GameCenter final: Michigan 4, UND 3
Mar. 29—MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Michigan scored three times in the third period to rally from a 2-1 deficit and beat UND 4-3 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
First period: Dylan Duke, Michigan, 2 goals.
Second period: T.J. Hughes, Michigan, 1 goal, 2 points.
Third star: Keaton Pehrson, UND, 2 assists.
UND 1, Michigan 0 — Hunter Johannes 12 (Abram Wiebe) 4:46. UND takes the early lead on a four-on-four and it's former Lindenwood player Hunter Johannes scoring in his old home. Johannes carries the puck in the zone, leaves it for Abram Wiebe, then drives the center of the ice. Wiebe gives it back to Johannes, who snipes his 12th goal of the season. He has seven points in five games in Centene Community Ice Center going back to last season.
UND 1, Michigan 1 — Frank Nazar III 17 (Mark Estapa, Steven Holtz) 1:37. UND continues to struggle in the faceoff dot and this time it burns the Fighting Hawks. After Michigan wins one, Holtz flips a backhand from the point to the slot area, where it deflects off of Estapa to Nazar, who is sitting wide open back door and has a tap-in.
UND 2, Michigan 1 — Jackson Blake 22 (Keaton Pehrson, Owen McLaughlin) 8:18. McLaughlin has the puck along the wall and flips it back to Pehrson at the point. Pehrson settles it down and fires a shot toward the slot, where Blake re-directs it past Michigan goalie Jake Barczewski for his 22nd of the season. Pehrson gets a point against his old squad.
UND 2, Michigan 2 — Garrett Schifsky 17 (Dylan Duke) :50. Michigan ties it up on a bad misplay by UND goalie Ludvig Persson. A puck is trickling toward Persson, but instead of covering it, he tries to send it to the wall with players bearing down. He puts it off his own defenseman, Keaton Pehrson, and it goes in the net.
Michigan 3, UND 2 — T.J. Hughes 19 (Tyler Duke, Garrett Schifsky) 2:23. Michigan tacks on a second goal in the span of 1:33 when Hughes puts away a rebound of a Tyler Duke shot.
Michigan 4, UND 2 — Dylan Duke 23 (T.J. Hughes, Garrett Schifsky) 11:56. Michigan enters the zone on a three-on-two rush and perfectly executes a passing player. Schifsky gives it to Hughes in the left circle and Hughes sends a backhand pass to Duke for the goal.
Michigan 4, UND 3 — Jackson Kunz 9 (Keaton Pehrson) 14:32. Pehrson circled the offensive zone and launched a shot that rebounded out to Kunz in the right circle. Kunz picked up the pick and sniped the corner of the net to pull UND within a goal.
Forwards
26 Dylan James—27 Louis Jamernik V—17 Riese Gaber
29 Jackson Kunz—22 Owen McLaughlin—9 Jackson Blake
28 Hunter Johannes—14 Cameron Berg—18 Jayden Perron
13 Carson Albrecht—8 Jake Schmaltz—21 Ben Strinden
11 Griffin Ness
Defensemen
4 Jake Livanavage—2 Bennett Zmolek
6 Logan Britt—25 Abram Wiebe
15 Nate Benoit—20 Keaton Pehrson
Goaltenders
32 Ludvig Persson
30 Hobie Hedquist
1 Kaleb Johnson
Not in lineup: D Garrett Pyke (upper body), F Dane Montgomery, D Tanner Komzak
Forwards
2 Rutger McGroarty—4 Gavin Brindley—17 Garrett Schifsky
94 Mark Estapa—91 Frank Nazar III—6 Josh Eernisse
25 Dylan Duke—13 T.J. Hughes—9 Nick Moldenhauer
23 Chase Pletzke—33 Kienan Draper—22 Philippe Lapointe
Defensemen
15 Jacob Truscott—26 Seamus Casey
73 Ethan Edwards—77 Marshall Warren
5 Tyler Duke—63 Luca Fantilli
24 Steven Holtz
Goaltenders
30 Jake Barczewski
31 Noah West
Not in lineup: F Jackson Hallum (knee), F Tanner Rowe, D Brendan Miles, D Josh Orrico, G Andrew Albano
Referees — Ryan Sweeney and Brendan Blanchard
Linesmen — Brendan Lewis and Joe Sherman
For the third time in its last four trips to the NCAA regional, UND will play without its No. 1 defenseman because of an injury suffered in the NCHC playoffs. Garrett Pyke is out with an upper-body injury. Nate Benoit will take his spot. . . UND also is juggling three of its four lines, keeping just the Jackson Kunz, Owen McLaughlin and Jackson Blake unit together. . . Michigan is making a few changes since the Big Ten championship game, flipping Mark Estapa and Dylan Duke spots and moving Gavin Brindley to center and Garrett Schifsky to wing. . . Chase Pletzke also is coming back in for Michigan in place of Tanner Rowe.
