Michigan
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U.S. NTDP U-18 Team (ex)
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Michigan Outlasts USNTDP in Exhibition Victory
1/3/2026 10:12:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Josh Eernisse led the way offensively with a hat trick.
» Jayden Perron had four points while T.J. Hughes and Malcolm Spence each chipped in three.
» U-M was without five of six World Junior participants; Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen returned to action.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A hard-earned hat trick for Josh Eernisse propelled the top-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team to a 7-5 victory in exhibition action against the United States National Team Development Program's U-18 team in an offense-heavy showdown on Saturday (Jan. 3) inside Yost Ice Arena.
With the win, Michigan improved to 21-4 all-time against the U-18 team. It also marked the fifth straight victory for U-M in the series.
Freshman goaltender Stephen Peck started in net for his first game action as a Wolverine, and he saw a lot of rubber in making 29 saves on 34 shots that he saw from a highly skilled group of young American skaters.
Michigan (16-4-0) took an early 1-0 lead on the team's first shot on goal at 1:03. Junior Ben Robertson stepped up from the blue line to pick the top-left corner after a pass from freshman forward Malcolm Spence. T.J. Hughes earned the secondary assist on Robertson's tally.
A pair of seniors linked up to double the lead after Hughes showed off his stickhandling abilities to dangle through the offensive zone and force the goalie to dive out of his crease. With the netminder out of position, Hughes circled behind the net to feed a pass out to Eernisse at the top of the crease, and he finished off the feed to make it 2-0 at 5:47. Freshman defenseman Matthew Mania notched the secondary assist.
Junior Nick Moldenhauer skated in on the left flank before flipping a crafty backhand shot from a tough angle that beat the netminder up high to make it a 3-0 game at 16:21. Robertson and Adam Valentini chipped in the assists on Moldenhauer's marker.
Junior forward Jayden Perron continued the fun on the ensuing shift by dragging the puck as he cut into the slot with 2:59 left in the first period to make it 4-0 in Michigan's favor.
The NTDP (10-17-1-2) buried its eighth shot of the night to bump the score to 4-1 with 1:06 left in the first.
Michigan carried a three-goal lead into intermission along with a 14-8 edge in shots on goal.
Eernisse scored his second of the night at 8:56 of the second period by redirecting Kienan Draper's shot while skating to the net to regain a four-goal lead. Perron earned the secondary assist by keeping the puck inside the blue line and dumping it into space in the corner for Draper to collect.
The Americans netted their second goal with 6:50 left in the period of the long change after a broken play resulted in a two-on-none rush that they converted by slamming home a cross-crease feed.
Perron sniped his second goal of the evening at 15:03 after he twirled around the faceoff dot in the left circle to create a better shooting lane following an initial approach.
Eleven seconds later, the Program took advantage of an odd-man rush to trim the deficit to 6-3.
The youngsters continued their push with a power-play goal at 18:04 and an even-strength tally at 19:33 to make it a 6-5 contest going into the second intermission.
With 20 minutes left, Michigan clung to a one-goal lead on top of a 26-22 edge in shots on goal.
Hughes was assessed a major penalty with 13:18 left to play, granting the NTDP an extended look on the man advantage. After five minutes of diligent effort, the Wolverines successfully dismissed the opportunity without surrendering a goal.
U-M added an empty-net goal with 1:37 remaining to seal the game at 7-5. Eernisse secured the easy tally to finish off a hat-trick performance, while Perron assisted on the marker to finish off the scoring with his fourth point of the evening.
Michigan ended the night with a 35-33 edge in shots on goal to power the seven-goal output as it improved to 21-4 against the collection of America's top U-18 talent.
Next week, Michigan resumes regular-season action at Yost Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 9-10) when Notre Dame comes to town to finish off the season series. Puck drop for both games is set for 7 p.m., and the action will be streamed live on B1G+.
