Michigan
15-10-1
Minnesota
22-6-0
U-M Eliminated from B1G Tournament with OT Loss to No. 4 Minnesota
3/15/2021 11:59:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Kent Johnson opened the scoring 3:44 into the game with a power-play marker.
» Garrett Van Wyhe finished off a beautiful passing sequence for Michigan's second goal.
» Strauss Mann stopped 37 shots while shouldering the overtime loss.
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Compton Family Ice Arena)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (Semifinal)
Score: #4 Minnesota 3, #7 Michigan 2 (OT)
Records: U-M (15-10-1), Minnesota (22-6-0)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 21 -- NCAA Selection Show (ESPNU), 7 p.m.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- With a spot in the Big Ten Tournament championship game on the line, the No. 3 seed and No. 7-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team went to overtime against a highly skilled No. 2 seed in the No. 4-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers before falling, 3-2, on Monday night (March 15) in the second Big Ten Tournament semifinal. The Wolverines jumped out to a two-goal lead that they maintained until 44:07 into the contest when the Golden Gophers finally got on the board.
Minnesota (22-6-0), entering as the least-penalized team in college hockey, took an interference penalty 3:32 into the contest to give the Wolverines (15-10-1) an early chance with the man advantage. The dangerous Michigan power-play unit, ranked 11th in the county at a 23.3-percent clip, needed just 12 seconds to make the Golden Gophers pay.
In a tic-tac-toe sequence following a faceoff win, freshman Matty Beniers sent the puck down low to Jack Becker on the goal line. The captain immediately sent a touch pass from the side of the net back to Kent Johnson in the slot. Johnson found the back of the net with a slick one-time tally 3:44 into the contest.
After one period of play between the longtime western collegiate rivals, Michigan held a 1-0 lead but trailed the Golden Gophers in shots on goal, 13-8.
Early in the second frame, Michigan was pressuring when the puck trickled through Minnesota goaltender Jack LaFontaine's crease, but it was unable to convert and the Gophers carried it out of the zone.
Shortly thereafter, the team's scoring leader, Thomas Bordeleau, tried to pull off Mike Legg's iconic "Michigan move" (which occurred in 1996 vs. Minnesota in the NCAA tournament), but his bold attempt from behind the net was stymied by a Minnesota defenseman who blocked the lacrosse-style shot while the puck was still about a foot away from the goal line.
Michigan's blue-collar line of upperclassmen Garrett Van Wyhe, Dakota Raabe and Nolan Moyle broke the puck out of the U-M zone with less than five minutes to go in the second period. Passing the puck in stride as the entire five-man unit glided down the ice, Van Wyhe skated it into the zone before dropping it back to defenseman Jack Summers, who found Raabe in the slot. Raabe zipped a quick pass to Van Wyhe crashing the right post. After directing the puck on net and offering an extra whack at the puck for good measure, Van Wyhe saw his effort pay off when the puck slid through the wickets and across the goal line. Raabe and Summers picked up assists on the Van Wyhe goal that pushed Michigan's lead to 2-0 at 14:38.
After two periods, Michigan had carved out a two-goal lead while catching up to the Gophers in shots on goal, tying it up at 23 apiece through 40 minutes.
Four minutes and seven seconds into the final stanza, Minnesota got on the board with a skilled backhand shot from in tight to cut Michigan's lead in half, 2-1, with 15:53 left to play and a championship berth hanging in the balance.
Michigan's penalty-kill unit was asked to come up big with less than 10 minutes left to play when Nick Blankenburg was sent off for a minor infraction. The Wolverines bent but did not break, killing off Minnesota's third power-play opportunity to stay perfect on the PK for the tournament.
Minutes later, with 4:26 remaining in regulation, a low Minnesota wrist shot from above the left hash marks deflected off a stick and into the back of the U-M net to tie the game at 2.
Unable to break the deadlock after 60 minutes, the teams headed to the dressing rooms to prepare for sudden-death overtime. In what was a fast-paced, entertaining and evenly matched game, the Wolverines and Gophers ended regulation with the game tied at 2 and knotted at 33 shots apiece.
Both sides put up dangerous chances in the extra session, which ended up lasting just six minutes, but the Golden Gophers came out on top when captain Sammy Walker banged a rebound past a sprawling Strauss Mann to end the game. The final tally for shots on goal in the 66-minute contest was 40-37 in Minnesota's favor.
The NCAA Selection Show is set for Sunday (March 21) at 7 p.m. on ESPNU and will reveal the 16-team field for the 2021 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship.
