ST. LOUIS -- Owen Michaels scored two third-period goals, including an empty-netter, to seal Western Michigan's first Frozen Four championship in a 6-2 victory over Boston University on Saturday night.
Iiro Hakkarainen and Wyatt Schingoethe each had a goal and assist while Ty Henricks and Cole Crusberg-Roseen also scored to cap the Broncos' first Frozen Four appearance in the program's 52-year history. Hampton Slukynsky stopped 24 shots, and top-seeded Western Michigan (34-7-1) closed its winningest season with 10 straight victories.
The Broncos reached the final when Michaels, who played two seasons in the North American Hockey League and does not yet have an NHL contract, scored his second goal 26 seconds into double overtime in a 3-2 victory over defending champion Denver in Thursday night's semifinals.
"So proud of this team. They believed in themselves from start to finish," Broncos coach Pat Ferschweiler said. "They cared about each other all year. I couldn't be more proud of them."
In defeating the five-time champion Terriers, according to ESPN Research, the Broncos became the fourth program to win a national title in its Frozen Four debut excluding the inaugural NCAA tournament in 1948. The other schools are Denver (1958), Cornell (1967), and Lake Superior State (1988).
"It's hard to get here. And clearly, we know it's very hard to win this last game," said Terriers coach Jay Pandolfo, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and a member of BU's 1995 championship team. "I'm really proud of them, and this is tough to swallow."
Western Michigan also made it 3-for-3 for Michigan-based teams winning the tournament when it takes place in St. Louis, after Michigan State won in 2007 and Michigan Tech in 1975.
"Kalamazoo is only 150,000 people, and it felt like half the town was here," Ferschweiler said, referring to the school's campus location. "You could feel the energy in the streets during the day."
The win didn't come easily. The Terriers appeared to cut the lead to 4-3 with 8:04 remaining when Matt Copponi jammed in a rebound through Slukynsky's legs. Though replays clearly showed the puck going over the line, the goal was disallowed because the whistle had blown.
Later in the third, Michaels put an exclamation point on the win with his empty-netter.
"That goal was not about me; it was about this team, and this group," Michaels said, "and doing something we've never done before."
Cole Eiserman and Shane Lachance, a prospect for the New Jersey Devils, scored for Boston University (24-14-2). Mikhail Yegorov, also a prospect for New Jersey, stopped 22 shots in a matchup of freshman goaltenders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.