Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Fall to Wolverines

It was a white out at Compton Family Ice Arena as the regular season Big Ten champion #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish welcomed the #18 Michigan Wolverines to South Bend for the second time this year. While the Irish already had the top seed in the B1G tournament, the Wolverines, ranked 15th in Pairwise coming into Friday’s game, still had a lot to play for and played like it for all sixty minutes. For the Irish, Hobey Baker hopeful Cale Morris was looking for redemption from last Saturday’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes where he let in four goals.

Early on, Michigan was able to tilt the ice in their favor as Notre Dame had some trouble clearing the puck out of their zone, but Morris continued the outstanding play in net Irish fans have been accustomed to seeing. Eventually, the pressure Michigan was getting on the net would catch up to Notre Dame, and at 12:34, Adam Winborg tipped in a shot from Quinn Hughes. The goal continued the pattern of Morris having trouble with deflected shots, after he let in two last Saturday against the Buckeyes.

The Irish continued to struggle with clearing it out of their zone. Only three minutes and sixteen seconds later, Michigan’s first line came up big when Dexter Dancs got the puck past Morris on the short side to make it 2-0. The goal was the thirteenth shot for the Wolverines while the Irish had only five at that point.

With 2:19 left in the period, the first penalty of the game came when Michigan’s Brendan Warren was called for tripping on Jake Evans. However, the opportunity for Notre Dame to cut the Michigan lead in half was short lived, as Andrew Oglevie, on his 23rd birthday, was called for hooking just 23 seconds after the Irish went on the man advantage. The score remained the same after the 4 on 4.

There was very little 5 on 5 hockey throughout the first half of the second period. It started with Michigan’s Jake Hooker in the penalty box from a delayed penalty prior to intermission. On the power-play, a Matt Hellickson slapshot was tipped by Joe Wegwerth past Lavigne to make it a one goal game.

4:27 into the period, Tony Calderone tipped in a puck that got past Morris to extend Michigan’s lead to 3-1. Bo Brauer was called for hooking at 5:30 but the Notre Dame penalty kill looked exhausted. Luckily, Morris bailed them out with a couple huge saves.

Notre Dame then went on the power-play when Nicholas Boka was called for hooking at 8:20. Toward the end of the power-play, Michigan goaltender Hayden Lavigne lost his stick. Before the Irish could score, Luke Martin was called for interference and the Irish went on the 5 on 3 for 35 seconds. Thanks to some great saves by Lavigne, the Irish couldn’t score on the two man advantage nor the subsequent power-play.

With 5:20 left in the second, it looked for a moment like the Irish had once again trimmed the Michigan lead, but Cam Morrison’s shot hit the crossbar and went back up into the netting. Michigan point leader Cooper Marody was sent to the penalty box for tripping with 1:17 left in the 2nd. The Irish capitalized quickly. Right after the face-off, Bobby Nardella fired a one-timer that skirted past the Michigan defense to bring the Irish within one goal of the Wolverines heading into second intermission.

Going into the third period, the Wolverines were out-shooting the Irish 32-22. It looked like Notre Dame had a chance to tie on the first shot on goal of the period it but Morrison fired the puck wide of the net and despite pressure by the Irish, the Wolverines survived unscathed thanks to a couple big saves by Lavigne. It suddenly looked like the roles were reversed and the Irish were the ones creating offense.

That lasted until a beautiful backhand pass from Nick Pastujov to his brother Michael Pastujov to make it a two goal lead once again for the Wolverines. Halfway through the third, a sprawling stick save by Lavigne preserved the two goal lead for Michigan. With 3:44 left in the game, it appeared Jordan Gross took a shot following a face-off that was batted down into the net by Jack Jenkins to make it a 4-3 game. However. the goal was waved off for high sticking and it remained a two goal game. With two and a half minutes left, Morris was sent to the bench for the extra attacker. The Irish were able to create some pressure on the net but couldn’t score and 4-2 was the final.

Scoring

MICH - Adam Winborg (2) at 12:34 in the 1st from Quinn Hughes (16) and Joseph Cecconi (13)

MICH - Dexter Dancs (8) at 15:40 in the 1st from Cooper Marody (24) and Sam Piazza (11)

ND - Joe Wegwerth (4) on the PP at 1:27 in the 2nd from Matt Hellickson (8) and Jake Evans (24)

MICH - Tony Calderone (16) at 4:27 in the 2nd from Cooper Marody (25) and James Sanchez (4)

ND - Bobby Nardella (5) on the PP at 18:47 from Jordan Gross (16) and Andrew Oglevie (17)

MICH - Michael Pastujov (3) at 08:08 in the 3rd from Nick Pastujov (7) and Luke Martin (5)

Goalies

ND - Cale Morris stopped 32 of 36 shots, falls to 21-5-1

MICH - Hayden Lavigne stopped 34 of 36 shots, improves to 11-9-3

Penalties

MICH - Brendan Warren, 2 for tripping at 17:41 in the 1st

ND - Andrew Oglevie, 2 for hooking at 18:04 in the 1st

MICH - Jake Slater, 2 for hooking at 00:00 in the 1st

ND - Bo Brauer, 2 for hooking at 05:30 in the 2nd

MICH - Nicholas Boka, 2 for hooking at 08:20 in the 2nd

MICH - Luke Martin, 2 for interference at 09:45 in the 2nd

MICH - Cooper Marody, 2 for hooking at 18:39 in the 2nd

MICH - Josh Norris, 2 for cross-checking at 19:37 in the 3rd

ND - Jordan Gross, 2 for cross-checking at 19:37 in the 3rd

Three Stars

1. Hayden Lavigne
2. Cooper Marody
3. Joe Wegwerth

Up Next

The Irish will head to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines in the second game of their home and home series on Sunday at 5:30 PM EST.