ST. LOUIS – When people describe the state of Michigan, they’ll show you their hand mirroring the state’s outline and point to where you can find their hometown. Kalamazoo can be a little harder to place as it’s more west and a little south of most of the major cities that provide the easy-to-spot landmarks. 

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If you wanted to find Kalamazoo Saturday, just listen. Because you’re going to hear the party for miles and miles. 

The Western Michigan Broncos, who call Lawson Arena and the city of Kalamazoo home, are men’s hockey national champions for the first time in program’s 52-year history. 

They are the sixth team from the Mitten to claim a national championship, joining Michigan, Michigan State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan in that rarified air. And because of that national championship pedigree within the state, Western Michigan isn’t always the first that comes to mind when you think “hockey school.”

If that didn’t change yet, it has changed now.

The Broncos were led to the championship by a head coach who is intimately familiar with Kalamazoo. Pat Ferschweiler was once the captain of the WMU hockey team, back in 1992-93 and had three successful seasons as a player there.

Back then, the Broncos were a mid-tier team in the loaded CCHA which had some of the best hockey programs in the country during his years. Years later, Western became the conference’s doormat, struggling to find a footing against the blue bloods of collge hockey.

Things began to change in 2010.

Jeff Blashill helped turn the tide in one incredible season in 2010-11 before being called to the pros, then former NHL coach and Jack Adams Award winner Andy Murray took it to the next step, winning conference titles and becoming a more regular contender for slots in the national tournament.

Still, there was more to be gained. Western had never even won a single game in the NCAA tournament in their program’s history.

Enter Ferschweiler in 2021. And with him, his longtime friend Jason Herter, a widely respected coach who won national titles as an assistant at Minnesota Duluth and renowned for his recruiting ability. Their impact was immediate, bringing the Broncos to the NCHC championship game, winning their first ever NCAA tournament game against Northeastern.

There has never been a season like the one Western Michigan just experienced, however. Nothing close.

In Ferschweiler’s fourth year behind the bench, he led the Broncos to the program’s best record. They won the NCHC regular-season and postseason championships, only the second team to win the double in that conference’s highly-competitive history. 

They won their first NCAA tournament game in the regionals, a tense double-overtime win over Minnesota State in Fargo, N.D. two weeks ago. Then it was a 2-1 win over UMass in the regional final before reaching their first ever Frozen Four. The road to get to St. Louis was far from easy.

In their Frozen Four debut, where they met a familiar foe in the University of Denver, the defending national champion. It took two overtimes, but in a season of unprecedented moments, Owen Michaels delivered another when he broke free and ripped a shot into the top left corner to send WMU to their first ever championship game.

This was an opportunity this team simply would not miss. They dominated long stretches of the game, never relinquishing the lead once they got it 1:38 into the opening period. Michaels added two more goals in the third, including an empty-netter to set off the party in Kalamazoo that may not end for quite some time.

Western became the first team to win the national title in their first Frozen Four appearance since 1988 when Lake Superior State did the same.

The unprecedented, however may become a more regular occurrence. The tide is changing in college hockey and Western Michigan is working to become a major player in it.

Ferschweiler has brought in a dawning of a new era in Kalamazoo. NHL draft picks are committing to the school out of junior hockey more frequently, or flipping to them like Alex Bump (PHI) and Hampton Slukynsky (LAK). Those that aren’t drafted seem to find NHL contracts with a few strong years under the tutelage, players like Max Sasson, Jason Polin, Ryan McAlister and Brandon Bussi, among others. They are becoming a more attractive destination in the transfer portal, with a number of high profile additions from this year already committed for next including NHL draft picks William Whitelaw (CBJ) and Zaccharya Wisdom (SEA). 

Meanwhile, WMU is expecting a new stadium to be built that they hope to make the envy of college hockey.

Lawson Arena has seen better days, even though it is home to the Lawson Lunatics and one of the most raucous atmospheres in college hockey. A new barn to go along with a blue-chip coach, one of the elite recruiters and assistant coaches in the country in Herter, and now a national championship to sell to recruits? 

This could be rocket fuel to a program that was anonymous to some before, but never again. 

Western Michigan, as the T-shirt of one brown-and-gold clan fan read, is most definitely a “HOCKEY SCHOOL.”

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