Wolverines control play early, but end falling to Notre Dame 3-1

By Michael Caples –

ANN ARBOR – For the first 20 minutes, it looked like the Michigan Wolverines would have no trouble with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

But there’s a reason why hockey games go for 60.

After controlling the pace of play in the first period, the Wolverines went from leading 1-0, to being tied 1-1, to falling behind 2-1, and eventually losing 3-1 to their rivals from South Bend.

Freshman Justin Selman scored the lone goal for Michigan, an unassisted tally off a turnover in the Notre Dame end at the 4:38 mark of the first period. But a shorthanded goal from Livonia native Mike Voran swung the momentum in the Irish’s favor in the second period, and Novi native Bryan Rust’s wraparound goal in third turned into the game-winner. Notre Dame added an empty-netter to increase their lead to two.

“I thought we came out hard in the first period,” said Michigan captain A.J. Treais. “It’s always good to get that first goal. And then they just started out-working us after that and we kind of let ourselves go. You never want to give up a goal on the power play. After that, a few lucky goals. I had a chance to get our team back in it and didn’t. (Alex) Gutpill had a nice shot at it, but that’s the way things go in this league. Goals are really precious.”

Coach Red Berenson echoed Treais’ comments on the game.

“I liked our start and I thought we were starting to play better in the first period,” Berenson said. “The shorthanded goal in the second period really turned the game the other direction. When you get your power play guys out there and they get scored on that is a huge goal for a road team and they took advantage of it. I thought they carried the play the rest of the second period.

“In the third period we tried to get going again. I thought we had some momentum, A.J. (Treais) had a breakaway and (Alex) Guptill hit the crossbar, and those were our two best chances and at that point the game was 1-1. You have got to put those chances in and we didn’t and then we gave up a sloppy goal down low on that wraparound goal and then in the last two minutes they got another one. It was the bounces or the breaks, but on the other hand we have to realize that is what it is going to be like.”

Freshman goaltender Steve Racine had 29 saves in the loss, which bumps his record to 3-2-1 on the season. Treais said it was frustrating to not be able to help his goaltender with more offense.

“I thought (Notre Dame) played well,” Treais said. “I thought Steve played really well today. It was probably one of his best games at Michigan. I thought he hung in there really well and it’s too bad we couldn’t help him out.”

The series concludes tomorrow night, when the Wolverines host a rededication ceremony for Yost Ice Arena. Yet celebration won’t be on the minds of the current players, knowing that they missed out on collecting points in the standings at home once again.

“Every game is a must win at this point,” Berenson said. “These are huge home games for us. When you have the lead in the game we are usually a pretty good team with the lead, but it was a tough way to give it up. A shorthanded goal affected us and we really never really got going.”