ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The 2023-24 Irish hockey season came to a close Saturday night when they fell to the Michigan Wolverines, 4-3, on the road. The visitors battled through to the final horn but their late push came up just short as they concluded their run.
The Irish were flagged with the first infraction of the night when aa collision at the blueline tripped up a Wolverine skater just 2:09 into play. On the kill, the Irish defense buckled down and held the Wolverine special teams unit without a shot on goal to successfully kill off the penalty.
Drew Bavaro got the scoring started Saturday night with a shot off the draw to take the 1-0 lead with 11:55 to play in the opening period.
Michigan answered with a goal of their own after a controversial call in the neutral zone sent an Irish skater to the box for two minutes. The Irish challenged the goal for a high stick but were unsuccessful and lost their timeout.
Shortly after the Michigan goal, a hit along the boards left a Wolverine skater down. After no penalty was initially assessed, a lengthy review led to a key Irish penalty killer handed a five-minute major.
A few massive saves by the graduate netminder in the Notre Dame crease led to a successful penalty kill and the Irish returned to full strength.
Michigan scored once more late in the period to take the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Despite a lengthy review after a Notre Dame challenge, the Irish were charged with a delay of game penalty and the goal stood. The Wolverines would take the lead into the first intermission as the Irish trailed 2-1.
The Irish killed off the remainder of their penalty to start the second period, including a shorthanded wraparound chance by Justin Janicke that was stifled. Michigan was then called for their first infraction of the night, boarding, at 2:55 of the second but the Irish could not convert and the score held firm at 2-1.
A hit along the offensive halfwall left an Irish skater slow to get up. In a sea of chants by the Michigan student section as he laid on the ice, the Wolverines were called for a penalty and the Notre Dame powerplay unit returned to the ice.
The Irish took advantage of the man-up opportunity with a goal from Landon Slaggert to knot the game up 2-2. That line kept the momentum going with a rebound from Patrick Moynihan at 9:27 of the middle frame to take the 3-2 lead.
Michigan scored less than three minutes later after a scramble in front of the net tied it up 3-3 with 8:03 to play in the frame.
A huge collision near the Irish blueline stopped play momentarily with a Wolverine player getting helped off the ice. After a lengthy review it was deemed there was no penalty on the play and the teams remained at full strength.
The physical period continued through the waning seconds of the middle stanza as the two teams faced a deadlocked game going into the third period.
It took the Wolverines 3:54 of the third period to score the go-ahead goal, drawing Bischel out of the crease for a backdoor shot into the open net.
Brennan Ali found himself on a breakaway shortly after the Michigan goal but was tripped up as he went to get a shot off and Michigan was penalized and sent to the box. The Irish failed to convert on the man-advantage halfway through the period and continued the hunt for their game-tying tally.
With the Irish willing the puck to stay onside during an offensive spurt, swatted at the puck and a Michigan player fell down with under nine minutes to play in regulation. The visitors were called for tripping and the penalty kill unit returned to the ice while trailing by one.
Notre Dame was able to kill of the infraction and continued their fight through the closing minutes of the third period.
The Irish opted for the extra skater with just over two minutes to play in the final frame and nearly had the equalizer on a series of chances in the final seconds but the horn sounded on their season as they fell to the Wolverines in the best-of-three series in Ann Arbor.
GOALS
- Cole Knuble lined up for the offensive zone draw, winning the face-off battle and getting the puck back to Drew Bavaro with the help of Patrick Moynihan as the Irish took the 1-0 lead at 8:05 of the first period.
- Landon Slaggert knocked in a loose puck at the goal line to tie things up Saturday night. The powerplay goal was his team-leading 20th of the season and 30th point. Moynihan and Ryan Siedem each tallied assists on the goal.
- The Irish regained the lead at 9:27 of the second stanza with a rebound shot from Moynihan to make it 3-2. Siedem and Slaggert created an odd-man rush up ice with Slaggert’s initial shot hitting the pads of Barzewski in net and bouncing onto the stick of Moynihan who wasted no time on the release to score his second of the weekend.
KEY STATS
- The Irish blocked 16 shots in the contest Saturday night, led by senior captain Landon Slaggert, Ryan Siedem and Jake Boltmann.
- With his goal in the second period to tie things up, Slaggert scored his 20th of the season and finished the season with 31 points (20-11-31).
- Patrick Moynihan’s goal and two assists led the team Saturday night as he finished the series with five points (2-3-5).
- Drew Bavaro’s goal to open the scoring was his third tally of the weekend, having scored twice the night prior and finished with a four-point weekend and 20 points on the year.
- After being heavily outshot in the first period, the Irish came back strong in the final two periods, including outshooting the Wolverines 10-6 in the final frame.
- The Irish finish the season with a 15-19-2 record.