No. 3 Wolverines Outlast Irish

On Friday, the No. 3-ranked Michigan hockey team resumed play in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with the first game of a home-and-home series with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana. In a game that featured an offensive explosion on both sides of the ice, it was Andrew Cogliano’s two goals late in the contest that would provide the Maize and Blue with breathing room on the way to an 8-5 victory.

In what would become symbolic for this contest, it didn’t take long for the scoring to get underway in Friday’s contest. Only eighteen seconds in, it was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish jumping on top of the Wolverines by netting the games first goal when Matt Amado jammed the loose puck under the pads of Michigan goalie Noah Ruden.

Notre Dame had an opportunity to extend the lead following a double penalty to U-M defenseman Matt Hunwick; however, the Wolverines penalty kill held strong to keep the lead at one goal as the teams approached that halfway mark of the period.

At 10:10, Travis Turnball knotted the game 1-1 for the Wolverines with his third goal of the season. Turnball slide the puck past Notre Dame’s goalie David Brown on the power play after a feed from Andrew Ebbett made its way across the crease.

Chad Kolarik put U-M on top with under one minute remaining in the first period with the Wolverines second power-play goal of the night, this time beating Brown high on a shot past the Irish goaltenders blocker.

Jason Bailey extended the Wolverines lead to two goals, beating Brown on a rebound off of a shot from teammate Kevin Porter. Porter’s shot rang off the post before making its way into the crease and to the stick of Jason Bailey.

As with Bailey, Brandon Naurato netted his first goal as a Wolverine just over midway through the second period. Naurato’s power-play goal came on a tipped shot from an Ebbett shot on the point.

Before the end of the period, however, Notre Dame would trim the lead down to 4-2. With a two-man advantage, the Irish took advantage of a poorly timed line change by the Wolverines to catch the visiting team in an odd-man rush. Mark Van Guilder and Tim Wallace combined in the two-on-one and the two beat Ruden for the final goal of the second period.

Early in the third period, Michigan stretched the lead back to three goals with his team leading seventh goal. Porter scored for the Wolverines fourth power-play goal of the night by sending a rocket past David Brown from near the right post.

In the middle of the period, the Irish and Wolverines traded goals, keeping the lead at three goals over halfway through the period.

Notre Dame would climb within one point at 6-5 late in the final period, but then Cogliano took over netting the Wolverines final two goals on a shot high over the glove of Brown and into the net followed by an empty netter with under a minute remaining.

Notre Dame and Michigan will conclude their weekend series on Saturday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.