2023 NCAA hockey tournament: WMU offense shut down by Boston U. in 5-1 loss
2023 NCAA hockey tournament: Western Michigan Broncos vs. Boston University Terriers
Matchup: 3-seed Western Michigan (23-14-1) vs. No. 2 Boston U. (27-10-0), NCAA tournament Manchester region first round.
Faceoff: 2 p.m. Thursday; SNHU Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire.
TV: ESPN2.
At stake: Winner plays Thursday’s winner between 1-seed Denver and 4-seed Cornell at 4 p.m. Saturday for spot in Frozen Four in Tampa, Florida, on April 6.
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The Bronco to know: F Jason Polin
OK, maybe it’s trite to go with WMU’s leading goalscorer, but when he’s the NATION’S leading goalscorer? We’ll allow it. The 23-year-old senior from Holt put up 29 goals this season, falling just one short of his total for his first three seasons in Kalamazoo combined. He also had 17 assists and a plus-27 rating (second among Broncos behind only defenseman Zak Galambos). Still, one knock against him might be his lack of success against top-level teams. WMU faced four other teams in this year’s NCAA tourney: Denver, Michigan, Michigan Tech and St. Cloud State. Polin had a hat trick in one game vs. MTU (an 8-1 WMU win), but just one goal in six games combined against DU, U-M and SCSU.
The Terrier to know: D Domenick Fensore
As noted, it’s easy to highlight a team’s top scorer — in this case, that would be freshman defenseman Lane Hutson, a unanimous All-Hockey East first-teamer and Hobey Baker Award finalist after leading the nation’s college defensemen in points — but we’ll go with his fellow blueliner (and fellow Hockey East first-teamer), Fensore. The Terriers’ captain, a third-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2019, actually saw his offense drop off a bit this season, going from five goals and 26 assists last season to nine and 19, respectively. Chalk that up to his shot attempts, though; he took 114 shots over 34 games, an average of 3.4 per contest and third-most among college defensemen.
Ryan Ford’s pick
The tourney's opening matchup should be a doozy on offense; BU was third in the nation with 3.92 goals per game, while WMU was fifth at 3.87. (Though WMU actually had the better average scoring margin, 1.32-1.27.) But for all those expected goals, let’s go with the team sporting two star defensemen — albeit in a shootout. The pick: Boston U. 6, Western Michigan 4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2023 NCAA hockey tournament: What to know about WMU vs. Boston U.
