Michigan
17-4-0, 8-3-0
Notre Dame
4-14-1, 0-9-0
No. 1 U-M Cruises Past Notre Dame to Open Season's Second Half
1/9/2026 10:30:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Michigan dominated in the faceoff dot, resulting in a 39-19 advantage.
» Upperclassmen Jayden Perron and T.J. Hughes each contributed a pair of assists.
» Nick Moldenhauer finished with two points after burying the empty-net marker.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Veterans led the way for the top-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team on Friday night (Jan. 9) as the Wolverines opened the second half of the season in winning fashion by knocking off Notre Dame 5-2 inside Yost Ice Arena.
Freshman Jack Ivankovic, the Hockey Commissioners Association's reigning Goaltender of the Month, started in net for the Wolverines fresh off winning a bronze medal at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship. He was stout between the pipes in his first action back in Ann Arbor, as he made 29 saves on 31 Fighting Irish shots to earn his NCAA-best 17th victory of the campaign.
Michigan (17-4-0, 8-3-0 Big Ten) dominated possession at even strength for the first 10 minutes as the team stacked chances without breaking through with an early goal, until a cross-checking call on the Irish at the 11-minute mark gave the first power play of the evening to U-M.
Less than one minute later, Adam Valentini showed his relentlessness near the blue paint to finish off a loose puck for a power-play goal at 11:57 that put the home team ahead 1-0. Will Horcoff (six games) and T.J. Hughes (four games) extended their active point streaks by assisting on Valentini's sixth tally.
Michigan carried a one-goal lead to the dressing room after 20 minutes. The Wolverines raced out to a 12-8 edge in shots on goal as well as a 12-7 advantage in the face-off dot.
It took just 1:39 into the second period for U-M to double the lead after an offensive-zone cycle resulted in a Malcolm Spence slot shot finding twine following a slick feed from Nick Moldenhauer, who was operating from behind the net. Senior defenseman Luca Fantilli recorded the secondary helper on Spence's strike.
Senior forward Kienan Draper tucked the puck inside the post to clean up a rebound and make it 3-0 exactly halfway through the contest to extend Michigan's lead after Jayden Perron used his speed to blow by the defenders in transition and create the opportunity. Perron and Garrett Schifsky assisted on Draper's marker, which went down as the game-winning goal.
Two minutes later, defenseman Asher Barnett displayed newfound confidence following his five-game run among the world's best over winter break as part of the United States' WJC team. Barnett had one of his most physically dominant shifts of the year before bursting into the offensive zone and showing off his edgework to carve in toward the crease. After his initial shot was turned aside from the left side of the crease, he moved laterally to the other side of the net, where he was able to pick off a clearing attempt. The freshman immediately dropped the puck to the ice before deftly burying it to blow the game open with an unassisted goal at 4-0.
Notre Dame (4-14-1, 0-9-0 Big Ten) finally got on the board with less than two minutes left in the period when a rebound popped out to the slot before it was quickly deposited through Ivankovic's five hole to trim the deficit to 4-1 on UND's 20th shot on goal.
Tempers flared in the final minute of the frame, resulting in two Wolverines going to the box compared with just one member of the Fighting Irish. The visitors carried 1:53 of the subsequent power-play time into the third period.
Through 40 minutes of action, Michigan had built up a 4-1 lead. The Wolverines continued to maintain an edge in both shots on goal (26-22) and faceoff wins (26-14) in addition to notching the game's lone power-play goal.
The home team started the final frame by killing off Notre Dame's power-play time to force play back to 5-on-5 with the three-goal lead intact.
The Irish netted their second goal of the game by banging a rebound through traffic at 6:41.
Moldenhauer finished off a strong performance by winning a race to a loose puck in the neutral zone before sending a high-arcing shot up into the air before it landed in the blue paint and bounced into the empty net to put the game away at 5-2 with 2:05 left on the clock. Hughes and Perron were credited with the assists on Moldenhauer's high-altitude marker.
Michigan put the finishing touches on the three-goal victory by dominating in both grade-A chances as well as faceoffs, finishing the evening on the better side of a 39-19 gulf. With the win, U-M improves to 17-4 and forces UND to continue its search for its first Big Ten victory of the season.
On Saturday night (Jan. 10), Michigan and Notre Dame will finish off the regular-season series with the program's Block Cancer game at Yost. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., and the action will be streamed live on B1G+.
