has been critical of ever since.

    She expanded on the topic recently when appearing on the What’s Your Story? podcast. Dunne explained the process of how the New York Times went about a photoshoot. Nothing different than what she would normally wear as a gymnast.

    “They came to our gymnastics facility at LSU, took pictures of me,” Dunne said via What’s Your Story? “They said, ‘wear your team-issued attire, put on a leotard,’ and they took a picture of me standing in front of the beam, like any gymnast would, and then they blew it up on the screen and put the headline, ‘Sex Sells.’

    “Okay, well, you just came into the facility and took pictures of me in our team-issued attire and blew it up on a screen… So I was like, ‘okay, well, this is crazy.’ And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that.”

    Dunne has been one of the faces of NIL since college athletes were allowed to be paid. Not many athletes out there have built a bigger brand for themselves in that time. The portfolio expands well outside gymnastics too, as Dunne partners with a large number of brands out there.

    This is not the first time Dunne has called out this specific article, either. Once describing it as “BS,” Dunne knew something was off from the very beginning while being interviewed.

    “The interviewer called me and he was asking me very odd questions,” Dunne said in 2023 on the FULL SEND PODCAST. “It was worded quite weird. He was like, ‘So, how does it feel to be a small petite blonde gymnast doing so well with NIL?’ I was just like, ‘Why does it matter that I’m petite and blonde?’ You can just ask me about NIL without you having to use these weird ways of saying it.”

    Dunne has since run out of eligibility, ending her gymnastics career. Her affinity for LSU has not changed though, most recently cheering on the Tigers in Omaha as Jay Johnson led them to another national championship.



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    Blake Wheeler, Who Once Ruptured A Testicle, Officially Retires After 16 NHL Seasons

    Right-winger had his best years in Winnipeg, including a pair of back-to-back 91-point seasons PublishedJuly 19, 2025 6:39 PM EDT•UpdatedJuly 19, 2025 6:39 PM EDT Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link He didn’t sign with an NHL team last season, so there was speculation that he may be hanging them up, but not former Winnipeg Jets […]

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    Right-winger had his best years in Winnipeg, including a pair of back-to-back 91-point seasons

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    He didn’t sign with an NHL team last season, so there was speculation that he may be hanging them up, but not former Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler is making it official: he’s retiring.

    Wheeler appeared on an episode of the radio show Jets at Noon this week and revealed that he had decided to call it a career after 16 NHL seasons and 1,172 games played.

    “More or less, right after last year knew I was all done,” Wheeler said, per Global News. “I just haven’t felt like a rush to make a formal announcement or anything. But yeah, after my injury and kinda the way things ended last year, I just didn’t have anything left in the tank for it. So yeah, I was at peace with it almost immediately after last year, and yeah, I’m just enjoying being a dad and kinda slowing things down a little bit, and being around my family.”

    Wheeler, a native of Plymouth, Minn., played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL and then played college hockey for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

    Despite being selected by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2004 NHL Draft, Wheeler signed with the Boston Bruins as a free agent in 2008. In 2011, he was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers and played the tail end of their season before the team moved to Winnipeg.

    After 16 NHL seasons, Blake Wheeler has officially announced his retirement. (Photo by Andreea Cardani/NHLI via Getty Images)

    Wheeler had his best years in Winnipeg, including a pair of back-to-back 91-point seasons, and was named the team’s captain for the 2016-17 season.

    In 2023, he signed with the New York Rangers, but missed a chunk of the season with a leg injury. He appeared in one game for the Blueshirts during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which proved to be his final NHL game.

    Congrats to Wheeler on a heck of a career. I think he’s going to go down as one of the most underrated Americna-born players. He was on the 2014 Olympic team and was a Hockey Guy’s Hockey Guy. 

    I mean, who could forget when he ruptured a testicle and stayed in the game?

    Now that’s peak Hockey Guy-ism.





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    NHL all-time record scorer Ovechkin calls for Russian return to global sports | National News

    State AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington D.C.West VirginiaWisconsinWyomingPuerto RicoUS Virgin IslandsArmed Forces AmericasArmed Forces PacificArmed Forces EuropeNorthern Mariana IslandsMarshall IslandsAmerican SamoaFederated States of MicronesiaGuamPalauAlberta, CanadaBritish Columbia, CanadaManitoba, CanadaNew Brunswick, CanadaNewfoundland, CanadaNova Scotia, CanadaNorthwest Territories, CanadaNunavut, CanadaOntario, CanadaPrince Edward Island, CanadaQuebec, CanadaSaskatchewan, CanadaYukon Territory, Canada Zip Code Country United States of […]

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    Two ASU Future Commits Invited to USA Hockey Camp

    Don’t let anyone tell you that hockey doesn’t belong in the desert, because Tempe, Arizona is quickly becoming a hotbed. Shortly after getting its first-ever first-round draft pick in Cullen Potter, the Sun Devils keep piling up the high-end commits. This time, two ASU commits were invited to USA Hockey’s Selection Camp for the Hlinka […]

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    Don’t let anyone tell you that hockey doesn’t belong in the desert, because Tempe, Arizona is quickly becoming a hotbed.

    Shortly after getting its first-ever first-round draft pick in Cullen Potter, the Sun Devils keep piling up the high-end commits.

    This time, two ASU commits were invited to USA Hockey’s Selection Camp for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which occurs every summer.

    It’s a prestigious tournament that features the world’s most talented players under the age of 18, and some of the biggest names in the NHL have participated in it over the decades.

    Ben Kevan, an ASU commit and second-round NHL Draft pick, participated in last year’s Cup.

    This season, defenseman Henry Chmiel, who boasts a large frame for someone his age, will take the ice.

    At just 17 years old, he stands 6 feet tall and weighs 212 pounds.

    He’s coming off an exceptional career at Shattuck St. Mary’s, a program that’s developed high-end NHL players for years.

    This past season at Shattuck, he posted five goals and 20 assists in 55 games.

    Chmiel is expected to spend next season in the USHL with the Des Moines Buccaneers, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2024 USHL Futures Draft.

    Continuing the trend of young, big-bodied skaters, Jimmy Egan will also be participating.

    Currently, Egan stands at 6-foot-2, 187 pounds, and he’ll be playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League next season.

    As part of the NCAA-CHL agreement, players are allowed to start their careers in major junior before transitioning to the college ranks.

    It’s the perfect trajectory for a young player, especially someone who’s dominated practically everywhere he’s played.

    This past season, Egan tore up the U16 AAA ranks with Sioux Falls Power, racking up 45 points in 26 games.

    Once Sioux Falls’ season ended, he suited up for three games with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, though he didn’t score.

    Granted, the Lancers were the worst team in the league by far, and Egan’s chances of succeeding were slim.

    That’s why, after the season, he committed to playing in Brandon for the 2025-26 campaign before making the jump to college.

    It’s a new day for Arizona State hockey, and it’s become a destination for young players who not only want to enjoy the desert weather but also get a high-end education and develop into NHL players.

    When you walk through the desert, that’s not a mirage you’re seeing — that’s an ice rink. And it’s leading you to a program that’s building a perennial contender for years to come.

    Please follow us on X when you click right here and let us know you’re thoughts on ASU hockey!



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