2023–24 Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey season was the 50th season of play for the program and 11th in the NCHC. The Broncos represented Western Michigan University in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at the Lawson Arena and were coached by Pat Ferschweiler in his 3rd season.

Season
Entering the season, Western was facing some upheaval on offense as the team's top three scorers from '23 had departed. Several transfers and freshmen were brought in to plug the holes but if that didn't work, the team still had its starting goaltender, Cameron Rowe, to lean on. Fortunately, the new addition fit in well and Western Michigan got off to a good start. The team was able to hold to their mantra of recent years; 'We score four' and averaged nearly 5 goals per game in their opening weeks. The Broncos began the season by going undefeated in their first five games and saw transfers Alex Bump, Sam Colangelo and Matteo Costantini (all NHL-drafted players) begin to mesh with the offense. The team had a bit of a hiccup in early November but then proceeded to reel off seven consecutive victories and put up tremendous scoring figures. Though the Broncos ended the first half with a loss, it was the backend of a split with #4 Denver and didn't harm their ranking.

By Christmas, the team was already 7 games above .500 but their position in the polls was not reflective of their stellar record. This was primarily due to their non-conference opposition, which was particularly weak. Of the four non-NCHC teams that the Broncos had faced, all were in the bottom third of the PairWise rankings and two (Ferris State and Lindenwood) were among the three worst teams in the country. Because of this, Western's non-conference wins were downgraded and did not provide them with as much of a boost as they otherwise would have, however, since the Broncos were undefeated outside of league play, it did help stabilize their ranking.

Western needed their non-conference mark as the team ran into trouble once in the second half of the season. Rowe had a few poor outings but the biggest problem was their suddenly inconsistent offense. While Western Michigan never completely lost their scoring touch, they did run through a few stretches where they found it difficult to score. The Broncos were also hindered by the difficulty of their schedule and faced ranked opponents for 10 consecutive games beginning in late January. Western was only able to win 3 of those matches and the team fell to 6th in the conference standings. The team managed a slight recovery by sweeping Miami to close out the regular season but the RedHawks were the worst team in the NCHC.

As the playoffs began, Western sat just inside the cut line for the NCAA tournament. With St. Cloud State as their opponent, the Broncos had three basic scenarios in front of them for the quarterfinal round: 1. Winning the series would all but guarantee the team a spot in the NCAA tournament; 2. Winning one game but losing the series would leave them on the bubble but likely to receive an at-large bid; 3. Being swept would effectively eliminate Western Michigan from the NCAA tournament.

The Broncos did not start their postseason well, surrendering the first three goals of the game to the Huskies. Western didn't show any real fight until the third and a pair of goals from Bump in the middle of the period got the team back in the game. However, Chad Hillebrand got a bit over exuberant with the comeback attempt and received a match penalty for hitting from behind. St. Cloud sored twice in the final five minutes to salt away the game and pushed the Broncos season to the brink. Western Michigan played better at the start of game two but still had problems scoring. The Huskies got the opening goal in the second and it wasn't until the waning moments of the frame that Colangelo was able to tie the score. At the start of the third, WMU had gone 0–3 on the power play but in the final period they were finally able to get their man-advantage working and took the lead. After Luke Grainger scored the second power play marker in the middle of the frame, the team was finally able to relax and play their game. In the final three minutes, Western scored three more goals as St. Cloud desperately tried to tie the score and led to a resounding 6–1 win that, at least temporarily, saves their season.

While a further win would have guaranteed them a place, St. Cloud took the embarrassing loss to heart and repaid the Broncos in kind. WMU was stymied in the rubber match and lost 1–5 thanks to the stellar play from the Huskies goaltender. Despite the setback, loss from other contenders during the week had left Western at 13th in the Pairwise. The only thing that would knock the team out now were upsets in each of the ECAC Hockey, Hockey East and NCHC tournaments. While the ECAC title did get taken by lower team, the others did not and Western was able to earn a bid back to the tournament.

Seeking to prove they belonged in the game, despite their poor performance against good teams throughout the season, Western faced Michigan State in the Midwest Regional semifinal. Despite a poor start, Costantini got his team on the board first and the Broncos began to pick up speed. While the team was unable to build on their lead, they looked far better in the second half than they had at the start. MSU responded with a pair of goals in the second to take the lead but Western's offense replied with three markers in less than four minutes. With a 2-goal lead entering the third, all the Broncos had to do was play a solid defensive game and they'd earn the program its second tournament win. However, Michigan State managed to chip away at the lead and get back to within one when they pulled their goaltender. With less than a minute remaining, the Spartans got the tying goal and forced the match into overtime. Both teams looked a bit hesitant in the extra session but Western wasn't even able to get a shot on goal through the first 8 minutes. In the end, a rather harmless shot was accidentally deflected by Daniel Hilsendager past Rowe and Western Michigan's season came to an sudden end.

Roster
As of September 1, 2023.

Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 style=";" | NCHC Tournament

!colspan=12 style=";" | NCAA Tournament

Rankings
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 or 25. Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.

2024 NHL Entry Draft
† incoming freshman