There’s no question which conference was the most dominant during the 2024-25 college hockey season.

Hockey East fielded six of the 16 teams in the national tournament, an impressive accomplishment, but the league did not produce the champion.

That distinction Saturday night went to Western Michigan, a 6-2 winner over a valiant Boston University team before a pro-Broncos crowd at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The Broncos scored all three goals of the third period to pull away. Western Michigan finished with a 28-26 shots edge.

It was the first national title for Western Michigan (34-7-1), the nation’s winningest team and also the hottest – the Broncos ended the season riding a 10-game win streak.

Iiro Hakkarainen put the game out of reach when he scored with 3:58 left, tucking in a shot from the right post, to extend Western Michigan’s lead to 5-2. The Broncos added an empty net goal to account for the final.

BU (24-14-2) was attempting to add to its national titles from 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995 and 2009. The Terriers are now 5-7 in national title games.

BU had been 4-0 against Western Michigan, but the Broncos withstood a Terrier push in the opening minutes of the third period. Holding onto a 3-2 lead, Western Michigan goaltender Hampton Slukynsky stood tall, rejecting Cole Eiserman and then Ryan Greene.

With BU pressing for the tying goal, the Broncos broke loose on a 2-on-1 rush which Owen Michaels capped with a wrist shot which sailed past BU freshman netminder Mikhail Yegorov with 12:44 left to make it 4-2.

It was the first time two freshmen goalies clashed in the title game.

Former BU and St. Louis Blues great Keith Tkachuk dropped the ceremonial first puck, but it was Western Michigan which grabbed the lead early.

Just 1:38 into the game, Wyatt Schingoethe deftly redirected a turnaround wrist shot into the top left corner.

BU tied it at the 7:12 mark when Eiserman, a talented freshman from Newburyport, tallied his 25th goal of the season following passes by Devin Kaplan and Kamil Bednarik. It was a disputed goal, as Slukynsky thought he had tied up the puck.

The Broncos took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when Cole Crusberg-Roseen wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle between the pads of Yegorov.

Western Michigan then made it 3-2 at 5:18 of the middle period on a Ty Hendricks tally. Cam Knuble took the puck hard to the net and Yegorov made a right pad save. But the puck squirted to Hendricks, who tucked it home.

BU didn’t quit. The Terriers pulled to within a goal when Shane Lachance backhanded a shot from the doorstep for a power-play strike. Ryan Greene and Cole Hutson picked up assists. Lachance joined his father, Scott Lachance (1991), and grandfather, Jack Parker (1967), in representing BU in a national title game.

Western Michigan led 3-2 after two periods, not a great sign for the Terriers.

While the Broncos were 27-2 when leading after two, BU had just three wins all season when trailing after 40 minutes.

The Terriers advanced to the national championship game with a 3-1 win over Penn State in a Frozen Four semifinal.