B1G Semis: Fifth Time’s the Charm
Michigan beats Notre Dame for the first time in five tries, advances to the B1G Title Game
With 1.7 seconds to play, Michigan iced the puck, but it didn’t matter. The stoppage afforded only enough time to allow a packed Yost Ice Arena to roar a bit louder as it awaited confirmation of the Wolverines’ victory.
On the bench, Wolverines exchanged hugs and high fives. On the ice, there was one last brief scramble for the puck before doing the same. From the crowd, the din intensified.
It was a frigid Saturday night in Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan men’s hockey team had beaten Notre Dame for the first time in five tries this season, by a score of 2 to 1. The victory propelled Michigan to its first Big Ten title game appearance since 2016.
Tonight’s victory was about more than a spot in the conference title game for the Wolverines though; Michigan offered its supporters proof of concept of a style of hockey it hadn’t shown before. The Wolverines themselves made those stakes clear through their jubilation in the post-game dog pile around Portillo.
Against a foe that had vexed the high-flying Wolverines by clogging the neutral zone, Michigan demonstrated the ability to control the game with its dynamic and expansive passing game.
A 2-1 scoreline might not suggest a wide-open offensive affair, and the game was by no means the Wolverines’ finest offensive performance of the season. However, the 31-20 Michigan advantage in shots reinforces a central difference between this Michigan-Notre Dame game and the four preceding it this season: With the exception of the mid-to-late stages of the second, Michigan controlled the neutral zone.
Unlike in all their previous matchups with the Irish, the Wolverines found consistent pathways through neutral ice, relying on a combination of aggressive vertical puck carrying and shifty horizontal passing.
The Wolverines did not use this neutral zone advantage to attack off the rush, instead generating more offense off the cycle than we have grown accustomed to seeing from them in recent weeks.
By taking fewer chances in transition, Michigan left fewer opportunities for the Irish, and when it did have to defend for longer stretches in the second period, it looked to close down space with greater intensity than has been its habit.
It was a strong first period for Michigan, taking control of the game’s tempo on the strength of four effective lines. The top unit, loaded up with all three Olympic forwards, was most dangerous, but all four lines had dominating shifts at different stages of the frame.
For the Wolverines, the best opportunity came on a 5-on-3 late in the period. However, despite good puck movement, Michigan could do no better than a Brendan Brisson one-timer off the crossbar.
Michigan opened the scoring early in the second, when Kent Johnson took control of the puck with pace through the neutral zone, before dropping a deft pass inside for Matty Beniers. Beniers played a glorious give-and-go with Brisson to set up a wide-open Beniers one-timer.
The Wolverines are a picky team in their shot selection, often preferring to risk an extra pass than force a shot through traffic, and tonight that tendency appeared even more pronounced than usual. Brisson, the team’s preeminent sniper, passing on an odd-man rush to set up an empty net for Beniers encapsulates that attitude, and, despite the shouts of protestations from various older men among the Yost crowd, that mindset was rewarded. Michigan led 1-0.
For the remainder of the period, Notre Dame offered its firmest push, putting the Wolverines back on their heels and generating extended zone time. It was a marked contrast from a first period in which the Irish only seemed to possess the puck long enough to dump and change.
During that stretch, the Irish could easily have scored more than the one they did manage were it not for the efforts of Erik Portillo in the crease. On multiple occasions, Portillo warded off what appeared sure goals with an impressive combination of flexibility and strength in his legs.
The fact remains that the 2021-22 Wolverines are not built to defend, but Michigan was stouter in its own end, tighter in coverage than it has shown at any point this season.
Nonetheless, Jack Adams did manage to sneak a puck through Portillo on a redirect from an unusual angle to level the score before the second intermission.
Before the third period was four minutes old, Michigan retook the lead through Brisson. Jacob Truscott extended a stay in the offensive zone by activating below the goal line. Truscott worked the puck to Beniers, who offered Brisson a pass that invited the Californian winger to descend upon Irish goaltender Matt Galajda. This time, Brisson had eyes only for a shot and made no mistake beating Galajda.
In our midweek roundup, we suggested that Brisson’s decisiveness as a scorer would be vital in a game likely to be decided by a thin margin. Unlike last weekend, Mel Pearson decided to use that loaded top line of Johnson, Beniers, and Brisson, only accentuating the pressure on the three of them to produce.
In the two previous Notre Dame series, that trio mostly skated together but, like the rest of the team, struggled to dent the Irish’s defensive armor. In accounting for both goals tonight, the Olympic line made sure no one could question their performance this evening.
Following Brisson’s go-ahead marker, the Irish never mounted a credible comeback bid. Even in the game’s dwindling stages, Michigan managed to continue to direct traffic toward Galajda, and the Irish’s empty-net push fell just as flat.
Michigan had sealed its trip to the Big Ten Championship game, yet despite that carrot, it still felt as though the outcome was less important than the process of beating the Irish.
If Notre Dame had managed to win its fifth straight over the Maize and Blue, it would feel difficult for Michigan to enter the NCAA Tournament with much confidence. Sure, the Wolverines could rationalize that it was just one opponent giving them fits, but the Irish’s hypothetical superiority would make it difficult to feel as though the offensive flair Michigan has shown elsewhere in the season would find a meaningful place in the postseason.
Instead, regardless of next weekend’s outcome, Michigan fans can take satisfaction and comfort going into NCAAs based on the game their team played Saturday night. If it resembled any previous performances, it would have to be the sweep of UMass-Amherst that opened 2022. That weekend too Michigan managed to use its aggressive neutral zone play to sustain pressure off the cycle, limiting transition opportunities for the opposition along the way.
Per friend of the newsletter Drew Van Drese, it was Michigan’s first win of the season when the team scored two or fewer goals on its tenth such game.
Postseason runs test a team’s ability to win in a variety of ways. No team manages to play the exact game they hoped every night. For Michigan, demonstrating that it can control games and win without lighting up the scoreboard for a crooked number is an excellent sign.
After the Gophers pulled out a 3-2 victory over Penn State on the strength of a late Sammy Walker tally, Michigan will travel to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota for the Big Ten playoff crown. Incidentally, what happened in Michigan’s one previous trip to the B1G Championship Game? Funny you should ask, a 5-3 win over Minnesota.
Whatever next weekend brings, there can be no more doubt. These Michigan Wolverines are no regular season wonder; they are a postseason force to be reckoned with, having laid down a blue print for success against one of college hockey’s stingiest teams.
Odds and Ends
Discipline
For a team that’s shown more than a moderate proclivity for taking penalties this season, Michigan showed impressive discipline against the Irish, albeit in a game in which the officials appeared quite willing to swallow their whistles. Matty Beniers received the lone penalty against, and that came on a dubious embellishment call that seemed more about the officials not wanting to give the Wolverines three-straight power plays than any actual infraction.
Like the team’s sound defensive effort, Michigan’s (almost) penalty-free performance would be a welcome trend to continue as the postseason progresses.
Fourth Line Flowers
Though the top line did all the scoring, we would be remiss not to send plaudits toward Michigan’s fourth line for the yeoman’s work it did Saturday night. Garrett Van Whye, Jimmy Lambert, and Nolan Moyle may not have scored Saturday night and did not play huge minutes, but they seemed to spend the entirety of the ice time they did see in the Notre Dame zone.
While the talent farther up the lineup did more to menace Galajda, the fourth line made life miserable for the Irish. Moyle was a physical force, challenging the Irish with his relentless puck pursuit. Van Whye and Lambert showed their usual guile, the former with his uncanny ability to lower his shoulder and burrow past an opponent to maintain possession and the latter with his combination of grit and skill.
Once again, this kind of fourth line performance ought to instill confidence in Michigan fans as they mull their team’s postseason viability.