The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, March 28, 2018 — 7A Breakdown of the four teams remaining in this season’s Frozen Four Since the conference’s genesis in 2014, no Big Ten hockey team has won the national title. But that fact seems poised to change this year, as three of the four teams that populate the Frozen Four in Saint Paul, Minn. hail from the Big Ten. No. 2 Notre Dame, who stands as the lone conference champion of the quartet will face off against Michigan. With a 5-1 routing of Denver, No. 4 Ohio State is set to battle Minnesota- Duluth in the other semifinal matchup. With No. 1 seeds St. Cloud State and Cornell eliminated, both of the semifinal matchups feature a clear David-and- Goliath complex. The Wolverines and Fighting Irish split their two regular season series, and the Bulldogs fell to Denver in the NCHC finals, the same team the Buckeyes stomped over in the quarterfinal. The Daily breaks down the four teams contending in the Frozen Four vying for a National Championship: Minnesota-Duluth (13-11-0 NCHC, 23-16-3 overall) Perhaps the most battle-tested team with the highest strength of schedule in the pack, according to the 2017-18 KRACH Rating, the Bulldogs could give the Buckeyes a run for their money. With a 23.9-percent conversion rate on the power play — which stands as the paramount of the four — and the second-best defense according to USCHO, Minnesota-Duluth purports a dual-threat front that could take advantage of timely situations. Defenseman Scott Perunovich — the CHN Rookie of the Year — and forward Peter Krieger headline the attack with 36 and 30 points, respectively. Perunovich tallied 15 of those points on the power play. The second-to-last time the Bulldogs played in Saint Paul on March 16 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, they were dominated on the power play by Denver. But with wins over St. Cloud State and Air Force in the Tournament, they seem to have found the answer to the issue that plagued them late in the season. Ohio State (14-8-2 Big Ten, 26-9-5 overall) The Buckeyes strolled to the Frozen Four with victories over Princeton and Denver. Arguably the best team in the Big Ten, Ohio State boasts the best defense of the group with 2.08 goals allowed per game and the best penalty kill at 89.29 percent. But the Buckeyes’ resolute defensive line isn’t the tip of the iceberg. Forwards Tanner Laczynski, Mason Jobst and Matthew Weis combine for 126 total points, which easily stands as one of the scarier top-lines in the nation. And with 60 total goals scored in the third period alone this season, Ohio State is the outright best closing team of the four. The Buckeyes have notched wins over every member of the final quartet, save Minnesota- Duluth, but have also lost to Notre Dame four times, the most recent being in the Big Ten Championship. Michigan (11-10-3, 22-14-3) The Wolverines have been underdogs this whole tournament. With tough wins over Northeastern and Boston, Michigan has proven its ability to provide offensive output in dire straits. And with a middle-of-the- pack offense and defense, the Wolverines’ grit has certainly propelled them to their first Frozen Four berth since 2011, when they lost to Minnesota-Duluth in the final. Forwards Cooper Marody and Tony Calderone are the undisputed leaders of the offense with 86 total points. The junior and senior, respectively, combined for three tallies in the first two rounds of the tournament. Perhaps Michigan’s greatest strength, though, is its newfound versatile streamline from the crease all the way up to the attacking zone. Sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne’s mental fortitude paired with a .910 save percentage has been consistent and reliable. And freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes’ 28 points, supplemented by junior Joseph Cecconi’s veteran stalwart efforts on the blueline, serve as a multipurpose feeder to the productive attacking arm. While the Wolverines have found success this season against Notre Dame — sweeping them in a weekend series when they were the top team in the land — they have experienced quite the opposite against Ohio State. The Buckeyes have defeated Michigan five times in five matchups. Notre Dame (17-6-1, 27-9-2) Riding the wave of a victory in the Big Ten Tournament Championship, the Fighting Irish squeaked by Michigan Tech and Providence in their Regional matchups. But with the worst offense of the four teams, it’s not surprising that Notre Dame is winning by close margins. Forwards Jake Evans and Andrew Oglevie stand as the bannermen, amassing 78 total points. Where the Fighting Irish make up for their lack of offensive prowess is in their vigorous defense. Their 2.16 goals-allowed per game stands as the ninth-best in the country — behind Ohio State’s 2.08 — and their 88.89-percent penalty kill prove that they can stop the best. And if Notre Dame’s opponents do find their way past the back line, they have Cale Morris to worry about. With the best save percentage in the country at .945, getting anything past Morris is a feat. As the regular and postseason Big Ten champion, the Fighting Irish are the best team in the Frozen Four on paper. Time will tell if they can prove it. EMMA RICHTER/Daily The Michigan and Notre Dame hockey teams split their season series but match up again in the Frozen Four. ROBERT HEFTER Daily Sports Editor Slaker continues to have success in late-game situations for Michigan One look at Jake Slaker’s freshman-year stat line tells you everything you need to know about the 2016-17 Michigan hockey team. First, the good: Slaker scored seven goals and added 14 assists, ranking seventh among Big Ten freshmen with 21 points and hinting at a promising future ahead. The not-so-good? Slaker’s 21 points led the team. A season before, Kyle Connor paced the Wolverines with 73. Slaker put up 21 in something else last season — plus-minus. Minus 21, to be precise. Granted, it’s hard to fault Slaker directly — he was more symptom than cause. Michigan scored just 2.62 goals per game last season, a drop of over two goals from 2015-16, and had one of the youngest rosters in college hockey; a roster that lost seven of its top eight scorers from a year before. But that was last season. This season, the Wolverines are in the Frozen Four for the first time since 2011, and Slaker, now an assistant captain, is a bellwether for something else entirely. The San Diego, Calif. native has been a solid contributor all year long. He’s third in goals, eighth in assists and fourth in total points. But it’s not only about what he’s done — it’s about whenhe’s done it. Slaker has shown off a knack for clutch goals ever since Michigan’s second home game against Vermont. On Oct. 21, with the Wolverines down 2-1 a five minutes to play, he fired home a wrister to tie the game. He lit the lamp again with 54 seconds remaining, almost single-handedly stealing a victory. Against Ferris State two weeks later, Slaker’s two third- period goals were the final nail in the coffin. In Michigan’s biggest game of the season to that point against Minnesota, his goal in the final stanza sent the game to overtime, where the Wolverines claimed a 5-4 victory. When Michigan was left for dead, down 4-0 to Bowling Green in the opening game of the Great Lakes Invitational, he scored two straight goals to lead a near-comeback effort. And it was his empty-netter that wrapped up a victory against Wisconsin on Mar. 2, all but punching the Wolverines’ ticket to the NCAA Tournament. “He’s just a game-time player when he gets in big situations,” said senior forward Tony Calderone. “He’s moving his feet all game. I don’t know, it might be a coincidence that he scores all of them in the third … But he comes up big when we need him.” In fact, out of Slaker’s 15 goals this season, 10 of them have come in the game’s final 20 minutes. But he couldn’t tell you why — in fact, he wasn’t even aware of that fact until recently. “I guess I need to start playing better in the first and second period,” he deadpanned when asked about it after practice Tuesday. Michigan coach Mel Pearson can’t explain Slaker’s third- period success either. But he has a theory. “He’s good around the net, and he’s got good speed,” Pearson said. “And maybe it’s because teams break down as the game goes on, and he’s able to use that speed to get to loose pucks and put pressure on people.” It’s a pitch-perfect description of what happened Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament Northeast Regional final against Boston University. With 13 minutes to play and the Wolverines locked in a 3-3 tie, Slaker was exhausted and near the end of a shift. Eyes still on the puck, however, he chased it into the offensive zone, bearing down hard on Terrier defenseman Brandon Hickey. Under pressure to make a quick decision, Hickey swung his stick and missed the puck entirely, and Slaker jumped on the loose change. Just Boston’s Cam Crotty stood between Slaker and goaltender Jake Oettinger. Slaker tried to swerve around Crotty before shooting, but his shot hit the defenseman’s right knee. Regardless, the puck deflected off of Crotty and found its intended destination, pulling Michigan back into the lead. The Terriers wouldn’t score again. Was it somewhat of a lucky goal? Perhaps. But it was Slaker’s forecheck that put Hickey on his heels. It was Slaker skating as fast and as hard as anyone, no matter how tired. “His speed and the pressure he put on the defenseman to make the error and then get the puck and make the shot, I think that could be some of it because he is a good skater,” Pearson said. “He’s just as strong in the third period as he is in the first.” That’s the case for his entire line, actually. Slaker, junior Brendan Warren and freshman Josh Norris are three of the Wolverines’ strongest skaters — Pearson believes that the trio skates as well as any in the country. “We’re getting on the forecheck early, and it lets us play a little bit more on the offensive side,” Slaker said. “So then when we’re playing the defensive side, we can skate harder back and catch the guys. I think it just plays in our favor being faster, just taking pucks to the net and just playing as fast as we can, pushing the pace for the other team.” Pushing the pace has other benefits, too. Michigan’s first two lines are built much differently — Calderone, senior Dexter Dancs and junior Cooper Marody carry much of the scoring burden, but aren’t quite the elite skaters that Slaker, Norris and Warren are. The Wolverines’ second line may not light the lamp as often, but can break teams down with the stress they put on opposing blueliners, setting up the “DMC” line to inflict a mortal wound. “They add speed, they get defensemen thinking about where they need to go,” Calderone said. “When they’re moving their feet and they’re going, offensive pressure opens up everything for all the other lines. So once they’re getting pucks deep, hitting guys and skating, it’s dangerous.” You can chalk Slaker’s propensity for big-time plays up to to pure coincidence, if you so choose. That’s probably fine with him — he pretty much does so himself. But Pearson frequently mentions players getting rewarded for efforts that usually go unseen. That’s been Slaker all season — working hard in both zones, playing on special teams, skating opponents to exhaustion. And even when he hasn’t directly experienced the benefits of his hard work, others have. Sunday, Slaker was rewarded. The reward: a game-winning goal and a trip to St. Paul. And going from a minus-21 as a freshman to being an assistant captain and the third-leading scorer on a Frozen Four team? It’s a bit harder to call that a coincidence. ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily Sophomore forward Jake Slaker scored the game-winning goal in Michigan’s win over Boston University in the NCAA Tournament Northeast Regional final. Ohio State boasts the best defense of the group. The Wolverines have been underdogs this tournament. JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer