Michigan
26-12-3
Quinnipiac
33-4-3
Season Ends for Michigan After Frozen Four Loss to Quinnipiac
4/6/2023 11:59:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Adam Fantilli scored a game-tying goal, his 30th of the year, to end the season with 65 points.
» Florida native Seamus Casey scored Michigan's first goal with a dazzling unassisted effort.
» QU entered as the second-best faceoff team; U-M edged out the Bobcats 28-26.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The final bits of sand ran through the hourglass on the No. 2-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team's 2022-23 season on Thursday (April 6) inside Amalie Arena for the second national semifinal at the 2023 Frozen Four. U-M battled back to tie the game at multiple points throughout the course of regulation, but the Wolverines failed to drum up a last-minute comeback before succumbing 5-2 to third-ranked Quinnipiac one game shy of an opportunity to play for the program's 10th national championship.
Knotted at 2 at the start of the third period, Quinnipiac (33-4-3) scored 1:24 into the final period with a rebound opportunity from below the goal line for the second time to take a 3-2 lead.
Michigan's power-play unit took the ice for the third time in as many periods when the group was called into action at 5:52, still in search of their first power-play tally of the night. Once again, the team was held off the scoreboard.
The Bobcats scored their fourth goal of the night from the half-wall on the far side of the right circle. The puck had eyes, as it found the top shelf to put QU ahead 4-2 with 7:00 remaining.
U-M (26-12-3) emptied its net in search of a late push, but the Bobcats scored an empty-net goal with 1:45 remaining in regulation to make the final score 5-2.
Quinnipiac got on the board first at 5:18, taking advantage of power-play momentum that had just expired. After a flurry of chances were turned aside by netminder Erik Portillo, a Bobcat collected the loose pick and banked it off of the netminder's back and into the net amidst the chaos.
Shortly thereafter, hometown hero Seamus Casey collected the puck in the neutral zone following the Bobcats' disrupting an offensive-zone possession. The freshman defenseman waited for his teammates to clear out of the zone before cutting back across the blue line and driving into the slot. Casey walked around a pair of QU defenders before holding the puck on his stick and pulling it past the outstretched goaltender to deposit it into the cage and tie the game at 6:49.
Quinnipiac reclaimed the lead at 11:21 when poor transition defense in the neutral zone led to an unabated rush for a lone Bobcat forward, who cashed in on the breakaway chance to make it 2-1 with 8:39 left in the opening period of play.
On the next shift, Portillo was called upon to make a massive save on another odd-man rush as the big Swede went post-to-post with ease to deny a backdoor chance and keep the deficit at one.
The Wolverines embarked on their first power play of the evening with 4:34 left in the first period when Casey rushed the puck deep into Quinnipiac's zone and drew a tripping penalty. The team put together a number of dangerous in-zone sequences, but failed to convert.
After one period at Amalie Arena, the teams returned to their dressing rooms with the Bobcats holding a 2-1 lead on the scoreboard as well as a 9-8 edge in shots on goal. U-M did lead in the faceoff dot 12-7 despite QU entering the Frozen Four as the second-best faceoff team in the nation (57.2 percent) compared with the Wolverines at 39th (48.4 percent). Each side failed to capitalize on their first power-play opportunity.
Hobey Baker Award finalist Adam Fantilli lit the light for the 30th goal of his freshman campaign at 10:15. Luke Hughes held onto the puck, attracting a pair of defenders as he moved from the right point to the middle of the zone. As the two Bobcats collapsed on Hughes in an attempt to shut down the play, the sophomore blue liner fed a pass through the seam to Fantilli near the right dot. Freshman forward Rutger McGroarty earned the secondary assist on the Wolverines' second goal of the evening to extend his team-best active point streak to eight games.
Fantilli's marker, his 65th point of the season, made him just the third U-M freshman to ever reach the 65-point threshold, joining Kyle Connor (2015-16) and Bruno Baseotto (1979-80).
Portillo, making his 87th career start between the pipes for the Wolverines, stopped 24 of 28 shots that he faced from the Bobcats while shouldering the season-ending loss. With the season culminating, the netminder wraps up his junior campaign with a 25-11-2 record.
The 2023 Big Ten Tournament champion Michigan Wolverines end the season with a 26-12-3 record. In addition to the program's third Big Ten Tournament title, the team won the 2023 Duel in the D versus Michigan State and swept through the NCAA's Midwest region for the second straight year to earn the team's 27th all-time Frozen Four appearance, and the second bid in as many seasons.
