For third straight year, Wolverines lose in OT

First it was against Miami, in double overtime of the Midwest Regional final. Then, it was to Minnesota-Duluth, in the national championship game.

Now, it’s an overtime loss to the Cornell Big Red.

For the third straight season, the Wolverines’ season came to an end after an overtime goal scored by the opposition.

Rodger Craig managed to get a shot away on a rebound 3:35 into the extra period Friday night, beating Shawn Hunwick and giving his Cornell squad a 3-2 win over Michigan in their NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal match-up.

For Hunwick, it’s a difficult way for his collegiate career to end.

“When I came to Michigan I just wanted to be part of the team,” the redshirt senior goaltender said. “I’ve said it before, and I never thought I’d be in the situation, play as many games as I have, and win championships with this team. It’s bittersweet. At one point, I’m happy with the career I’ve had, but you never want to give up a goal to end your season and your career, and that’s happened in the last three seasons with overtime losses. It’s disheartening that we couldn’t get this one tonight, but I think for the rest of my life when I look back at my experience at Michigan, I’ll be very proud.”

Luke Glendening and Kevin Lynch scored for the Wolverines, while Hunwick made 21 saves over the course of three-plus periods.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow because we’ve had I think some real good efforts from our team this year, particularly with Shawn Hunwick here,” coach Red Berenson said. “He’s had a Cinderella career here, and I wish he could have had a better ending.”

The Wolverines started the game with a flurry of activity, and it appeared as though the Maize and Blue would run away with the contest.

Glendening scored 1:11 into the game, finishing off a rebound off an initial shot from A.J. Treais.

Just 13 seconds later, Lynch scored to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead. Cornell used their time-out in response to the wild momentum swing in Michigan’s favor, and it ended up helping Big Red in more than one way. A video review of the goal was started during the break, and it was decided that there was goaltender interference on the play, due to a slight bump by Luke Moffatt while he drove to the goal to set up the play.

“Well I liked the way our team started off obviously,” Berenson said. “The goal that was disallowed was obviously a factor in the game, but give Cornell credit, they got back in the game.”

Goals from John McCarron (a Macomb native) and Joakim Ryan gave Cornell a 2-1 lead by the early stages of the second period, and the Wolverines spent the rest of regulation trying to mount their comeback.

The Wolverines were given plenty of opportunities throughout the contest, but failed to register a single power-play goal on seven different opportunities. Michigan took multiple penalties during a five-minute major opportunity, as well.

“I think their special teams were probably a factor in this,” Berenson said. “They scored their first two goals on the power play and shorthanded, and then they kept our power play off the board, and that was a big part of the game.”

Lynch scored on a rebound at the 15:59 mark of the third, and the Wolverines controlled the play for the final four minutes. They weren’t able to crack goaltender Andy Iles any more times, however.

The Wolverines season comes to a close with a record of 24-13-4.