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Quote:While it was an accomplishment for Western Michigan to advance to the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season — doing so for the first time in program history — the team left Maryland Heights empty-handed, and could feel little but despair.

The Broncos went into the third period Friday night against the top seed in the region, the Michigan State Spartans, leading by two goals. Yet, the reigning Big Ten champions rallied back, tying the game in the final minute of regulation, before an unlucky bounce in overtime gave the Spartans a 5-4 win.

Quote:Head coach Pat Ferschweiler felt his team had opportunities to put the Spartans away when the Broncos still had the lead.

“When it was 4-2 we had chances to make it 5-2,” Ferschweiler said. "We didn’t, and we made two mistakes, and they shot them both in our net."

Western Michigan did not recover. Jeremy Davidson, who grew up in Kalamazoo, scored the game winner minutes into overtime with a shot that ricocheted off Bronco senior defenseman Daniel Hilsendager’s stick and floated over Cameron Rowe's catching glove.

“Not the way you’d love to lose a hockey game,” Ferschweiler said. “But I’m proud of this team. I told them I was proud of them and that I love coaching this team.”

What has made the Broncos special over the last three years is the ability to thrive despite so much turnover, losing their top lines in each of the last two seasons, but replacing them this year with Dylan Wendt, Bump and Grainger, not to mention getting the transfer Colangelo, who scored in this game and led the team with 24. However, despite the consistency, they have been unable to translate it to success into the postseason. The Broncos have not been able to win an NCHC Championship, with their closest opportunity coming in 2022 when they lost to Minnesota-Duluth in the final.

Grainger assures that despite the team making it to the national tournament again, bowing out in the opening weekend again has left a bad taste in the team’s mouth. However, he feels like the future is still bright for the program.

“We want to do something more than just come to the tournament," Grainger said. "With coach Fersch here, we’re pretty excited about what the future holds for the program, and we know it’s in good hands.”