Michigan hockey pastes Colgate, 11-1, in NCAA tournament first round

Even with four of the Big Ten’s seven teams making the 16-team NCAA tournament field, there was a question about how good the conference truly was this season.

But the end of Friday night, with the four B1G teams scorching their first-round opponents by a combined score of 36-4 — Minnesota beat Canisius, 9-2, on Thursday; Ohio State beat Harvard, 8-1, on Friday; Penn State beat Michigan Tech, 8-0, on Friday; and, finally, Michigan hockey pasted Colgate, 11-1, on Friday night in Allentown, Pennsylvania — the only question was how many Big Ten teams would make the Frozen Four.

The conference is guaranteed at least one, with the Wolverines and Nittany Lions facing off in the regional final at the PPL Center at 6:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2) for a spot in April 6’s national semifinal in Tampa, Florida. It will be Michigan’s 27^th Frozen Four trip, the most in college hockey, or the first for Penn State, which moved up to Division I in 2012. The Wolverines went 3-1 against the Nittany Lions in conference play.

ALLENTOWN:Michigan Tech, star goalie Blake Pietila pounded by Penn State, 8-0, in NCAA tournament

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A hot goalie cooled off

Even after one period in Allentown on Friday night, the Wolverines were far from guaranteed a spot in the next round. Upstart Colgate, coming off five straight wins in the ECAC tournament, was riding one of the nation’s hottest goaltenders, Carter Gylander, the Detroit Red Wings’ seventh-round pick (No. 191 overall) in 2019. No goalie played more minutes this season than Gylander, who topped the No. 2 netminder by 99 minutes. Against the Wolverines, however, he lasted less than 37, overcome by a seven-goal spurt in the second period. (He returned for about five minutes to finish the third period.)

Michigan sophomore Luke Hughes finished with two goals and three assists — his five points are the most by a Division I defenseman in a game this season — and freshman T.J. Hughes added three assists while eight other Wolverines also picked up goals. In all, 17 Wolverines had at least one point.

The 11 goals for U-M are the program’s most since beating Boston University, 14-2, in the 1953 national semifinal, back when the tournament consisted of just four teams.

Slow start

The Wolverines’ talent edge paid off midway through the first period, as Luke Hughes (the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft) circled the puck behind the net, flipping it to fellow defenseman Nick Granowicz from behind the goal line. As the puck landed right on his stick, Granowicz had merely to flip it to the left side past Gylander, for a 1-0 Michigan lead with 10:20 left in the first period.

The Wolverines outshot the Raiders, 17-7, in the first period, but Colgate had an excellent scoring chance in the final minute. As the clock ticked down, the Raiders found themselves with a two-on-one, bearing down on U-M goalie Erik Portillo. But the 6-foot-6 Swede jabbed his stick at the puck, knocking it away into the left corner.

Upping the pressure

The teams switched sides in the second period, but the ice was still titled in Michigan’s favor as the Wolverines kept the pressure on Gylander. About a third of the way into the period, Colgate’s Reid Irwin was whistled for holding, giving U-M a man advantage. The Raiders whittled down the time, but with 36 seconds left, the Wolverines finally set up their box; a shot from T.J. Hughes bounced off Gylander and Eric Ciccolini pounced on the rebound for a 2-0 U-M lead with 12:27 remaining in the second.

Just 45 seconds later, the Wolverines’ talent paid off again; Adam Fantilli, the likely No. 2 pick in this summer’s NHL draft and the nation’s leading point-scorer, picked up the puck in the defensive zone and blew past the Colgate defender. Launching a quick wrister to Gylander’s right side, Fantilli picked up his 28^th goal (and 62^nd point) for a three-goal U-M lead with 11:42 left before intermission.

The Wolverines were far from done, however, with five more goals in the second period, including three in a 75-second period — by Frank Nazar III, Mark Estapa and Rutger McGroarty — that left the Wolverines up 6-0 with 7:29 still remaining in the second. Freshman Gavin Brindley got in on the party three minutes after that. Just over a minute after that, following a Fantilli penalty for tripping, Michigan made it 8-0 as Luke Hughes scorched Gylander for a shorthanded score. That was it for the senior, who stopped 25 of the 33 shots he faced before Andrew Takacs entered for him.

Getting out of hand

Colgate finally broke the shutout 3:03 into the third period as Nic Belpedio scored on an assist from Colton Young.  About six minutes later, the game threatened to get out of control as Mackie Samoskevich went down on the ice near the benches. After a lengthy video review, Young’s brother, Alex, was given a major penalty and a game misconduct (bringing an ejection) for buttending Samoskevich from the bench.

The major penalty gave Michigan five minutes of power play time regardless of whether the Wolverines scored. And score they did.

Luke Hughes started the flood with his second goal of the game, followed 16 seconds later by a snipe from Dylan Duke to make it 10-1. A little over two minutes later, with 7:08 remaining, Rutger McGroarty picked up his second goal, making it 11-1.