Michigan
15-9-1
Ohio State
7-19-1
Michigan Blanks OSU to Set Up Semifinal Showdown vs. No. 4 Minnesota
3/14/2021 11:59:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Strauss Mann stopped all 26 shots that he faced to secure his 11th career shutout.
» Brendan Brisson notched his first career multi-goal game with his ninth and 10th of the season.
» Cam York scored a goal and contributed an assist to drive the U-M offense from the back end.
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Compton Family Ice Arena)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (First Round)
Score: #6 Michigan 4, Ohio State 0
Records: U-M (15-9-1), OSU (7-19-1)
Next U-M Event: Monday, March 15 -- vs. #4 Minnesota - Big Ten Tournament Semifinal (South Bend, Ind.), 8:30 p.m.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Strauss Mann stopped all 26 shots he faced to record his 11th career shutout and freshman Brendan Brisson scored twice as the No. 6-ranked and No. 3-seeded University of Michigan ice hockey team shut out sixth-seeded Ohio State, 4-0, on Sunday night (March 14) inside Compton Family Ice Arena in a Big Ten Tournament first-round matchup.
Early scoring chances were plentiful for Michigan, but the Wolverines failed to beat Ohio State's netminder for the bulk of the first period despite continuous traffic and pressure in front of the blue paint.
U-M finally opened the scoring late in the opening period with a power-play goal off the stick of Brisson with 37 seconds remaining before the first intermission. With Michael Pastujov battling for position to screen the OSU goalie from the front of the crease, Cam York acted as a pivot in the high slot. Thomas Bordeleau had the puck on the left flank before button-hooking above the left dot and dumping a spinning centering pass back to York. The sophomore blue-liner wasted no time before sending a pass on a platter for Brisson near the right dot. He then blasted a one-time slap shot through traffic that found the back of the net to put U-M up, 1-0, going into the first intermission.
By collecting the secondary assist on Brisson's goal, Bordeleau -- U-M's scoring leader -- reached the 30-point mark in his freshman campaign. He is the first Michigan newcomer to do so since the 2015-16 season when Kyle Connor put up 35 goals and 36 assists for 71 points.
With 20 minutes in the books, Michigan had earned a 1-0 lead, outshot its rivals from Columbus, 13-6, and capitalized on its lone power-play opportunity.
Michigan doubled the lead with 8:23 left in the sandwich session when a hard, low wrist shot from Luke Morgan went off the boot of York, who was trying to stop short of the blue paint when he inadvertently deflected the puck into the net. Morgan and Kent Johnson recorded assists on York's fourth tally of the season to put the Wolverines ahead, 2-0.
Ohio State put together its best chance of the first two periods with 1:10 left in the middle frame. A crowd of Buckeyes battled down low amidst a chaotic netfront scrum while searching for the bouncing puck. Ultimately, it was smacked wide of the cage and the Wolverines carried the puck out of their end to avert the opponents' offensive opportunity.
Pastujov thought he had scored the game's third goal a split second before time expired in the second period, but an official review determined that the puck crossed the line just after the buzzer had sounded.
After two periods, Michigan led, 2-0, while more than doubling Ohio State in shots, 28-13.
Just 2:53 into the final frame, Eric Ciccolini finished a beautiful 3-on-1 passing play to extend Michigan's lead to 3-0. Jimmy Lambert entered the zone with the puck before dishing to his right to Nick Granowicz. As soon as he received the puck, Granowicz dropped it back to Ciccolini, who ripped a low shot from the slot into the back of the net for his seventh marker of the season.
With 10:03 left in the game, a post-whistle scrum resulted in Morgan being assessed a five-minute major penalty for grabbing an OSU player's face mask. The Buckeyes threatened on the ensuing extended power play and even pulled their goaltender for the final 90 seconds to gain a two-man advantage, but Mann and the Wolverines stood strong to keep their rivals off the board.
Fresh off the bench following the expiration of Morgan's major penalty, Brisson intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and skated the puck out before sending it into the empty net to put the finishing touch on a 4-0 shutout victory. The Wolverines outshot OSU over the course of the evening, 39-26.
With the shutout win over the Buckeyes, Michigan has now gone more than three games of Big Ten postseason play, 202:58, without surrendering a goal. The streak dates back to 2019 when the Wolverines fell to Minnesota, 4-1, to end the 2018-19 season. Last year, Mann and U-M swept Michigan State in a pair of 3-0 tilts before the rest of the postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday evening (March 15), the Wolverines will look to continue their strong defensive performance in the postseason against No. 4-ranked and No. 2-seeded Minnesota for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament final on Tuesday night. The contest will close out tomorrow's doubleheader, with puck drop scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network following Penn State and Wisconsin's meeting on the other side of the bracket.
