Michigan
18-9-1, 10-8-0
Wisconsin
10-18-0, 3-15-0
Ciccolini's First Multi-Goal Game Helps Michigan to Sweep of Wisconsin
2/4/2023 11:22:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Eric Ciccolini scored two goals in his first-career multi-goal game.
» TJ Hughes recorded his the first four-point game of his career with one goal and three assists.
» The contest featured a combined 18 penalties assessed for a total of 66 minutes.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Eric Ciccolini scored twice and T.J. Hughes had four points to lead the sixth-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team to a conference win and two-game weekend sweep over Wisconsin in a 7-4 decision on Saturday (Feb. 4) in front of yet another sold-out crowd inside Yost Ice Arena. The six-point weekend moves Michigan into a second-place tie in the Big Ten standings.
Junior goaltender Erik Portillo manned the crease for the Wolverines, stopping 27 of 31 Wisconsin shots faced and improving his record to 17-8 on the season.
Dylan Duke opened up the scoring off a tic-tac-toe passing play and put Michigan (18-9-1, 10-8-0) on the board first for the second night in a row. Mackie Samoskevich toe dragged through a pair of defenders into space near the top of the offensive zone before finding T.J. Hughes down in the bottom of the left circle across the ice. Hughes sent a quick feed across the crease to Duke, who was waiting backdoor to finish off the chance and give U-M a 1-0 lead at 1:37.
The lead was doubled at 3:27 after Wisconsin turned over the puck in its zone. Nick Granowicz scooped the loose puck near the goal line before popping a pass out to Jackson Hallum in the slot. Hallum sent a shot off the pad which created a rebound that linemate Ciccolini was in perfect position to bury and U-M went ahead 2-0.
On Michigan's first power-play opportunity, Ciccolini secured the first multi-goal game of his career by finishing off another rebound and making it 3-0 after Hughes threw a hard shot off the pad. Ethan Edwards earned the secondary assist for his work to quarterback the unit at the point and convert on the man-advantage with one second to spare.
Wisconsin (10-18-0, 3-15-0) scored to make it 3-1 with 10:15 left in the first period.
Just over three minutes later, a pair of freshman forwards combined to extend their lengthy point streaks and put Michigan ahead 4-1. A Gavin Brindley goal extended his streak to seven games while the nation's leading scorer, Adam Fantilli, assisted on his tally for a point in his eighth straight contest. Portillo earned the secondary assist on Brindley's goal with 7:13 left in the period -- his sixth career point.
While playing 4x4, Hughes buried a second-effort to make the score 5-1 in Michigan's favor. Samoskevich picked up the lone assist on Hughe's 10th goal of the season.
Another Badger minor penalty helped continue to offset the five-minute major that had been assessed to Philippe Lapointe. Wisconsin scored a shorthanded goal with a shot to the top corner that made it 5-2 with 4:04 left in the first period.
Wisconsin appeared to score a third goal with under two minutes remaining, but the marker was taken off the board after Michigan challenged the play for a cross-check to the head of Edwards and was successful.
Michigan struck on the power play for the second time at 2:04 of the second stanza to bump the lead to 6-2. Edwards created a shooting lane from the point and fired a long-range shot that snapped off the back of the twine for his fourth goal of the season. Hughes and Hallum collected assists on the long-distance strike.
Wisconsin scored its third goal at 7:16 of the third period to make it 7-3.
With 7:31 left to play, Edwards was whistled for interference after taking his man out of the play following a dump-in. The Wisconsin power-play unit took to the ice and seven seconds later, the Badgers cashed in with the extra skater to make it 7-4.
In the win, Fantilli (eight games) and Brindley (seven games) each extended long point streaks.Â
Next week, Michigan will battle Michigan State in an in-state rivalry weekend. Friday night's (Feb. 10) game will be held in East Lansing at 7 p.m. with action shown on Bally Sports Detroit +. Saturday (Feb. 11) marks the annual "Duel in the D" game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich., with the game broadcast on ESPNU and puck drop set for 8 p.m.
