Sloetjes Dominant, West Virginia Headed to Nationals, Wins Fourth CHMA Championship in School History
- Edward Major II
- Feb 22
- 2 min read
MORGANTOWN, Wv. — 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.
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.
The national field is as follows:
Comments