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Michigan hockey closing in on NCAA Tournament berth after 5-4 win over Notre Dame

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•03/09/24•

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Gavin Brindley and Michigan beat MSU, 5-2, to advance to the Frozen Four. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire)

Brandon Naurato’s Michigan hockey team has been up and down this year, recently on the cut line for the NCAA Tournament. But a come-from-behind, 5-4 win over Notre Dame in a Big Ten quarterfinal game (best of three) has put the Wolverines in great position heading into Saturday night’s contest against the Irish.

Notre Dame had had Michigan’s number at Yost Ice Arena before the last few weeks, owning the Wolverines on their home ice. But U-M won its third straight over the Irish with the tournament victory after beating ND 4-0 and 2-1 Feb. 23 and 24. This one moved the Wolverines to 10th in the pairwise rankings — 16 teams make the NCAA Tournament — with an 85 percent chance to make the tourney per College Hockey News.

There’s still work to do, however. Notre Dame is 22nd in the pairwise and 15-18-2 overall. Consecutive losses to the Irish at home could put U-M right back on the bubble.

For now, though, the Wolverines are celebrating a big win, their fourth in 5 games. A 6-5 overtime victory at Minnesota last week in which they relinquished a three-goal, third period lead before rallying in overtime, set the table for the huge weekend series with the Irish in Ann Arbor rather than South Bend between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

Notre Dame scored first Friday night before Michigan’s Nick Moldenhauer tied it on the power play. Garrett Schifsky set up Rutger McGroarty for the first of his two goals with a beautiful pass in front of netminder Ryan Bischel that made it 2-1. That’s how the first period ended. The Wolverines dominated play, outshooting the Fighting Irish 20-4, and won 10 of 16 face-offs.

“Our first period was great,” sophomore defenseman Seamus Casey told reporters. “… You just never want to get scored on early in the game, but when you do get scored on early, you know you’ve got 55, 50 more minutes left. It’s not that big of a deal. We know we’re going to score.”

But Notre Dame would fight back. They picked up their play and had a number of chances before finally tying it 2-2 with 7:18 remaining. Goalie Jake Barczewski, returning from injury, let one slip through his pads with 4:58 remaining, and another from a bad angle only seconds later that made it 4-2.

Schifsky turned the tide with a turnaround goal from the slot with 2:56 remaining, and the Wolverines had momentum with two ND players in the box, including one on a 5-minute major that carried over to the third period.

It didn’t take them long to get the equalizer. Eleven seconds into the period, TJ Hughes connected on a one-timer from inside the blue line that deflected off a defender. McGroarty’s second goal, a one-timer of his own from the right side, made it 5-4 at 3:04, and U-M held that advantage to the end to secure the win.

“Holding on is the big key, just getting that done,” Casey said. “Obviously, our second wasn’t what we wanted, but I think first, second, third doesn’t matter. It’s just responding to their pushes. They pushed obviously in the third, and we handled it a lot better than we did in the second, so at least we built from there and hopefully build it into tomorrow.”

Do that and the Wolverines would move on to play Michigan State or Minnesota in a semifinal, having all but clinched an NCAA Tournament berth.

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