Season ends for Slubowski and the WMU Broncos

The 2013-14 College hockey season has come to an end for Prince Rupert's Frank Slubowski and his Western Michigan Bronco team mates.

This weekend the Broncos came up short in their quest to advance further in NCAA hockey for this season, with a fourth place finish in the NCHC Championships in Minneapolis.

The Broncos dropped both games of their weekend, a Friday night loss which eliminated them from the championship game and Saturday's bronze medal game, a 5-0 defeat at the hands of North Dakota.

The disappointing Saturday result followed an extremely close contest of Friday night.

When the Broncos with Frank Slubowski in goal, pushed Denver University to the final whistle before dropping a 4-3 decision, eliminating them from the championship chase in the NCHC.

It was a game that featured a number of momentum shifts, as Slubowski and Denver goaltender Sam Britain settled in for a three period goal tenders duel.

The Broncos, had a number of opportunities to push their way into the finals, but in the end, Denver found the winning range with less than five minutes to go in the third period.

Denver would go on later in the weekend to claim the NCHC championship and a berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament, the seventh year in a row that Denver will appear in the tournament.

Slubowski, who played his minor hockey with the PRMHA, faced 23 shots in the duel, turning aside 19 shots, many of them in the third period as the Broncos frantically tried to pick up the equalizer to take the game to overtime. A quest that they came up just a little short of.

In Saturday's third place game, Slubowski was again in the nets, facing 29 shots during the North Dakota onslaught.

The Broncos goaltender held the back end as best he could, while the Broncos were unsuccessful in their attempts to get back into the game once they had fallen behind.

With the convincing victory by North Dakota, they keep alive their chances of qualifying for an at large spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The 5-0 loss, the last of hockey this year for the Broncos squad, it was not the season wrap that they were looking for and clearly not indicative of the quality of play that the team provided for the majority of their NCHC season.

Scoring summaries for the two games can be found below, as well as recaps of the weekend tournament.

Summary March 22
Summary March 21


March 22-- WMU Hockey season ends with 5-0 loss to North Dakota in NCHC Tournament third-place game
March 22-- Bronco Hockey wraps up season against North Dakota
March 22-- North Dakota takes care of its end
March 21-- Denver Pioneers advance to NCHC title game
March 21-- WMU Hockey's 4-3 loss to Denver in NCHC Tournament snaps Broncos' NCAA tournament hopes
March 21-- WMU hockey gives up two leads, falls to Denver 4-3 in NCHC Tournament semifinals
March 21-- Broncos Fall in NCHC Seminfinals to Denver

You can review the past year for Frank Slubowski from our archive of Rupertites in sports away from Prince Rupert.

Slubowski turns aside 56 of 57 shots in weekend Tourney at Notre Dame

It was almost a record making weekend for Prince Rupert's Frank Slubowski, with the goaltender for the Western Michigan University Broncos coming oh-so-close to tying a team record for consecutive shut outs.

However, an equipment issue required him to leave the ice for just 1 minute and forty eight seconds on Saturday afternoon, a untimely break that scuppered his shot at the Western Michigan record books for now.

While the Bronco's went on to claim the victory and a shut out in the game. With his equipment issues, Slubowski could only claim a partial shut out on the day, an asterisk on the stats sheet, that leaves him having to start the quest for a new WMU record at the 0 mark.

A challenging proposition, considering the short seasons that NCAA hockey provides for.

As for the weekend tournament action overall, WMU ended up in the consolation round of the tournament. Their fate delivered after Friday's thrilling tournament opener, a game that was settled with a shoot out loss to Northeastern.

The Northeastern squad, based out of Boston, Massachusetts would by weekend's end be the championship squad of the Notre Dame hosted tournament.

Saturday, the Broncos faced off against Alabama-Huntsville, topping them 1-0, with Slubowski holding them scoreless for 58 minutes and twelve seconds, Lukas Hafner spelling him out during his 1:48 eqiupment repair.

The victory left the Broncos with a 1 win, 1 loss record on the weekend, and Slubowski with a single goal against on the weekend, that being the successful shoot out marker of the eventual champs in game one.

They next see action with two home games  against the University of North Dakota, Friday and Saturday night match ups that both begin at 7:05 ET ( 4:05 PT)

You can find more about Slubowski's work at WMU from our archive page of Prince Rupert athletes in out of town locations, where some past entries on his time with the Bronco's can be found.

Reviews from the weekend tournament can be found below.

WMU hockey defeats Alabama-Huntsville, 1-0 in Shillelagh Tournament consolation game
WMU hockey ties Northeastern, 1-1- loses in shootout in Shillelagh Tournament
Broncos Blank Chargers 1-0
Broncos and Huskies Tie 1-1; NU wins Shootout 1-0
Irish Fall to Northeastern, 3-2, in Shillelagh Championship
Irish Open Shillelagh Tournament with 5-2 Win over Alabama Huntsville
Clay Witt named Hockey East Defensive player of the week
NU comes from behind to top Irish, win Shillelagh title 3-2