Michigan
18-4-0, 9-3-0
Notre Dame
4-15-1, 0-10-0
Michigan Secures Season Sweep Over Notre Dame in Penalty-Ridden Affair
1/10/2026 10:59:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Garrett Schifsky and Aidan Park had matching two-goal, three-point performances.
» Stephen Peck entered in the second period for his first NCAA action, earning the win in relief.
» With the sweep, Michigan has now won 12 of the past 13 meetings with Notre Dame.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Adversity struck the No. 1-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team on Saturday evening (Jan. 10), as the Wolverines battled through injuries to key contributors to knock off Notre Dame by a 7-4 margin in a chaotic, penalty-filled game at Yost Ice Arena.
Freshman Jack Ivankovic, the NCAA's leader in wins, earned the start in net once again for the Wolverines in search of the weekend sweep. The freshman was stout, making 12 saves on 13 shots faced before exiting the game following a collision with an opposing skater. Stephen Peck entered in relief and made 18 saves while conceding three goals to earn his first collegiate win.
Michigan (18-4-0, 9-3-0 Big Ten) started strong when freshman forward Aidan Park opened the scoring 2:26 into the contest by driving hard to the net to finish off a rebound. His classmate, defenseman Asher Barnett, kicked off the rush by digging a puck out from behind the U-M net before moving it to Garrett Schifsky to carry down the ice and bring it to the goalie's doorstep. Park timed the play perfectly to arrive at the blue paint just after the initial save was made, putting him in position to finish off Schifsky's attempt.
UND (4-15-1, 0-10-0 Big Ten) evened it up at 1-1 when a one-timer worked its way through traffic at 7:19. The Irish created the chance by winning a puck battle deep in Michigan's end before finding a trailer as he entered the play to smash home an equalizer.
Michigan's depth forwards continued to showcase their abilities as the period wore on and play opened up. Park struck paydirt for a second time at 16:39 with another hard-nosed effort to secure his first collegiate multi-goal game and put the Wolverines back in front, 2-1. Senior pivot Kienan Draper collected the lone assist on Park's marker for carrying the puck into the zone before finding Park with room to create.
Michigan carried a one-goal lead into the first intermission after each team put up 11 shots on goal. Notre Dame turned the tables from Friday night's game to lead 11-6 in the faceoff dot.
A penalty was called on UND at 1:20 of the middle frame, and it took just nine seconds for Michigan's power-play unit to capitalize. After T.J. Hughes won the draw to earn possession, Jayden Perron collected the puck as the rest of the unit moved into position. The junior operated from the right point before making a quick pass to the left circle, where Michael Hage was waiting to bang home a one-timer and give the Wolverines a 3-1 lead.
Things changed when Ivankovic went down with an injury at 2:42 after a UND forward dropped to his knees while bearing down on the goal and lost control before sliding into the side of the unsuspecting netminder. Peck entered the contest in place of his classmate, who exited the ice. One Wolverine was ejected in the melee that followed Ivankovic's injury, so the visitors embarked on a power play.
The Irish halved the deficit following a prolonged scrum near the side of the net at 8:11. Michigan challenged the play due to the puck being lodged underneath Peck's pad before it was popped out to the netfront area to be buried, but the officials deemed it was unsuccessful.
Michigan rallied to score its fourth goal of the game at 10:45 when Schifsky deposited a grade-A opportunity from the slot following a dogged effort from his linemates to win the puck and find him in space. Nick Moldenhauer earned the primary helper after he lifted the stick of an Irish defender to prevent him from stealing the puck while Luca Fantilli picked up the secondary.
Moldenhauer continued his outstanding weekend by notching a goal for the second straight night when he finished off a scramble at 15:39 to make it 5-2. Draper and Park worked to cycle the puck down low and were rewarded for their effort with assists on Moldenhauer's fifth of the year.
Notre Dame scored through a screen with 2:27 remaining in the period of the long change to bump the score to 5-3.
Michigan maintained a two-goal lead through 40 minutes of emotionally charged action. UND surpassed the home team in shots to end the frame with a 28-24 edge, while U-M rode a resurgent effort in the middle stanza to reclaim the lead in the faceoff dot (25-19).
The Fighting Irish scored at 6:59 of the final frame to trim the deficit once again to 5-4.
U-M responded in kind at 9:11 when Schifsky struck again to make it 6-4 off assists from Hage and Ben Robertson. Notre Dame challenged for a potential major penalty from over two minutes before the tally, but the officials deemed it unsuccessful and Michigan's two-goal lead was reestablished.
With under seven minutes left to go in the weekend series, Tyler Duke sprung Perron for a breakaway chance. The junior forward broke in unimpeded and looked calm, cool, and collected as he faked out the netminder before pushing a low shot into the back of the net to increase the team's lead to 7-4.
More rough stuff littered the game's final minutes as penalties were doled out and players from both teams were given early access to the showers. By the time the final buzzer rang, a total of 173 penalty minutes had been assessed.
The Wolverines put the finishing touches on a three-goal victory that saw the team outshoot its opposition by a 39-34 margin in addition to holding the advantage in the dot (33-30). With the win, Michigan has now defeated Notre Dame in 12 of the past 13 meetings.
Next week, the team heads west for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 16-17) against Minnesota. Friday's contest is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. CT, while the rematch will take place the following night at 7 p.m. CT. Both games will be streamed live on B1G+.
