Michigan hockey upset in Frozen Four for 2nd straight year, falling 5-2 to Quinnipiac

TAMPA, Fla. — If only Michigan hockey goalie Erik Portillo had eyes in the back of his head.

Perhaps, then, the Wolverines would be playing for a national championship on Saturday.

But he does not, and alas, they will not.

No. 1 seed U-M (the No. 3 overall seed) fell to fellow No. 1 (and No. 2 overall) seed Quinnipiac, 5-2, in the Frozen Four semifinals Thursday. The Bobcats scored both the game’s first goal and the eventual winning goal from behind the Michigan net, off of Portillo’s back.

But that's not what newly elevated head coach Brandon Naurato will remember most.

"The bond the players had and what they fought for," said Naurato, who started the season as the interim coach in place of fired Mel Pearson before being hired full-time this week. "Michigan is in a better place going forward because of the stamp that (senior) class has left on it, so all these guys coming back know the expectations, more off the ice than anything."

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: Michigan looks to go a cut above at 2023 Frozen Four vs. Quinnipiac

THE SEASON: How Michigan hockey went through hell and back to return to Frozen Four

The Wolverines fell behind just more than five minutes into the game, but tied it up less than two minutes later on a tremendous play by freshman defenseman Seamus Casey. They fell behind for a second time later in the first period before Hobey Baker Award finalist Adam Fantilli tied it up midway through the second.

However, when Sam Lipkin flipped the game-deciding backhand shot off Portillo's back with 18:24 to play in the third period — "Just a bad bounce," Naurato said —the Wolverines could not muster another comeback.

Then, with seven minutes left, U-M failed an attempt to clear the puck, and Quinnipiac appeared to throw a harmless puck on net — it ended in a Zach Metsa goal to make it 4-2, a nearly insurmountable lead with the Bobcats' suffocating style of play. U-M outshot Quinnipiac, 31-28, but the ninth-ranked power play in the nation went 0-for-3.

An empty-netter with 1:45 made it all but official: Quinnipiac was headed to the school's third national title game, while, for the seventh time in U-M's past eight Frozen Four appearances, the Wolverines would be headed back to Ann Arbor. Quinnipiac will face Big Ten regular-season champ Minnesota, a 6-2 winner over Boston University in Thursday’s first semifinal game, at 8 p.m. Saturday.

"Take a look around, it's obviously pretty grim in here," said Adam Fantilli, U'M's freshman star and one of three Hobey Baker Award finalists who will learn the winner Friday evening, when asked about the team's emotions after the loss. "But I couldn't be more grateful to play here."

Fast and furious to start

Neither team registered a shot for the first three minutes of the game, until U-M defenseman Ethan Edwards was whistled for holding to set up Quinnipiac’s first man advantage at 3:05. The Bobcats managed two decent looks on the power play, but neither made it on net, and it appeared as if the Wolverines were going to pull off their first penalty kill.

But U-M never got a stoppage in play. After a blocker save from Portillo, the puck ricocheted behind the net to Quinnipiac’s Jacob Quillan, who fired it off Portillo’s back and into the net for the 1-0 lead.

"I thought Quinnipiac culture was on full display tonight," said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. "I loved our chances we created offensively. ... I thought our conditioning was awesome tonight, battle level was awesome."

The Wolverines, who hadn’t registered a shot to that point, responded 91 seconds later as Casey took matters into his own hands.

The defenseman carried the puck across the blue line, dangled a trio of Bobcats defenders and deked sophomore Yaniv Perets, one of the nation's top goaltenders, then slid the tying goal past Perets' outstretched left pad 6:49 into the period.

From there, the Bobcats controlled the tempo much of the rest of the period. U-M got caught in a line change with 8:55 to play, but Portillo made a nice glove save on a Jake Johnson wrist shot to keep the game tied.

Temporarily.

Just 16 seconds later, Lipkin fired a backhand pass to Quillian on a breakaway; the sophomore, who had 18 goals entering Thursday, buried his second goal of the game to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead.

Less than a minute later, Quinnipiac had a two-on-none breakaway, but Portillo made a sprawling kick save to keep U-M in it.

Michigan's first attempt at a power play came after Michael Lombardi was whistled for tripping at 15:26. Luke Hughes nearly hammered one in 20 seconds into the advantage. Mackie Samoskevich fired a shot wide from close range soon after, but, despite five chances, U-M was turned away.

What couldn't the offensively talented Wolverines score on the defensively minded Bobcats?

"A lot of reasons," Fantilli said. "Turnovers, how much we were giving up a lot of odd-man rushes, but I think quite a bit of it could've been self-induced. We knew it was coming, we knew what to do, but whether it jumped over our stick or we didn't get the assignment done, we missed it."

Fantastic Fantilli ties it

Each team had a man advantage in the second period, but neither capitalized.

About three minutes after the Wolverines killed off T.J. Hughes' penalty for holding, Fantilli had his first scoring chance, but his wrister bounced off the cross bar.

The Wolverines continued to create chances — they had 12 shots in the second period after mustering only eight in the first — and finally broke through when Fantilli beat Perets on the glove side with 9:45 remaining before the second intermission.

While U-M controlled most of the period, Quinnipiac had its chances as well and none were better than when Collin Graf had a breakaway that Portillo stoned with just less than eight minutes to play in the period.

Michigan had another man advantage after Jacob Nordqvist was sent off for tripping with 2:35 to go in the period. U-M appeared to have tied it when Rutger McGroarty got a Fantilli rebound at point-blank range in front of the net, but his shot was denied.

Can't close it out

But Quinnipiac was too much in the third, starting with a routine save by Portillo on a Lipkin wrist shot.

Again, the puck bounded behind the net and Portillo took an extra beat to get back to his post. It was a moment too long and before he knew it, the red light was on above him.

"I mean it's the playoffs, that's how goals are scored," sophomore Dylan Duke said. "Watch the NHL every year, you see goals like that in the playoffs. There's crazy goals in the playoffs for sure, it's kind of something you almost expect to see. ... But yeah, it's a tough time to let up the goal in general, no matter how it went in."

The nation’s leading offense (at 4.22 goals a game) had one last major chance, when Michigan received a power play on Christophe Fillian's trip with 14:08 to play. Midway through the advantage, Eric Ciccolini flipped a shot from the slot that got passed Perets’ glove. But it too clanged off the crossbar and out.

Portillo made two diving saves with eight minutes to play to keep U-M in it temporarily, but the Bobcats poured it on late and added an empty-netter with 1:45 to play.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan hockey upset by Quinnipiac, 5-2, in Frozen Four semifinal