Michigan
U.S. NTDP U-18 Team (ex)
Edwards' Return Sparks Michigan in Exhibition Win Over USNTDP U-18 Team
1/6/2024 10:44:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Ethan Edwards made his season debut, tallying a pair of goals and a power-play assist.
» T.J. Hughes scored the first goal and later added an assist for a two-point performance.
» NTDP alum Dylan Duke notched one goal in addition to an assist for a multi-point game.
PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Back in action for the first time in 2024, the No. 15-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team controlled its second exhibition contest of the year from start to finish en route to a 5-1 win over the United States National Team Development Program's Under-18 team on Saturday night (Jan. 6) inside a sold-out USA Hockey Arena.
With the win, U-M moved to 17-4 in the all-time series with the USNTDP U-18 squad and to its third straight win.
When the puck dropped, veteran netminder Jake Barczewski made a number of impressive stops in the first half of the game to keep the U.S. off the scoreboard. He made 13 saves in his nearly 30 minutes of ice time before ceding the crease to Noah West, who turned aside 17 of 18 shots that he faced in the second half.
The third opportunity was the charm for the Wolverines, who cashed in on their third power-play chance with 6:04 remaining in the first period to open the scoring. T.J. Hughes went to work in the left circle while Ethan Edwards quarterbacked the unit from the point. The puck worked its way to Garrett Schifsky in the slot and after a quick exchange of touch passes, Hughes blasted a one-timer off a short pass from Schifsky into the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.
Michigan doubled its lead just 29 seconds into the second period when Dylan Duke collected a turnover at his own blue line and turned on the jets for a chance on a lengthy breakaway. The junior forward forced a strong shot through the goaltender's blocker-side to pull Michigan ahead 2-0 with the unassisted goal.
Through two periods, Michigan led 2-0 and owned a 22-18 edge in shots on goal. U-M's power-play unit was 1-for-4 while the NTDP went 0-for-4.
After a quieter start to the final frame, Michigan had its fifth power-play opportunity at 6:13. The Wolverines won the ensuing faceoff and zipped the puck around the zone before Edwards leaned into a heavy one-timer from the top of the left circle that to make it 3-0 Michigan. Captain Jacob Truscott and Duke, a pair of NTDP alumni, collected the assists on Edwards' power-play strike.
Chase Pletzke earned his way onto the scoresheet and made it 4-0 at 7:03 by redirecting a point shot from the slot. Linemates Kienan Draper and Mark Estapa earned the assists.
With 8:41 left, a disagreement behind the play resulted in each team sending a skater to the box for two minutes of 4-on-4 play. Seven seconds later, Edwards burst down the ice on an odd-man rush and cashed in from the slot, unassisted, to make it 5-0.
West made a series of stops throughout the third period to keep U-M comfortably ahead, but the United States did bang in a rebound goal with 52.7 seconds left in regulation to spoil the shared shutout and bump the final score to 5-1.
Next Friday and Saturday (Jan. 12-13), the Wolverines will resume regular-season play at Yost Ice Arena in the program's final non-conference series against Stonehill, one of the newest additions to Division I hockey. It will be the Skyhawks' first trip to Yost in addition to being the first-ever meetings between the programs. Puck drop for both contests is set for 7 p.m., and the games will be streamed live on B1G+.
