Michigan
2-2-0
UMass
2-1-0
Michigan Splits Series at Massachusetts After Saturday Setback
10/14/2023 10:58:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Garrett Schifsky scored his third goal off of an assist from his classmate, Nick Moldenhauer.
» Rutger McGroarty's point streak reached 12 games with a last-minute assist.
» Michigan and UMass combined for 14 penalties with each side scoring two power-play goals.
AMHERST, Mass. -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team fell to the Massachusetts by a 6-3 score on Saturday night (Oct. 14) at Mullins Center to settle for a split in the two-game, non-conference series.
Goaltender Jake Barczewski manned the Michigan crease for the third straight game after backstopping the Wolverines to a pair of wins over Hockey East competition in his previous two outings. The netminder was fantastic at times to stymie the Minutemen throughout the night, but ceded four goals while making 25 saves.
UMass (2-1-0) was granted an early power play for the second straight night when U-M (2-2-0) was whistled for holding at 2:37. The Minutemen attempted to get on the board early, but failed to register a goal before play returned to 5-on-5.
Just under eight minutes into the contest, Barczewski stretched out to make one of his biggest saves of the weekend to deny a Minuteman and keep the game scoreless.
Nearing the midpoint of the opening period, Michigan had ramped up the offensive pressure to draw a penalty and begin its first power play of the night at 9:56. At 11:11, the Wolverines went a man down after an interference call created 45 seconds of 4-on-4 play. Once the Minutemen began their second power play of the night, Michigan's penalty killers tightened up to dismiss the UMass advantage.
Michigan's second power play was initiated with 5:06 left when a U-M defenseman had his stick chopped up into the air. As soon as the advantage expired, the Wolverines were whistled for too many skaters on the ice to give UMass a third first-period power play. Just before the power play was killed off, Garrett Schifsky poked the puck away from a Minuteman working the blue line to create a shorthanded breakaway for himself. The chance was pushed aside, but Massachusetts dropped to 0-for-3 with the extra skater.
After the buzzer rang for the first intermission, a tripping call handed UMass its fourth power play.
Neither team scored in the first period, but Michigan owned a narrow 4-3 lead in shots on goal.
Michigan's penalty-kill unit began the second period by denying the fourth UMass power-play attempt. Fresh out of the box, Gavin Brindley drew a penalty to earn a power play for U-M at 2:37.
With just one second left on the man-advantage, Frank Nazar III ripped a low shot on goal that bounced through traffic to open the scoring at 4:36. Nazar's third tally of the season was assisted by Jacob Truscott and Jackson Hallum from the back end. The goal marked the fourth time in as many games that Michigan scored first.
The Wolverines continued to apply pressure while looking to build upon Nazar's tally. UMass failed to clear their zone when Truscott stood firm at the left point to deny a weak dump off the boards. The captain fed a quick pass to Nick Moldenhauer skating through the center of the zone to keep an offensive-zone possession alive. The freshman put a shot on goal that settled in the blue paint, where Schifsky was waiting to finish off the play and put Michigan ahead 2-0. Moldenhauer picked up his first career point with the primary assist while Truscott locked up his second multi-point game of the year as Schifsky potted his third tally of the weekend.
At 9:09, a Steven Holtz cross-check in front of the net following a prolonged battle for real estate with a Minuteman forward led UMass to challenge the play after he had entered the box. Upon review, it was upgraded to a major penalty and game misconduct.
For the fifth time, Michigan's penalty killers came through for the Wolverines to keep the score 2-0.
The penalties continued with 5:27 remaining in the second period when UMass was called for slashing to disrupt a grade-A scoring chance for Michigan. The home team killed off the penalty to drop Michigan to 1-for-4 with the extra skater.
Back at even-strength, Barczewski was called upon once again to keep the Minutemen off the scoreboard by denying a breakaway that a UMass forward manufactured fresh out of the box.
Through two periods, Michigan had carved out a 2-0 lead despite trailing 20-13 in shots on goal. On the power play, U-M was 1-for-4 after 40 minutes while UMass was 0-for-5.
The Wolverines were once again penalized for holding at 2:12 of the third period to give UMass its sixth power play of the contest. Barczewski made a phenomenal initial stop to keep the puck out of the net while sprawled out on the ice, but a Minuteman defender crashed the blue paint to chip the puck across the goal line and make it 2-1 at 3:28.
Less than a minute later, a strong netfront screen blocked Barczewski's line of vision and allowed the home team to thread a goal from above the circles to tie the game at two goals apiece at 4:24.
Another Wolerines trip to the box came at 5:50 for cross-checking to give UMass a seventh power play, but the Wolverines dismissed the chance to return to even-strength with 12:10 left in regulation.
The special teams teeter-totter sprung back toward the Wolverines when a Minuteman was sent off at 9:53. Before the power play started, the officials ruled that a previous shot had crossed the goal line for UMass at 6:04. The clock was wound back, the home team went up 3-2 based on the power-play goal that had been missed on the ice, and U-M proceeded with its power play. Michigan subsequently dropped to 1-for-5 with the extra skater when UMass killed off the chance.
UMass scored its fourth goal to pull ahead by two at 13:14 when a third skater into the zone finished off an odd-man rush by picking the top corner from the slot. The Minutemen added a pair of empty-net goals with under four minutes left to make it 6-2.
Michigan pulled its netminder once more when UMass took a major penalty for charging Barczewski with 1:39 left to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. With the two extra skaters on the ice, T.J. Hughes scored an inconsequential power-play goal at 19:02 off of assists from Seamus Casey and Rutger McGroarty that made it a 6-3 game.
Next week, the Wolverines will commence conference play when Ohio State visits Yost Ice Arena for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 20-21). Puck drop for Friday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
