Michigan
1-0
Arizona State
0-1
U-M Freshmen Shine in Big Season-Opening Win Over Arizona State
11/14/2020 7:06:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Saturday was Michigan's biggest season-opening win since it defeated Alabama-Huntsville, 8-1, in 2006-07
» Freshmen Kent Johnson (four assists), Owen Power (goal, two assists) and Matty Beniers (two goals) led the offensive attack.
» Strauss Mann stopped 15 of 16 shots to record his first win of the season.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Yost Ice Arena)
Score: #12 Michigan 8, #15 Arizona State 1
Records: U-M (1-0-0), ASU (0-1-0)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Nov. 15 -- vs. Arizona State (Yost Ice Arena, Mich.), 7 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Eight months after the 2019-20 college hockey season abruptly was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the No. 12-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team returned to the ice of Red Berenson Rink and defeated No. 15 Arizona State, 8-1, on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 14) at Yost Ice Arena. Making their collegiate debut for the Wolverines were six of their esteemed 10-man freshman class, which put together an 11-point game against the Sun Devils.
Displaying little rust and a lot of early cohesion, the Michigan offensive attack got to work immediately. A number of quality chances went by the wayside before U-M struck for their first goal of the season 7:55 into the game; freshman Matty Beniers recorded the tally off assists from Jack Becker and fellow freshman Kent Johnson.
Shortly thereafter, an ASU penalty brought the Michigan power play onto the ice for the first time. U-M's lead was doubled just 19 seconds into the man-advantage when Thomas Bordeleau buried his first collegiate goal with Brendan Brisson and Cam York assisting. After the Michigan penalty-kill unit ended its first minor penalty of the season, it entered the dressing room with a 2-0 lead and a 15-5 advantage in shots on goal after one period.
As play resumed for the second period, Michigan worked to make it clear that there would be no slowing down this offense. At the 2:35 mark of the middle frame, junior forward Nolan Moyle banked the puck off the goaltender's pad to finish off a dazzling shift and raise the lead to three. Dakota Raabe and Garrett Van Wyhe picked up the helpers on Moyle's goal that capped off an impressive puck-possession sequence.
Minutes later, Raabe was back on the ice protecting the puck himself when he found York at the blue line. The sophomore defenseman collected the puck before walking from the left point through the middle toward the right dot before settling in closer to the net as teammates crashed to the blue paint. Sensing a lane, York moved the puck into the crowd where Raabe got a piece before Nick Granowicz finished the job and put Michigan up, 4-0.
Later in the second period at the 14:52 mark, senior Michael Pastujov found freshman phenom Owen Power at the right point. Power took a step, surveyed the ice, and was able to make a beautiful seam pass to York. Crashing toward the crease, the Philadelphia Flyers prospect received the puck and wasted no time before ripping it five-hole for Michigan's fifth goal of the night and a 5-0 lead.
Making matters worse, ASU had picked up a penalty in the run up to York's goal. On the ensuing power play, alternate captain Nick Blankenburg recorded the team's second power-play goal after he pump faked to lose a defender before walking in and picking his spot top corner to make it 6-0. Collecting their second collegiate assists on Blankenburg's goal were Power and Johnson. After two periods, Michigan led by a comfortable six-goal margin and led 25-12 in shots.
With a new goalie in net for Arizona State to start the final period, the Maize and Blue's offensive explosion continued. After Johnson had a beautiful deflection chance turned aside off a Jack Summers point shot, Beniers was near the paint, patiently waiting to clean up the rebound and record his second goal of the game and run the Michigan lead to 7-0.
With time winding down in regulation, Michigan capitalized on one last power-play opportunity to finish the night 3-for-4 on the man-advantage. Johnson, already with three assists in tow, got the puck to Blankenburg, who made a great play to find Power backdoor. The towering defenseman shot it as quickly as he got it, ripping the puck off the back of the twine to put Michigan up by a staggering 8-0 margin.
With 2:26 remaining in the contest, Mann's shutout was spoiled when the Sun Devils recorded a power-play goal. As the scoreboard reached zeroes, the Michigan bench mobbed its goaltender to celebrate a season-opening 8-1 win, the team's biggest to kick off a campaign since the 2006-07 season when they defeated Alabama-Huntsville by the same score.
On Sunday night (Nov. 15), the Wolverines and Sun Devils will face off again at Yost Ice Arena for the finale of their season-opening series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
