8 — Friday, April 6, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The one that got away
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mel Pearson
has said throughout the season that
the name of the game is speed and
grit.
The Michigan hockey team lived
up to Pearson’s image for the team,
but it would be Notre Dame that
would emerge on top, as forward
Jake Evans found the back of the
net with 3.7 seconds remaining
to send the Fighting Irish to the
National Championship with a 4-3
victory.
Even before puck drop, it was
clear
that
the
second-seeded
Wolveirnes’
high-output,
shifty
offense would clash with No. 1
Notre Dame’s (17-6-1 Big Ten, 27-9-
2 overall) juggernaut of a back line.
And Ohio State’s unpredicted loss
at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth
in the other semifinal matchup just
an hour prior proved that playoff
hockey is anyone’s game.
At the outset of Michigan’s (11-
10-3, 22-14-3) 25th Frozen Four
appearance, junior forward Cooper
Marody drew a whistle 34 seconds
in for hooking to send the early
momentum in the Fighting Irish’s
favor.
After some dangerous looks at
sophomore
goaltender
Hayden
Lavigne that yielded no fruit, it was
evident that the Fighting Irish’s
plethora of two-way players —
exemplified by Evans, who had 11
goals and a team-high 31 assists
prior to the semifinal — were giving
the Wolverine skaters considerable
trouble.
But Michigan didn’t hold back
either.
Freshman
defenseman
Quinn Hughes drove down the ice
with electric dangles and delivered
a pass through the crease that just
missed its mark.
But the Wolverines’ speed was
the first to take the upper hand, as
senior forward Tony Calderone
drove into the slot to fire a shot past
Cale Morris — who has a nation
leading save-percentage at .945 —
for the first tally of the game 8:19
into the first period.
While Michigan continued to
beat the Notre Dame defensemen
with an aggressive forecheck and
speed down the left side of the ice,
the Fighting Irish kept generating
odd-man rushes that all ended in
acrobatic saves from Lavigne.
With
Morris
and
Lavigne
both notching nine saves in the
first, there wasn’t much that
differentiated both teams, only
further securing the fact that the
game would be won with sweat
and, for one team, tears.
However, 17 seconds into the
second period, senior forward
Dexter
Dancs
disturbed
that
equality by firing a shot that
ricocheted
off
Fighting
Irish
defenseman Dennis Gilbert up
and over Morris’ glove to give the
Wolverines a two-goal lead.
Notre Dame quickly retaliated
twice, once on the man-advantage.
After a holding penalty from junior
defenseman
Joseph
Cecconi,
Fighting
Irish
center
Andrew
Oglevie let one fly from near the blue
line that snuck past Lavigne to cut
the Notre Dame deficit to one.
Evans
subsequently
found
the equalizer at two apiece on a
four-on-four one-timer off a dish
from defenseman Jordan Gross.
The Fighting Irish’s pressure —
highlighted by its nine shots less
than eight minutes into the second
— was bound to yield something,
and its best offensive performer
simply lit the fuse.
“I think our game plan was to
keep them off the power play,”
Calderone said. “ … They played
really well throughout the whole
thing. I can’t say if we relaxed too
much, they made some big plays.”
Outshooting Michigan, 15-7, in
the second that returned two tallies,
the Fighting Irish unmistakably
won the second frame. But at
the same time, the Wolverines
dominated the first.
With the contest tied at two
heading into the third period, it
would be Notre Dame that would
take the initial upper hand in the
third, as forward Cal Burke drove
down the left flank and snuck the
puck past Lavigne’s left skate to give
the Fighting Irish their first lead of
the night, 3-2.
“Once we got behind, you saw the
desperation that we needed to play
with right from the start,” Pearson
said.
But Michigan had its chance to
reclaim the deficit on a power play
8:15 into the period on a hooking
call on Notre Dame forward Jack
Jenkins but couldn’t seem to find
its way past Morris on multiple
dangerous chances.
And just as hopes began to
dwindle, freshman forward Michael
Pastujov answered the Wolverines’
prayers, as he punched the puck in
off a scrum in front of the net with
5:22 remaining in regulation.
“Yeah, it shows our depth,”
Calderone said. “I think a lot of
people, when they talk about us, talk
about how we lack that depth, but a
goal coming from Mike Pastujov like
that just shows that … in the second
half of the year we had all four lines
going and that’s what got us here.”
In the end, though, just as
postseason hockey games go, all it
takes is one slim chance. Evans just
happened to be the one to get that
chance.
Wolverines fall, 4-3, to Notre Dame in heartbreaking Frozen Four semifinal
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan hockey team gave up a late goal to Notre Dame to fall in the semifinals of the Frozen Four.
S
T. PAUL, Minn. — The
adage goes, “You have to
be good to be lucky.”
It’s
unclear
where it
originated
from, but
that’s not
really the
point.
Wherever
it was first
uttered, it
might as
well have
come about specifically to
describe the Michigan hockey
team’s 2017-2018 season.
On Nov. 10, the Wolverines
capped off their biggest win of
the nascent Mel Pearson era
by erasing a three-goal deficit
to take down Minnesota in
overtime. The winning goal
was a Will Lockwood laser that
deflected off of senior forward
Alex Roos’ helmet and into
the net — a “good” rally with a
“lucky” ending.
On Feb. 18, Michigan led No.
1 Notre Dame, 1-0, at Yost Ice
Arena. With under a minute
to play, Fighting Irish forward
Andrew Oglevie pushed a shot
behind sophomore goaltender
Hayden Lavigne. The hockey
gods themselves seemed to
ensure the puck didn’t find
twine, instead sending it all the
way across the goalmouth and
past the left post.
Lavigne made 35 mostly
tremendous saves that day. If
not for that lucky break, they
might not have mattered at all.
But he earned his good fortune,
if you will.
The same thing happened
in the NCAA Tournament
Northeast Regional final.
Boston’s Brandon Hickey
whiffed at the puck in his zone,
sophomore forward Jake Slaker
snatched the loose change and
rifled home a game-winning
goal off a Terrier’s leg to send
the Wolverines to the Frozen
Four. Of course, Slaker’s hard-
nosed forecheck at the end of a
shift made it all possible.
No team gets to the Frozen
Four entirely by sheer luck. On
the flip side, no team gets to the
Frozen Four without any of it.
Michigan exemplified that all
season. But so did Notre Dame.
Coming into the Frozen Four,
the Fighting Irish had won four
straight games by scoring in the
final minute or overtime. Sure,
they were ranked No. 1 or No. 2
for basically the entire season.
But those kind of runs don’t just
happen.
Something was going to
have to give, though. There
were going to be bounces and
bloopers Thursday night, and
they were going to go one way
or the other.
At first, it was the
Wolverines that profited from
them. Mere moments into the
second period, senior forward
Dexter Dancs skated into the
circle and threw a puck at
the net. It hit off Notre Dame
defenseman Dennis Gilbert
and into the net for a two-goal
Michigan lead.
Probably not the way Dancs
drew it up. But as anyone and
everyone involved in hockey
will tell you: get pucks to the net
and good things will happen.
“(Assistant) coach (Bill)
Muckalt says if the puck’s in the
net — I don’t even know what it
went off of,” Dancs said. “I was
just trying to get a shot off …
luckily it went in.”
But it didn’t do much to
change the fact that the
Fighting Irish were in total
control. They had outshot the
Wolverines, 7-4, to close the
first period, and scored a power-
play goal in response just two
minutes later.
It didn’t help that the bounces
that had gone Michigan’s way
at first had stopped coming.
But Notre Dame thoroughly
controlled the second period
regardless.
“Our game plan was keep
them off the power play,” Dancs
said. “And we gave them a
power play, and they scored off
of it.”
Single-elimination
postseason hockey is a
crapshoot, due in no small
part to goaltending. As the
Wolverines began to seize
momentum midway through the
third period, Morris was simply
everywhere for the Fighting
Irish, spreading out all across
the crease and denying waves of
grade-A chances.
Even an average goaltender
can catch fire and carry his
team through a game. But
Morris is no average goaltender.
He’s the Big Ten Player of the
Year and a Hobey Baker Award
finalist, and Thursday was just
another night at the office.
With five minutes to play,
freshman forward Mike
Pastujov slashed one past
Morris to tie the game at
three. Pastujov had two golden
opportunities denied in the
previous 30 seconds alone. At
that moment, it almost seemed
inevitable — Michigan had to
break through at some point.
The Wolverines had to obtain a
fortunate rebound somewhere.
Pearson and his team were
well aware of Notre Dame’s
unbelievable success in the
clutch. They had seen Dylan
Malmquist’s overtime winner
against Michigan Tech, were
familiar with Jack Jenkins’
clincher against Providence.
But how do you prepare to
stop the luck of the Irish, even
if you can sense it coming?
Michigan had one last
chance to win it in regulation,
but the puck was knocked away
with 11 seconds to go. Fighting
Irish forward Cam Morrison
took the stretch pass from his
own zone, flew down the left
flank and laced a pass into the
middle. Jake Evans was on the
receiving end, tied to Quinn
Hughes’ hip.
“Just a bad bounce there at
the end,” Pearson said.
Evans got his stick on the
puck, and it trickled under
Lavigne’s pads. Twenty players
in blue hung their heads.
On the bench, Pearson had
already been thinking ahead to
overtime.
“Last goal we weren’t too
concerned,” he said. “Just a
basic two-on-two. I give them
credit, they made a good play,
drove it wide and threw it in
the crease.
“Tough way to lose… I don’t
know if there’s any easy way to
lose.”
Notre Dame was the better
team on Thursday night. It
controlled the flow for longer
stretches, and Morris outplayed
Lavigne. And in the end, the
Fighting Irish got the break
they needed to advance to the
national championship.
Dancs joined Pearson and
senior forward Tony Calderone
in the bowels of the Xcel
Energy Center, cheeks painted
scarlet by tears. As he choked
out some final words about his
senior season, this much was
clear:
Good, lucky — at this point,
none of it mattered.
Shames can be reached at
jacosham@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
The good, the bad and the unlucky
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Senior forward Dexter Dancs scored a goal in Michigan’s loss to Notre Dame.
JACOB
SHAMES
Season-long inconsistencies plague Michigan
ST PAUL, Minn. — It could be
called “The Luck of the Irish.”
With 5.2 seconds remaining
in
regulation,
Notre
Dame
forward Jake Evans pushed the
puck five-hole past sophomore
goaltender Hayden Lavigne to
end the Michigan hockey team’s
unexpected NCAA Tournament
run right then and there.
But more than luck were
inconsistencies
in
play
throughout
the
national
semifinal game
that led to a 4-3
heartbreaking
loss
for
the
Wolverines
on
Thursday night
at
the
Xcel
Energy Center.
Michigan
reached the Frozen Four on
Lavigne’s
solid
goaltending,
timely scoring from secondary
players and an explosive first
line of senior forwards Dexter
Dancs and Tony Calderone and
junior forward Cooper Marody.
However, the story of the year
for the Wolverines has been an
inability to capitalize on the
power play and step up on the
penalty kill — ranked fourth-
worst in the country, stopping
just 75.33 percent of opponent’s
man advantages. Michigan was
unable to reverse the trends,
leading to costly miscues and
missed opportunities to put the
game away for good.
With
an
extra
week
of
preparation before the Frozen
Four,
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson slowed down practice
to specifically focus on special
teams. Against a Fighting Irish
power play that was successful
on
22.83
percent
of
their
opportunities, the Wolverines
needed to be the aggressors to
stifle chances.
After quickly killing a penalty
just 34 seconds into the first
period, it appeared Michigan’s
Achilles heel was solved. After
scoring two unanswered goals
early, one from Dancs and
another
from
Calderone,
it
appeared the Wolverines were
in complete control.
But that was when Notre
Dame began to strike. After a
two-minute
holding
penalty
to junior defenseman Joseph
Cecconi, Fighting Irish forward
Andrew
Oglevie
unloaded
a
slapshot
from
the
point
that passed Lavigne to cut
Michigan’s lead in half and
breathe life into a dormant
Notre Dame offense.
Minutes later,
with both teams
down
a
man
and
four-on-
four play, Evans
found
open
space
between
the circles with
no maize and
blue sweaters in
sight and fired
a one-timer into
the back of the
net to knot the game at two
goals apiece.
“We’ve been much better
lately,” Pearson said. “(Senior
defenseman
Sam)
Piazza
blocked that shot, so we had to
recover because he on the ice.
That opened some things up
and they had a seeing-eye shot
there.”
After
relinquishing
a
third straight Fighting Irish
tally at the beginning of the
third period, the Wolverines
found themselves in a do-or-
die
situation,
pressing
to
tie the game and keep their
tournament journey afloat.
With 8:15 to go in the final
frame,
Michigan
had
its
opening. Handed their third
power play opportunity of the
evening,
following
a
Notre
Dame hooking penalty, the
Wolverines
had a chance to
respond.
But for a team
that has struggled
mightily with the
man
advantage
all season long,
ranked
33rd
in
the
nation
with
an
18.37
percent
success
rate,
Michigan
couldn’t answer. A forceful
Fighting
Irish
penalty
kill
squashed all the Wolverines’
chances to advance to the
national championship game
against Minnesota-Duluth.
“We’ve got to get better with
that next year, there’s no doubt
about it,” Pearson said. “And we
will.”
Michigan may get better on
special teams next season, but
at this point, it doesn’t really
matter.
Goals from Calderone and
Dancs helped the Wolverines
take the lead early, just as the
“DMC” line has done all season.
Twenty-five saves on 29 shots
from Lavigne kept Michigan
in the game late. A goal from
freshman
forward
Michael
Pastujov with 5:22 remaining
gave the Wolverines a last
chance.
But
Thursday
night,
it
wasn’t enough
to
propel
Michigan
to
the
national
championship
game. Season-
long problems
again haunted
the Wolverines
and this time, it ended their
season for good. What looked
like a game Michigan had for
the taking slowly turned into a
repeat of the struggles seen all
year.
The lucky bounce at the
game’s end wasn’t the deciding
factor. It was what came before
that.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne got beat five-hole withfive seconds remaining in the Frozen Four semifinal.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
“(Sam) Piazza
blocked that
shot, so we had
to recover.”
“We’ve got to
get better with
that next year.
... and we will.”