OJHL’s Top Prospect, Rookie of Year, member of Second All-Star Team in 2020
By Jim Mason/OJHL Communications
Matteo Costantini and his Western Michigan teammates celebrated winning the 2025 NCAA National Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, Saturday night.
The top-seeded Broncos rolled to a 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Boston University in the championship game at Enterprise Center to capture the program’s first NCAA men’s hockey national championship.
Back home, fans, family and former teammates were partying on behalf of the former Ontario Junior Hockey League Rookie of the Year.
A watch party was held at Sala Sixty One inside Club Roma, a social club Costantini and his family belong to in his hometown of St. Catharines, on Saturday night.
“Matteo has faced his fair share of adversity and this latest achievement is another example of his perseverance and commitment to succeed at the highest level.”
Officials with the OJHL Buffalo Jr. Sabres were equally as ecstatic.
“From all past and present coaches in the Jr, Sabres organization, congratulations to Matteo, the Costantini family and the Western Michigan Broncos on winning the national championship,” said OJHL Sabres General Manager and Head Coach Sean Wallace. “Matteo has faced his fair share of adversity and this latest achievement is another example of his perseverance and commitment to succeed at the highest level.”
Costantini played one starry season (2019-20) with the OJHL club, netting 68 points (36 goals/32 assists) in 50 games.
He was named the OJHL’s Top Prospect, Rookie of the Year and a member of the Second All-Star Team.
The Ontario Hockey Association picked Costantini as the recipient of its B.J. Monro Memorial Award as top prospect across all of the OHA’s junior leagues.
He was selected by Buffalo’s NHL Sabres in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Costantini played two seasons at the University of North Dakota before transferring to Western Michigan in 2023. He was an assistant captain with the upstart Broncos this season.
Picked to finish sixth in the 2024-25 NCHC Preseason Media Poll, Western Michigan completed a season of firsts and a trophy trifecta on Saturday night.
After claiming its first ever regular-season conference crown in the Penrose Cup, first NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, and earning a spot in its first Frozen Four this season, Western Michigan collected its third trophy of the 2024-25 campaign by making history and becoming kings of college hockey.
To top it off, the Broncos finished with a school-record 34 wins, going 34-7-1 on the year, including a 10-game win streak to finish the season.
Western Michigan becomes the fourth team to win the NCAA men’s hockey National Championship in their Frozen Four debut and the first since Lake Superior State in 1988. The Broncos join Denver (2017, 2022, 2024), Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) and North Dakota (2016) as National Champions in the NCHC.
Photos courtesy Western Michigan Broncos
