Michigan
1-0-0
Lindenwood
0-3-0
Michigan Offense Overpowers Lindenwood in Season-Opening Win
10/7/2022 10:39:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Forward Mackie Samoskevich scored twice to pace the Wolverines.
» Adam Fantilli won 15 of 19 faceoffs while tallying a pair of assists.
» Jackson Hallum scored Michigan's first goal of the season before adding an assist.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Fifteen Wolverines found the scoresheet on Friday night (Oct. 7) as the seventh-ranked University of Michigan men's ice hockey team opened the regular season in style, overpowering Lindenwood 7-4 in the season opener.
Junior goaltender Erik Portillo stopped 17 of 21 shots that he faced to earn the victory, his 36th career win as a Wolverine. Two of Lindenwood's four goals came on the power play.
Lindenwood (0-3-0) opened the scoring 12:53 into the contest off of a two-on-one, rush. Taking advantage of a transition opportunity, the Lions beat Portillo with a wrist shot after a Michigan chance had gone awry deep in the LU zone to put U-M on its heels.
Less than two minutes later, Lindenwood doubled its lead.
A hooking call with 2:41 remaining in the first period launched Michigan's third power play of the evening. This time, the unit clicked on all cylinders. Freshman Jackson Hallum, circling the net in search of a loose puck, netted the first goal of the season for the Maize and Blue just 25 seconds after the penalty to cut the deficit to one. Jacob Truscott had started the play from the goal line by flipping a pass out to Gavin Brindley in the low slot. Brindley put a quick backhand shot on goal from just outside the crease before Hallum found the rebound and chopped it into the net.
Michigan (1-0-0) came out for the second period and scored five goals in less than eight minutes to take a commanding 6-2 lead.
Mackie Samoskevich tied the game at 2 just 44 seconds into the period with a strike from the left hashmark. Freshman phenom Adam Fantilli collected the primary assist while Dylan Duke picked up the secondary.
The power-play unit was given another opportunity when Lindenwood was called for cross-checking 4:22 into the middle frame. Just 22 seconds later, Samoskevich buried his second consecutive goal by finishing off a loose puck in the crease after a deflected shot from Fantilli popped up and hit Duke near the blue paint. The same three Wolverines figured into back-to-back goals, with the only difference coming in the order of the assists.
Shortly thereafter, last weekend's aerial goal-scorer, Nick Granowicz, finished off another chance in-tight after Eric Ciccolini shuffled a Luca Fantilli rebound across the blue paint and onto his tape. Fantilli garnered the secondary assist for his first point as a Wolverine, while Ciccolini earned the primary helper for his short-distance feed.
Defender Jay Keranen made an impact on the scoresheet at 6:52. Looking to extend the Michigan lead while possessing the puck in the LU zone, Keaton Pehrson found Keranen in the high slot with a crisp pass from the right halfwall for the primary assist while Rutger McGroarty earned his first collegiate point with the secondary helper.
Mark Estapa joined the goal parade 8:07 into the second period after receiving a pass in stride as he entered the Lindenwood zone. Estapa released a missile of a wrist shot that bounced in and out of the top of the net while the arena erupted in celebration. Freshman Seamus Casey and Granowicz assisted on the goal that made it 6-2, Michigan.
Before the end of the period, the visitors calmed the momentum by adding a goal of their own with 2:51 remaining to make it 6-3.
Lindenwood scored its fourth goal of the game on the power play at 8:20 of the third to cut the Michigan lead to 6-4. At the time of the goal, the Wolverines were outshooting the Lions, 48-17.
Ciccolini compounded the fun with his ninth career goal to make it 7-4 with 7:33 left to play after skating toward the crease and banging a spinning puck across the goal line. Freshman forward T.J. Hughes scooped the primary assist, his first NCAA point, by putting a shot on net that the netminder was unable to smother. Hallum picked up the secondary assist, being rewarded for his effort and speed in carving through the zone to disrupt the Lindenwood defense and create the opening for U-M.
As the final buzzer sounded on the first victory of head coach Brandon Naurato's tenure behind the bench, the Wolverines celebrated kicking off the season after outshooting the Lions 55-21. Michigan's power play unit converted on 2-of-7 chances while Lindenwood was 1-for-4.
On Saturday night (Oct. 8), the Wolverines and Lions will return to Yost Ice Arena to finish off the two-game season-opening series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on B1G+.
