NCAA Game Recap: Michigan Advances to Frozen Four

The Michigan Wolverines faced the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs tonight in the Albany Regional Finals in the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines beat Bentley 5-1 in the first game of the tournament. Minnesota-Duluth beat a tough Penn State team 3-1 in the first round of the Albany Regional.

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Minnesota-Duluth vs. Michigan Wolverines

Michigan entered tonight with a tough task at hand against a talented Minnesota-Duluth roster, which was led by forward Max Plante (Detroit Red Wings). After sustaining an injury in Friday’s win against Bentley, Will Horcoff (Pittsburgh Penguins) made his presence felt right away as he scored the first goal of the game to make it 1-0 Wolverines. Michigan kept the momentum going, and just over halfway through the opening period, Adam Valentini scored on the power-play to give them a 2-0 lead. Less than a minute later on the penalty kill, Garrett Schifsky scored to make it 3-0 Michigan. The second period was quiet, with the Wolverines still being 3-0, entering the third period.

In the final 20 minutes with their season on the line, Harper Bentz scored for the Bulldogs to make it 3-1. That didn’t last long as Jayden Perron (Carolina Hurricanes) made it 4-1, which would end up being the game-winning goal. Ty Hanson scored on the power play to make it a two-goal game with half the period left. Later in the third, with the clock approaching three minutes left, Minnesota-Duluth made it a one-goal game as Scott Truman scored to make it 4-3. Jack Ivankovic (Nashville Predators) did his job to help propel the Michigan Wolverines to the Frozen Four as they prevailed with a 4-3 win over the Bulldogs and advanced out of the Albany Regional, heading to Las Vegas.

Next Up

The Wolverines will face off in the Frozen Four in Las Vegas. They will face the Denver Pioneers, who upset Western Michigan to advance to Las Vegas. The game will be on April 9th at either 5:00 PM EST or 8:30 PM EST.