Notre Dame hockey can’t hold leads in season-ending loss at Michigan in Big Ten tournament
For the second straight night at Yost Ice Arena, Notre Dame men's hockey could not hold onto a second-period lead, and this time it spelled the end of the season for the Fighting Irish hockey team.
Michigan’s Dylan Duke scored the tying goal at 11:57 of the second period and Gavin Brindley scored the game-winning goal at 3:54 of the third as No. 14 Michigan held off Notre Dame 4-3 to sweep their best-of-three Big Ten Postseason Tournament quarterfinal series.
The loss was the fifth straight for coach Jeff Jackson’s Irish, who fell to 15-19-2 for the season, Jackson’s 19th behind the bench. Notre Dame, which finished fifth during the Big Ten regular season, needed to win the tournament to earn the league’s automatic berth into the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
More:Costly penalties ruin Irish hopes for upset as No. 14 Michigan rallies for 5-4 win
Instead, coach Brandon Naurato’s Wolverines, who took the season series from Notre Dame 5-1, improved to 20-13-3 for the season and will await the outcome of today’s game between seventh-seed Ohio State and second-seed Wisconsin to see where they will play their one game semifinal.
Should the Badgers, who won 4-2 Saturday in Madison, prevail, Michigan would travel to regular-season champion Michigan State next Saturday night. If the Buckeyes win, they will go to East Lansing and Michigan will pay a visit next Sunday to Minnesota, a 3-2 winner to sweep Penn State.
Saturday night, the Irish got their usual strong effort from graduate goaltender Ryan Bischel, the reigning Big Ten goaltender of the year and an All-American last season. Bischel finished with 31 saves, 26 in the first two periods, as Michigan outshot Notre Dame 36-28. His counterpart for Michigan, Jake Barczewski, had 25 saves.
Notre Dame, which saw a 4-2 second-period lead Friday night evaporate into a 5-4 loss because of two Michigan power-play goals after Irish penalties late in the second period, took a 1-0 lead Saturday at 8:05 of the first period when senior defenseman Drew Bavaro scored his third goal of the weekend and 10thof the season with an assist from Patrick Moynihan.
But Michigan struck back with a pair of goals by T.J. Hughes, the first at 12:09 on a power play. Hughes’ second goal came at 19:51 and was challenged by Jackson but was held up.
In the second period, though, Irish captain Landon Slaggert scored his 20th goal of the season at 7:01 when set up by Moynihan and defenseman Ryan Siedem on a power play. Then at 9:27, Moynihan scored his 10th of the season to make it 3-2 with Slaggert and Siedem getting assists.
But Duke tied it at 11:57 with his 21st goal of the season before Brindley’s 23rd of the season at 3:54 of the third period put the dagger into Notre Dame’s 2023-24 season.
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