Michigan
North Dakota
U-M to Clash with No. 5 North Dakota in 41st NCAA Appearance
3/27/2024 9:19:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It will be a battle of the blue bloods when the No. 10-ranked University of Michigan hockey team meets the No. 5-ranked University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Friday (March 29) in the 2024 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. CT (8:30 p.m. ET) on ESPNU.
Notes
• Michigan leads the overall rivalry, 46-41-4, but North Dakota won the last meeting in 2016 at the Midwest Regional Final in Cincinnati. In NCAA Tournament contests, UND owns a 3-2 advantage. The last win for the Wolverines over North Dakota came at the 2011 Frozen Four, when U-M shut out the nation's top-ranked squad (2-0) at the Xcel Energy Center.
• This season's NCAA Tournament bid for the Wolverines is the 41st in program history. That figure is a record, as are Michigan's 27 Frozen Four appearances and nine national titles.
• North Dakota (26-11-2) won the NCHC's regular-season championship before falling to fifth-seeded Omaha in last week's conference semifinal. UND, eight-time national champions and an ex-WCHA foe, went 2-1 against B1G competition this season, beating Wisconsin and splitting with Minnesota at home.
• Michigan grad and four-year letterwinner Keaton Pehrson will face his former team, as a current member of the Hawks. Pehrson is using his fifth-year eligibility in Grand Forks. An alternate captain at Michigan and current at UND, Pehrson played in 127 games at Michigan (now 161) and has 34 points and 153 blocked shots. He was D partners with Owen Power (Buffalo Sabres) and Luke Hughes (New Jersey Devils) while in Ann Arbor.
• Michigan and North Dakota have a combined 17 national championships and 49 Frozen Four appearances. In fact, 45 of 70 final fours (since the first in 1948) have included one of the two traditional powerhouses -- and the teams have combined to put over 220 athletes into the National Hockey League, including 40 this season.
• The forward corps features a highly skilled group including Big Ten Player of the Year Gavin Brindley (24G, 27A) and two-time HCA National Player of the Month, Rutger McGroarty (16G, 36A), who each led the B1G with more than 50 points apiece. Three other forwards are also pacing at or above one point per game: T.J. Hughes (18G, 26A), Dylan Duke (22G, 22A) and Frank Nazar III (16G, 23A). Freshmen Garrett Schifsky (16G, 14A) and Nick Moldenhauer (8G, 13A) have made an impact for U-M -- appearing in every game.
• Star blueliner Seamus Casey (7G, 38A) is one of the highest-scoring NCAA defenders with 45 points. He notched his first career four-point game with a quartet of assists to kick off the postseason against Notre Dame in a 5-4 win. Casey is tied with Luke Hughes and Tom Polanic for most assists by a sophomore defenseman in program history.
• It will be a homecoming for St. Louis-area native, Jake Barczewski. From O'Fallon, Mo., Barczewski set a new personal career high in wins by going 18-13-3 as a Wolverine. Earlier this year, he surpassed a pair of major milestones with his 100 collegiate start and 3,000 career saves. Barczewski is the active NCAA saves leader with 3,650 over his five seasons. The goaltender has accrued 931 this year while posting a .907 save percentage and 2.83 goals against average along with a pair of shutouts.
• U-M's top-ranked power-play unit is operating at 35.3 percent and has scored 49 times, the most for Michigan since it had 49 in 2005-06 and 61 in 2004-05. The team has been strong in the faceoff dot (52.7%) and the PK (78.5%) has improved in the second half.
