Michigan hockey hammers Ohio State, 7-3, at home to return to Big Ten tournament final
The last time Michigan hockey and Ohio State met on the ice, outdoors in Cleveland in mid-February, the Wolverines struggled to find the net, not scoring until Gavin Brindley beat OSU goalie Jakub Dobes with less than two minutes left in the second period.
On Saturday night, warmly ensconced at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Brindley didn’t wait nearly as long: 23 seconds in, the freshman took a pass back from a driving Adam Fantilli (a fellow freshman) and fired his shot from near the top of the right circle past Dobes. Goal, and the Wolverines were off and running to their second consecutive Big Ten tournament final with a 7-3 victory over the Buckeyes.
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Michigan will face Saturday’s late winner between top-seeded Minnesota and fifth-seeded Michigan State (playing in its first Big Ten tourney semifinal), who dropped the puck Saturday night in Minneapolis. If the Golden Gophers won, the Big Ten title game also will be played in Minneapolis; a Spartans win would give Michigan hosting duties vs. their rivals on March 18 with an NCAA auto-bid on the line. The Wolverines defeated the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis last season for the Big Ten title before advancing to the Frozen Four in the NCAA tournament.
Saturday’s semifinal in Ann Arbor looked like it was destined to be a back-and-forth fight a little over three minutes after Brindley’s goal, as OSU appeared to knot it at 1-all. But interim coach Brandon Naurato challenged the goal and it was waved off. A minute later, freshman Seamus Casey made it 2-0 with a soft wrist shot from the right circle that slipped past Dobes. The Wolverines added to the lead with a score by Mackie Samoskevich, who redirected a shot by Keaton Pehrson from the right circle into the net from Dobes’ left side.
OSU coach Steve Rohlik attempted a coach’s challenge, hoping to stem the momentum, but to no avail: 3-0, Wolverines. Meanwhile, Michigan goalie Erik Portillo, who had shaky moments in Michigan’s first-round sweep of Wisconsin but was still the Most Outstanding Player in last year’s Big Ten tournament, stopped everything the Buckeyes threw at him, with 11 saves in the first period.
OSU finally broke through with a power play goal by Jake Wise nearly 12 minutes into the second period, threatening to make it a game again. But star freshman Adam Fantilli, working off a helper from fellow freshman Rutger McGroarty, sniped a shot past Dobes to increase his nation-leading point total to 60 in 32 games five minutes later. (He later added an empty-net goal and assisted on another empty-netter, by Rutger McGroarty, to finish with four points Saturday, and seven goals in the tournament — already a conference record.)
Ohio State made it a two-goal game again early in the third as Travis Treloar scored 1:32 in the third on the power play. But the Wolverines needed less than five minutes to get the lead back to three as Jackson Hallum took the puck off freshman Frank Nazar III’s faceoff win and launched it past Dobes.
OSU added a goal with 4:26 remaining as Cam Theising scored with the extra attacker as Dobes sat on the bench, but couldn't capitalize again with the empty-net extra man.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan hockey hammers OSU, 7-3, to return to Big Ten tournament final
