1 week Ago
Western Michigan University and the NCAA were in a bit of a Frozen Four fiasco on Monday. But only for a little while. With the Frozen Four scene, including the ice, captured at Enterprise Center in St.
Louis and shared on social media platforms on Monday, Western Michigan hockey fans quickly noticed the NCAA had included a previous Bronco logo on the sub-ice surface –– which hadn’t been used in more than two years. aaaaand they put the wrong logo. Fantastic.
pic.twitter.com/myv72mzGba And as the error became more prominent online, Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae caught wind of it and immediately reached out to the NCAA to find a resolution.
“I looked at it and knew that it wasn’t our logo,” Bartholomae told MLive. “I’m not sure where they got it because it’s not what we sent them. But those things happen, and that’s why we keep our eye out for things.
“They were awesome and got it fixed.” The NCAA fixed the logo on Tuesday afternoon and have since provided a fresh photo of the ice on the Enterprise Center’s X page. Ready for gameday 💪 #MFrozenFour pic.
twitter.com/F8sRRXBd2R The WMU logo the NCAA initially used included the Bronco head with gold highlights along the Broncos’ hair. WMU’s current logo doesn’t include the gold streaks, rather using a gold outline around the Bronco head instead.
“We think it presents better, and it got better feedback from our fans,” Bartholomae said. How are logos and type made on hockey ice? It’s first painted on an initial base layer of ice and then covered with water and frozen, encapsulating the in the ice playing surface. WMU’s logo is in the bottom right corner of the Enterprise Center’s playing surface, one of four semifinalists that also features Denver, Penn State and Boston University.
Western Michigan originally rebranded its Bronco logo in 2021, which costed nearly $700,000, and stirred up plenty of criticism amongst alumni and Kalamazoo community members. WMU then updated the Bronco logo in 2023, removing the yellow highlights inside the Bronco head. Western Michigan hockey, ranked No.
1 in the country, is appearing in its first Frozen Four on Thursday at 5 p.m. against Denver.
The game will be televised on ESPN2. The Broncos flew to St. Louis early Tuesday afternoon, as fans and community members cheered on in an official sendoff at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo.
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