Michigan
28-9-1, 18-8-0
Notre Dame
27-11-0, 17-8-0
Michigan Advances to Big Ten Championship with Victory over Notre Dame
3/12/2022 10:02:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Matty Beniers notched his team-leading 19th goal before assisting on the game-winner.
» Brendan Brisson tallied his sixth game-winning goal of the year after assisting on Beniers' icebreaker.
» Erik Portillo made 19 saves on 20 shots for his 28th victory.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Yost Ice Arena)
Score: No. 2 Michigan 2, No. 3 Notre Dame 1
Records: U-M (28-9-1), ND (27-11)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, March 19 vs. TBD (Location TBD), 8:00 p.m. ET
ANN ARBOR, Mich. --Â Sensational sophomores in Maize and Blue put on a show for the second-seeded University of Michigan ice hockey team as the Wolverines recorded a hard-fought 2-1 win over the third-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Big Ten Hockey Tournament semifinal inside a sold-out Yost Ice Arena on Saturday night (March 12). The Wolverines will now advance to the Big Ten Championship game next week.
Erik Portillo stopped 19 of 20 shots that he faced throughout the course of the night to earn his 28th win of the season. At several points, Portillo made outstanding stops to keep U-M afloat.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, the pace was frenetic and the Children of Yost kept the jam-packed arena abuzz with chants. The 99-year old building erupted when Johnny Beecher laid an open-ice hit in the opposing zone as play headed the other direction with just over nine minutes left in the first period.
Michigan had a golden opportunity to score with three and a half minutes remaining in the first frame before Owen Power was shoved into the UND net while the Wolverines were in the process of crashing the crease in pursuit of a loose puck in the blue paint. The referees assessed the first penalty of the contest to Notre Dame for interference with 3:25 left to go, and the Wolverines embarked on the man-advantage.
On the next shift, with 1:34 left on the initial power play, UND took a second minor penalty for tripping to give the Wolverines a five-on-three advantage. The team worked the puck around the Notre Dame zone, slowly compressing ND's penalty killers before testing their netminder with a flurry of shots, but none found the back of the net before the teams returned to even strength.
Neither side was able to strike before the buzzer sounded for the first intermission.Â
After a fast-paced opening period, the teams headed to the locker rooms for intermission amidst a scoreless tie. U-M led the Irish in shots on goal (9-4) and faceoffs (8-5), but the Wolverines found themselves 0-2 on the power play after failing to break through late in the period.
Back for the second period, Michigan notched an icebreaker 3:46 into the middle frame when the Olympian line of Matty Beniers, Brendan Brisson, and Kent Johnson dazzled the crowd with tic-tac-toe passing to put the goaltender out of position and dent the twine. Johnson entered the zone on the right side before stopping and dropping the puck back to Beniers as he skated across the blue line in the middle of the ice. Beniers sent a quick pass over to Brisson on the left flank before immediately receiving a return pass that he buried into a nearly-open net for his team-leading 19th goal of the season. Brisson earned the primary assist while Johnson received the secondary.
Later in the period, Notre Dame got the equalizer at 12:04 off a bang-bang play from the top of the Michigan crease. The Irish continued to dictate the pace of play for the middle chunk of the second period as they narrowed U-M's lead in shots on goal to three.
The Wolverines threatened as they regained momentum in the waning minutes of the second period, but the game remained knotted at one goal apiece at the second intermission. U-M held a 21-16 lead in shots on goal and a 23-13 edge in the faceoff dot, but the rivals continued searching for a go-ahead goal.
Back for the final frame and in desperate search of a go-ahead goal, Brisson channeled a bit of magic for his 18th goal of the season off a crisp snap shot from the right hash 3:59 into the third period. Beniers picked up the primary assist while defenseman Jacob Truscott earned the secondary helper after an outstanding shift on the back end.
Each team was assessed a minor penalty with 13:11 left in the third period after Beniers was taken down in front of the net. Notre Dame was tabbed for cross-checking while embellishment was the call on Beniers to create two minutes of four-on-four play.
Notre Dame's goaltender made a critical stop for the Irish with 12 minutes on the board while the teams were still skating 4x4 to hold Michigan at a one-goal lead. As the period wore on, he and Portillo continued to frustrate the dueling offensive attacks.Â
Clinging to a one-goal lead with the Notre Dame net vacant in the closing minutes, Luke Hughes tossed a backhand attempt at the empty-net but it was blocked out of mid-air by a UND defender and the lead remained at one.Â
The Fighting Irish took their timeout with 1:11 left to play, but failed to draw up a game-winning goal before the final buzzer sounded. Michigan used a 31-20 advantage in shots on goal and a staggering 86-37 edge in shot attempts to earn a hard-fought victory, Michigan's first over Notre Dame in eight tries at Yost.
With the 2-1 win, U-M advances to next Saturday's Big Ten Championship game at 8:00 p.m., ET at the University of Minnesota. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network. The following day, Sunday (March 20), the Wolverines will learn their tournament fate when the NCAA Selection Show airs on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. ET.
