2020–21 Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey season was the 47th season of play for the program and the 8th in the NCHC conference. The Broncos represented Western Michigan University and were coached by Andy Murray, in his 10th season.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Colorado College's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Western Michigan began the season playing a series of games in Omaha, Nebraska, along with the rest of the NCHC. Before the team could even finish its first game, the Broncos were hamstrung by an injury to their starting netminder, Brandon Bussi. The team turned to senior Austin Cain and, after a very rough start, he settled into the starting role. Cain played well at times but the team's compact schedule of games gave WMU few favors and by Christmas the team sat near the bottom of the conference with a 2–6–2 record. After getting swept by Miami at the beginning of January, freshman Alex Aslanidis was put in net and the team began to show signs of life. After nearly returning the favor to Miami, the Broncos swept #4 St. Cloud State and turned their season around virtually overnight. Aslanidis' performance, paired with the stellar play of Ronnie Attard, allowed Western Michigan to sweep another #4 team a few weeks later (Minnesota Duluth). In their final weekend of the regular season Bussi returned from his injury and swept Miami to put the team within one game of a .500 record.
Despite the teams vastly improved performance in the second half of the season, their record meant that the team had no real chance of making the NCAA Tournament without wining the NCHC Championship. The team had to get through Minnesota Duluth in the quarterfinals and the Broncos gave everything they had, taking a lead into the third period and then tying the game with less than a minute to play. WMU nearly matched UMD shot-for-shot but the final goal came from the Bulldogs and Western Michigan's season was over.
Jacob Bauer, Rhett Kingston and Jared Kucharek sat out the season
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Wade Allison 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Philadelphia Flyers)
Luke Bafia 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (Signed with Kansas City Mavericks)
Ben Blacker 	Goaltender	 	Graduation
Lawton Courtnall 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Wheeling Nailers)
Dawson DiPietro 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Buffalo Sabres)
Cam Lee 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (Signed with Pittsburgh Penguins)
Will Massey 	Goaltender	 	Graduation (Retired)
Hugh McGing 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with St. Louis Blues)
Cameron Orchard 	Forward 	 	Left program
Austin Rueschhoff 	Forward 	 	Signed professional contract (New York Rangers)
Mattias Samuelsson	Defenseman	 	Signed professional contract (Buffalo Sabres)
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Alex Aslanidis 	Goaltender	 	19 	Moorestown, NJ
Jacob Bauer 	Defenseman	 	18 	Detroit, MI
Trevor Bishop 	Forward 	 	21 	Rochester Hills, MI
Cédric Fiedler 	Defenseman	 	19 	Boca Raton, FL
Aidan Fulp 	Defenseman	 	20 	Indianapolis, IN
Ty Glover 	Forward 	 	20 	Salford, GBR
Luke Grainger 	Forward 	 	20 	Montréal, QC
Chad Hillebrand 	Forward 	 	21 	Park Ridge, IL
Daniel Hilsendager	Defenseman	 	20 	Lloydminster, SK
Cam Knuble 	Forward 	 	20 	Grand Rapids, MI
Hugh Larkin 	Forward 	 	21 	Livonia, MI
Tim Washe 	Forward 	 	19 	Detroit, MI
Jarred White 	Forward 	 	21 	Edmonton, AB
==Roster==
As of March 1, 2021.
==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	C 	25 	5 	18 	23 	8
 	D 	25 	8 	14 	22 	8
 	C 	24 	13 	8 	21 	4
 	C 	25 	8 	13 	21 	18
 	LW 	25 	7 	12 	19 	14
 	RW 	25 	5 	13 	18 	2
 	F 	23 	7 	7 	14 	4
 	D 	25 	4 	10 	14 	8
 	C 	24 	5 	6 	11 	10
 	D 	25 	0 	11 	11 	12
 	LW 	24 	4 	4 	8 	37
 	F 	25 	4 	4 	8 	12
 	D 	25 	2 	4 	6 	16
 	F 	24 	2 	1 	3 	12
 	D 	15 	0 	3 	3 	6
 	F 	12 	1 	1 	2 	4
 	RW 	19 	1 	1 	2 	7
 	LW 	14 	0 	2 	2 	22
 	D 	21 	0 	2 	2 	4
 	C 	13 	1 	0 	1 	10
 	D 	23 	0 	1 	1 	4
 	F 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	5 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	8 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	G 	13 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	15 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	8
Total	 	 	77 	135 	212 	234
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	4 	211 	2 	1 	0 	10 	80 	0 	.889	2.84
 	13 	613 	5 	3 	1 	31 	231 	1 	.882	3.03
 	15 	683 	3 	8 	2 	46 	308 	0 	.870	4.04
Empty Net	- 	14 	- 	- 	- 	2 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	25 	1522 	10 	12 	3 	89 	619 	1 	.874	3.51
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	18 	17 	17 	17 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	- 	NR 	 	 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==References==
Category:Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey seasons
Western Michigan Broncos 
Western Michigan Broncos 
Western Michigan Broncos