Western Michigan started out the program's first Frozen Four trip in program history by dominating through two periods on Thursday night. Denver goaltender Matt Davis worked to keep the Pioneers in the game by turning aside 32 shots through 40 minutes, including a shorthanded breakaway late in the second period.

ST. LOUIS — For the first time since 2008, a Minnesota team failed to get out of the first round of the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament. That news meant there would be no Minnesota team taking the ice at this weekend’s Frozen Four at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The semifinals of the Frozen Four will take place on Thursday in St. Louis. Denver will play Western Michigan in the first game; it will begin at 5 p.m. ET. The second, between Boston University and Penn State, will take place at 8:30 p.m. ET. The winners of those two matchups will battle on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Despite having been around since the mid-‘70s, this is Western Michigan’s first-ever trip to the Frozen Four. Fourth-year head coach Pat Ferschweiler has built a team that has been a force, which has given programs like DU and North Dakota fits for the past few years.

The NCAA men's hockey tournament is getting down to the wire. The first game of the Frozen Four, between Denver and Western Michigan, is set for Thursday.

Owen Michaels scored his second goal 26 seconds into the second overtime and Western Michigan beat defending champion Denver 3-2 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four title game.Brian Kramer also scored and freshman Hampton Slukynsky stopped 20 shots for a veteran-laden Western Michigan team making its Frozen Four debut in its 10th NCAA tournament appearance.

Western Michigan defeated defending champion Denver in the first double-overtime game at the Frozen Four since 1996.

One NHL scout on Buium: "The stuff he’s doing on the blue line — Makar does that, Lane Hutson does that and Quinn Hughes does that."

Owen Michaels's double-overtime goal sent Western Michigan to the Frozen Four title game, where it will face Boston University on Saturday night.

Denver, which has won a tournament-leading 10 titles and two in the previous three years, failed in its bid to become the NCAA’s ninth team to repeat as champions, and first since Minnesota-Duluth in