Courtesy of Edward Major II
WEST VIRGINIA USES HOME ICE TO FULL ADVANTAGE, CLAIMS 2026 CHMA CHAMPIONSHIP AND ACHA TOURNAMENT BERTH
MORGANTOWN, Wv. – West Virginia University played host to the 2026 College Hockey Mid-America playoffs Friday, February 20 through Sunday, February 22, 2026 at the new Hope Gas Ice Pavilion at Mylan Park.
Behind a dominant weekend from goaltender Wyatt Sloetjes and a third-period surge in each of their three games, the Mountaineers rode home ice all the way to an automatic bid to the ACHA National Tournament.
TOURNAMENT RECAP
The top six teams from the seven-team conference qualified for the postseason. The first and second place finishers, IUP and John Carroll, respectively, received a first-round bye into the Saturday semifinals. That set up two exciting quarterfinal matchups Friday. #4 West Virginia versus #5 Robert Morris and #3 Kent State versus #6 Duquesne.
Friday Quarterfinal No. 1: West Virginia 7, Robert Morris 3
As the host of the tournament, West Virginia created an atmosphere to open the playoffs like none other. The Mountaineers packed their home rink to the brim — the brand-new Hope Gas Ice Pavilion — and did not disappoint.
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Team points leaders Nicholas Bruno and Leonard Haban each scored twice as the #4 Mountaineers took down the #5 Robert Morris Colonials, 7-3. Trailing 3-2 at the start of the third period, West Virginia rattled off five straight goals, including Haban’s game-tying goal less than four minutes in and Bruno’s game-winning power play goal at 7:11.
In what felt like the turning point of the game, Haban added his second goal — also a power play goal — just over a minute later to give West Virginia a 5-3 lead. Colby Sims added an insurance goal with less than six minutes left, and Marcus Barber sealed it with an empty-netter with just over a minute remaining.
“Going into the third, there was always belief that we could do it,” Bruno stated after the game. “Our power play has been hot all year, so when we got those two power plays, we just knew.”
It wasn’t all Mountaineer hockey, though. The two teams had split their regular season series, and Robert Morris started fast to try and silence the home crowd, in order to take this “rubber match” and advance in the playoffs. Just 34 seconds in, Zachary Blevins made it 1-0. Corbin Ragno extended the lead to 2-0 at 16:14 of the first period as the Colonials controlled much of the early puck possession.
The second period proved the ice was tilted toward the home bench. Bruno got West Virginia on the board just 44 seconds in, igniting a crowd that wrapped around the boards behind the Colonials’ goaltender.
“Yeah, we had some fans show up, we played for them, too. Hopefully they’re gonna show up tomorrow as well,” said Haban after the game.
The crowd only got louder when the Mountaineers tied the game 2-2 on a goal by William McLaughlin, but the Colonials regained the lead, 3-2, via Trevor Colberg with just under three minutes left in the period. That was all they could muster, however, as the Mountaineers five-goal third period propelled them to a semifinal date with IUP on Saturday at 3 p.m., a team they had beaten just two weeks earlier in a thrilling road overtime game.
West Virginia goaltender Wyatt Sloetjes made 19 saves on 22 shots faced in the win, while his counterpart Reno Patrick saved 34 out of 41 in the loss.
Friday Quarterfinal No. 2: Kent State 7, Duquesne 2
If any fans stuck around hoping for another dramatic comeback, they left disappointed. The #3 Kent State Golden Flashes cruised to a 7-2 victory over the #6 Duquesne Dukes, led by two goals each from Jules Jardine and Kornel Kaibas.
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Jardine opened the scoring at 1:53 of the first on a goal that wobbled its way into the net behind Dukes’ goaltender Colin Thurnau. While Duquesne responded with a goal by Jared Smith at 10:41, Kaibas scored just over a minute later to give Kent State the lead for good.
The Golden Flashes rattled off five straight goals, including Jardine’s second, a goal by Brady Hall, a shorthanded goal by Chaseton Sieling, Kaibas’ second, and the final Golden Flashes tally by Kyle Holmes.
Holmes’ goal was the straw that broke the camel’s back – or rather, the Dukes’ back. Duquesne head coach Conrad Waite called a timeout halfway through the third period to replace Thurnau with rookie goaltender Ethan Sensenig. Thurnau was visibly upset, heading to the locker room briefly before rejoining his teammates on the bench, understandably frustrated with how the game had played out. For his part, Sensenig was solid in relief, stopping several high-danger chances. Alex Golden did manage a second Duquesne goal with just under four minutes to play, but the damage had already been done as the Dukes fell, 7-2.
Kent State advanced to face John Carroll in a “Battle of Ohio” semifinal on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Saturday Semifinal #1: West Virginia 7, IUP 2
West Virginia picked up on Saturday where they left off on Friday. A four-goal third period led by Leonard Haban, who scored two goals, pushed the #4 West Virginia Mountaineers over the top-seeded IUP Crimson Hawks, 7-2, Saturday afternoon.
Haban kept his senior season alive with emphatic insurance goals to punch the Mountaineers’ ticket to championship Sunday. It was a different perspective than Friday’s quarterfinal. Instead of finding themselves down 3-2, West Virginia was on the higher end of a 3-2 score headed into the third period.
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Thomas Carron opened the scoring for West Virginia midway through the first to tie the Mountaineers an early lead. It was in stark contrast to their quarterfinal game Friday, where they played from behind for most of the first two periods.
The second period was more high-powered. Jace Rearic tied the game for the Hawks 1-1 with a power play goal just 47 seconds into the frame. Carron responded at the 6:51 mark of the period with his second of the game to give the Mountaineers the lead again, before Tommy Woods added a goal of his own to extend the West Virginia lead, 3-1.
But the Hawks weren’t going away quietly. Caleb Hoffman put another one past Mountaineer goaltender Sloetjes with less than two minutes to play in the period to trim the West Virginia lead to 3-2. But it was all they could muster before Sloetjes tightened up and the Mountaineer offense went on a tear. For the first time since 2022, IUP will not be playing in the conference championship game.
Sloetjes ended up saving 29 out of 31 shots for his second win in as many days. IUP counterpart Braxton Singleton saved 39 out of 46 in the loss.
Saturday Semifinal #2: John Carroll 8, Kent State 5
Unfortunately for Kent State, the Golden Flashes couldn’t replicate their Friday victory on Saturday. The #2 John Carroll Blue Streaks used a 5-goal third period to outlast a #3 Kent State comeback attempt, defeating the Golden Flashes 8-5 Saturday night to punch their ticket to the CHMA Championship Sunday against West Virginia.
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Tied 3-3 heading into the final frame, the momentum appeared to be firmly on the side of the Golden Flashes. After John Carroll jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes courtesy of Colin Cronin, Tanner Plinta, and Sean Deakin, Kent State clawed their way back. Bryson Miller and Jules Jardine both scored in the final minutes of the first to cut the deficit to one, and Kornel Kaibas tied the game 3-3 in the second period, splitting two defenders to beat John Carroll’s Jack Zuchlewski glove-side.
The tide had seemingly turned, making it the Golden Flashes’ game to lose. Instead, John Carroll made it their game to win.
The Blue Streaks reclaimed the lead just 32 seconds into the third period as Cronin notched his second of the night. Just over a minute later, Deakin joined the multi-goal club to make it 5-3. As the lead grew, so did the intensity. A game that had been physical from the puck drop reached a boiling point after a Kent State high-sticking minor led to a Zach Zemrac power-play goal.
The definitive blow came at 7:17 of the third when Kent State’s Bryce Kolpien was assessed a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a violent boarding penalty in the offensive zone. John Carroll wasted no time, as Anthony Lagreca capitalized on the major just nine seconds into the man advantage.
While Kent State showed late signs of life with a shorthanded goal from Cole Bianchin and a power-play tally from Jules Jardine, the mountain was too high to climb. Austin Malley ended any hope of a miracle with an empty-netter from center ice, sealing the 8-5 win and a date with the West Virginia Mountaineers for the conference championship Sunday afternoon.
Kent State goaltender Kyle Bartlett made 30 saves on 37 shots in the loss, while John Carroll goaltender Jack Zuchlewski made 37 saves on 42 shots for the victory.
Sunday Championship: West Virginia 3, John Carroll 1
It was a championship game for the ages. In front of a packed crowd on home ice, a pair of third period goals propelled the #4 West Virginia Mountaineers over the #2 John Carroll Blue Streaks, 3-1, Sunday afternoon at Hope Gas Ice Pavilion at Mylan Park to win the 2026 College Hockey Mid-America championship, their fourth conference championship and first since 2014.
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With the score deadlocked at one goal apiece in the third period, Caden Glamkowski put West Virginia up by a goal less than two minutes in. Cooper Brackett added an insurance goal with 5:36 to play, and Mountaineers’ goaltender Wyatt Sloetjes made several key saves in the final minutes to seal the conference championship and an automatic bid to the ACHA National Tournament.
Despite having scored 7 goals in both the quarterfinal and semifinal games over the weekend, the Mountaineers needed only those three goals Sunday to win the title. Camden Martin opened the scoring for John Carroll less than 5 minutes into the first period, and the scoreboard stayed quiet for a while after that.
The game was as physical a contest as one could witness in hockey. Both teams dished out hits against their opponents, much to the liking of the near-capacity crowd. Each thunder against the boards was followed by cheers, stomps, and an occasional groan.
An early second-period power play goal by West Virginia’s Daniel Pfalzer knotted the game at 1-1, and again the scoreboard stayed quiet until Glamkowski’s and Brackett’s goals in the third.
Over three games, Sloetjes stopped 75 of 81 shots and allowed just six goals. That’s a save percentage of 0.926 in the 2026 playoffs. He even grew stronger as the weekend progressed, allowing three goals to Robert Morris, two goals to IUP, and just a lone early goal to John Carroll in the championship. It was exactly the steady presence the Mountaineers needed to lift the trophy, even without the offensive cushion he had been used to for the first two games of the weekend.
When asked about the situation after the game, Sloetjes shrugged off the suggestion that the championship was a different feeling.
“I just play every game the same. I trust the boys in front of me and they do their job, and it makes my job a lot easier.”
“We were the fourth seed coming into this [tournament], Sloetjes continued. “We pulled off two huge upsets, played three games, it was a hard fought battle.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The West Virginia Mountaineers enter the ACHA National Tournament as the No. 24 seed, bumping No. 24 ranked Davenport. They will battle #9 Adrian College in the first round of the tournament on Thursday March 12 at 8 p.m. at Centene Community Ice Center & Maryville University Hockey Center in Saint Louis, MO.
IUP remained ranked No. 22 in the country but was bumped for ECHA champion Rhode Island.
The last time West Virginia made the national tournament was in 2014, when they fell in the first round to Navy.
