The 2024–25 Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey season was the 51st season of play for the program and 12th in the NCHC. The Broncos represented Western Michigan University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at the Lawson Arena and were coached by Pat Ferschweiler in his fourth season. The Broncos won the 2025 NCHC Tournament for the first time in program history, and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA tournament. They won their first national championship in program history.
Season Western Michigan began the season with one of the highest roster turnover rates in the country. Seventeen players, including the top three scorers and three of the top four defensemen, were gone. While some of the brain trust was still around in the presence of five-year player and Tim Washe, the Broncos were essentially having to completely remake the team. However, coach Ferschweiler had some advantages in rebuilding the team. Western had been one of the better teams on late, making the NCAA tournament in each of his three seasons behind the bench. Also, Western Michigan had made a name for itself as an up-tempo offense club. Ferschweiler succinctly iterated his plan for the team in an earlier interview:
"...we score four goals a game."
The aggressive game plan continued and, with much of college hockey still subscribing to a low-scoring, defensive-first mentality, Western was in a prime position to get the kind of recruits it needed for its fast-paced style. The Broncos dipped into the transfer portal, bringing in six experienced college players to bolster the lineup. The Defense got much-needed with two graduate players, Brian Kramer and Robby Drazner, both of whom were expected to provide a stabilizing presence on the blueline. However, most of the new players for the Broncos were freshmen with 10 neophytes filling out the roster. The club did bring in a few professional prospects, such as Ty Henricks and Zach Nehring, but their biggest addition was projected to be in goal. Hampton Slukynsky was a rising star after being named USHL Goaltender of the Year in 2024 and the team was hoping that he would turn into the club's starting goaltender in short order. The addition of the young netminder also came with an additional benefit as his brother, Grant was one of the players who transferred in, adding another offensive player to the mix.
With all the new additions, Western was a complete unknown and many did not have high expectations outside the program, though the team still had a favorable enough view to earn a spot in the national preseason polls.
Hot start When the Broncos began the season, coach Ferschweiler decided to rotate his goalies. The team alternated between senior Cameron Rowe and Slukynsky the younger, wanting to ease the teenager into the college game. While both goalies looked good early on, the offense was producing at its normal rate. Alex Bump led a lineup that could routinely go three lines deep for goal production with seven forwards finishing the year in double-digits. The club put up outstanding numbers early but had their ego checked when they ran into championship-favorites Boston College at the end of October. After scoring the first two goals, the Broncos were outplayed in the final 50 minutes and were steamrolled by the Eagles, losing 2–4. The team seemed to take the loss to heart and didn't lose again for over a month. Their stellar play in November got the team a promotion up into the top-10 and had the club looking like a sure-fire tournament team by Thanksgiving.
Scoring inconsistency Just before the winter break, Western Michigan was given a chance to prove how good it was by playing back-to-back weekends against two of the best teams in the country. After downing Michigan in the first game, the Broncos' offense seemed to dry up. Despite getting a superlative performance from Slukynsky in goal, WMU could only summon 18 shots in the rematch, falling 1–2. The next week against Denver saw nearly the same occurrence with a win followed by the offense falling flat and leading to a loss in an otherwise winnable game.
The splits the Broncos earned in those two weeks allowed the team to hold serve and keep their position in the standings. However, failing to generate scoring chances was something an offensive team could not afford to do (Western had 13 total shots in the third period in the two losses). With a glaring issue having been revealed, the winter break could not have come at a better time. However, while coach Ferschweiler had an opportunity to fine tune his offense, the team would be without the serviced of Hampton Slukynsky for two weeks after they returned to play. The goaltender had joined Team USA for the World Junior Championships and would be unavailable until after the tournament concluded on the January 5. While Western still had the experienced hand of Rowe to rely on, the Broncos' goaltender could do nothing to resolve the up-and-down offense.
The team returned to the ice in the Great Lakes Invitational and eked out a win the first game. The championship saw the Broncos pitted against another top-ranked team in Michigan State. The offense was held to just a single power play goal in the loss but the team showed a much better effort by putting up 30 shots against one of the nation's stingiest defenses.
Conference title Western Michigan was able to take advantage of a relatively weak NCHC field in the second half of the year and rack up a huge win total. The Broncos went 13–3 in their final 16 conference games thank in part to the offense getting back on track and averaging well over 4 goals per game during that stretch. After Slukynsky's return to Kalamazoo, the goaltending rotation resumed. However, the team started seeing some separation between its netminders. While Slukynsky was routinely putting forth a solid performance, Rowe's play began to suffer in February. After two lackluster outings, Rowe was relegated to being the backup with Slukynsky taking over as the primary netminder at the end of the month.
Even with the slight dip in Rowe's play, Western Michigan was able to sew up the regular season title with more than a week to go and ended up finishing 10 points ahead of second place. The team's outstanding record gave the program its first conference title in 50 years as well as a guaranteed spot in the NCAA tournament.
NCHC playoffs The team began its postseason run by hosting St. Cloud State for its final home games of the year. The Huskies, who had started the season with a great deal of hope, were hopelessly outclassed by the Broncos and lit up 6–2 in consecutive nights. Western continued to receive scoring from up and down the lineup with Bump's 5 points being the high-water mark.
The semifinal match saw the team face off against North Dakota, who were fighting desperately for a shot at the tournament. Once again, however, WMU was the better of the two and put 16 more shots on goal in the contest. The Hawks' netminder kept the game close for a while but UND's inability to solve Slukynsky forced them to pull their goalie late and two empty-net goals from Western sealed the game.
Western Michigan advanced to the NCHC championship for only the second time and were set against the only other conference member who would take part in this year's NCAA tournament, Denver. The Broncos got off to a good start, outplaying the Pioneers in the first but they failed to capitalize and the match remained scoreless entering the second. Denver took control of the game in the middle of the period and scored three times in under five minutes, stunning the Broncos. After that offensive flurry, Western got back to their game and took over the match, attacking the Denver cage for the entire second half of regulation. Zack Sharp got the team on the board at the start of the third and, although Western continued to apply pressure, nearly 10 minutes went by before the team could score again. Fortunately, when Bump netted his 22nd of the year, the Pioneers had pulled back into a defensive shell and had been unable to add to their lead. With under 4 minutes to play, Washe tied the score and forced the game into overtime. Momentum remained with Western in the extra session with the Broncos throwing 16 more shots at the Denver net but nothing went in. Undaunted, the team got right back to the offense at the start of the fifth period and Bump fired home the winning goal just 22 seconds into the period.
NCAA tournament The first NCHC championship for Western Michigan not only gave the program its second 30-win season in history but it also assured the team of a #1 seed. Unfortunately, because Michigan State had priority seeding, the Broncos were sent to the Fargo Regional instead of the Toledo Regional. However, due to NCAA seeding requirements regarding host teams, Wester did receive a slight improvement to its first round match when they were set opposite Minnesota State instead of Penn State.
The game played out largely like the classic irresistible force paradox with the Mavericks operating as the immovable object. While both sides played fast and hard throughout the night, the game hinged on which was better: the Western's offense or Minnesota State's defense. Liam Valente got Western the lead at the beginning of the second period on the power play. This was fortunate as MSU did not take another penalty for the remainder of the game, forcing WMU to have to generate its own chances. This proved difficult as the Mavericks were one of the top defensive teams in the country and held the Broncos to under 30 shots in regulation. With Western unable to increase its lead, Minnesota State was able to wait for its opportunities and ended up cashing in at the beginning of the third. The close-checking game remained tied after 60 minutes and the two sides headed into overtime. With MSU content to play defense, it was up to Western to try and break the game open. This resulted in a shot disparity in favor of the Broncos but not a high number of chances. With nothing resolved after four periods, Both sides were beginning to look tired. Western nearly lost the game when it turned the puck over in its own end but a stick check stopped a sure game-winning goal from being scored. After several more chances went for naught, Zach Nehring threw a weak shot on goal that the MSU netminder failed to cover. Grant Slukynsky was first on the puck and put a backhand in front of the net that deflected in off of a Maverick defender.