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Irish Edged 3-2 in NCAA Overtime Thriller Versus Michigan
- Updated: March 25, 2016
Tyler Motte took a pass in front of the goal and scored 8:19 into overtime Friday night, giving Michigan a 3-2 victory over rival Notre Dame in an NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Regional semifinal.
The longtime rivals have faced each other twice in the NCAA Tournament and both games have gone overtime, with each winning once.
Michigan (25-7-75) will play top-seeded North Dakota on Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four, a game matching two of college hockey’s record-setting programs. North Dakota beat Northeastern 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Michigan was the top-scoring team in the country, averaging 4.89 goals. The Wolverines pulled one out in a game where goals were hard to come by as Notre Dame (19-11-7) cranked up its defense.
The Wolverines won their first Big Ten Tournament with left wing Kyle Connor — the league’s top freshman and player of the year — leading the way. He couldn’t even get off a shot in the first two periods as Notre Dame turned it into a grind-it-out game.
Connor and J.T. Compher had passes setting up Motte’s decisive goal.
The rivals played for the 134th time since 1923 but the first time since the 2012-13 season, before Notre Dame moved to Hockey East. The Fighting Irish went 5-0 against the Wolverines that season, including a victory in the championship game of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament.
Back in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines got a lot of encouragement by students still bristling over Michigan’s loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. A week later, it was Michigan vs. Notre Dame, Round II. This time, on ice.
Notre Dame’s defense throttled the Wolverines’ top line — led by Connor — for most of the game. Michigan’s Cristoval Nieves scored off a faceoff midway through the first period. Notre Dame’s Anders Bjork tied it with an unassisted goal, bringing the puck up the ice and lifting it over the glove of Steve Racine, who also was in goal the last time the teams played in 2013.
Only 24 seconds into the second period, Bjork brought the puck up ice and dropped it for Thomas DiPauli, whose slap shot made it 2-1. The Wolverines managed only two shots on goal in the first 14 minutes of the period.
Cal Petersen stopped Compher on a breakaway to preserve the lead early in the third period. Defenseman Zach Werenski’s goal tied it midway through the period, and Michigan came within inches of taking the lead with 3:56 left in regulation. Connor’s shot deflected through Petersen and stopped just shy of the goal before it was slapped away.
NOTES: The rivals also faced each other in the NCAA Tournament in 2008, when Notre Dame won their national semifinal 5-4 in overtime and went on to lose to Boston College 4-1. … Notre Dame lost six of its last seven games, scoring two or fewer goals six times. … The game was played in the arena where Michigan coach Red Berenson won the first of his two national titles in 1996.
