Perreault and Fortescue didn’t even make it out of their region and Laba? His team never made it to the NCAA tournament.
Nobody even thought that the freshman Ty Henricks was going to be playing for a championship. Most expected him to be in and out of the Western Michigan lineup since he was the only teenager on their roster.
Yet on Saturday night there was Ty Henricks scoring what proved to be the game winning goal as his Western Michigan Broncos knocked off Boston University 6-2 in the finals of the Frozen Four. It was a fitting end to a history making season for the Broncos.
The Broncos, who all season long never got respect from anyone, made sure everyone knew this was no fluke of a win. The Broncos did to Boston College what they did to all those teams in their path.
This was a team that wasn’t in the Top 15 of the preseasons polls and they were picked to finish sixth in the NCHC conference. Even during the season, nobody respected Western Michigan as the critics looked for reasons why they did not deserve to be at the top of the polls.
So, what did Western Michigan do? They won their first ever Penrose Cup (NCHC regular season championship), they won their first ever NCHC Frozen Playoff, they won their first ever NCAA regional and then they won the school’s first ever national championship.
As for Henrick, nobody had him scoring the championship winning goal at all. All season Henricks was the fourth line left wing for the Broncos and entering this game he had all of seven goals.
He was 15th on the team in scoring, his average time on ice was 9:08 and he rarely got to play on the power play or penalty kill.
But in the second period with his team already up 2-1, it was Henricks who took a pass from linemate Cam Knuble and tapped in an easy shot for the Broncos third goal of the game.
TY!!#BroncosReign pic.twitter.com/A96tPENH1C
— WMU Hockey (@WMUHockey) April 13, 2025
The even strength goal at 5:18 of the period put the Broncos up by two goals and it mattered. Boston University would score a power play goal later in the period to draw to within one at 3-2 but that was as close as they got.
Western Michigan would break the game open with a three goal third period and the fans known as the Lawson Lunatics were partying. And that goal was also Henricks first NCAA career game winning goal.
Henricks finishes his freshman year 8-5-13 but he is going to be the only Rangers related person who will finish his season as a champion.
Down to One
With the NCAAs now over, there is just one remaining Ranger’s prospect still playing. Raoul Boilard and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar are in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs. But don’t count on them remaining there very long as they are playing the Moncton Wildcats who were the QMJHL regular season champions.
The Wildcats finished 31 points ahead of the Drakkar in the QMJHL standings. Even worse was if game one was any indication as to how this series will go then the Drakkar will be gone in four.
The Wildcats spanked the Drakkar 7-0 in game one with game 2 scheduled for Sunday.
