Wolverines beat NTDP U18s Monday night at Yost

 

By @MichaelCaples –

ANN ARBOR – The Wolverines weren’t going to let it happen three times in a row.

The past two seasons, the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team had come into Yost Ice Arena and emerged with a victory over their Ann Arbor neighbors.

This time, however, the big kids got the job done.

Behind a two-goal performances from NTDP alums Tyler Motte (St. Clair) and Dylan Larkin (Waterford), the Wolverines picked up a 7-4 win over the NTDP Monday night at Yost Ice Arena.

Alex Kile, JT Compher and Justin Selman also scored for the Wolverines, who recorded their first win of the 2014-15 season, though the exhibition game won’t count in the standings.

“It feels good,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said after the game. “We gave the game away last year, two minutes to go we changed goalies to give our goalie a chance and sure enough they scored two goals plus an overtime goal. That didn’t sit well. We really felt bad about that. We felt bad that we let our goalie down. This year, that didn’t happen, and that’s good. We lost the year before, too, when JT (Compher) and those guys were playing against us. That’s a good team out there, they beat Miami the other night, in Miami 3-0, and you could see how that could happen.”

MORE: Photo gallery from the Monday night game between the NTDP and the Wolverines

Matthew Tkachuk, Colin White, Tage Thompson and Auston Matthews scored for the NTDP squad, which is now 1-1-0 against NCAA competition after they beat Miami University on Saturday. The U18s are now 7-2-0 on the season.

“I mean, everybody that’s in this business is a competitor, but, you know, for our guys, it’s early in the year, it’s our second Division 1 game,” NTDP coach Don Granato said on the program’s two-year winning streak come to a close. “We got better tonight, a lot better, because they played hard, and that was nice.”

Zach Nagelvoort (Holland) recorded the win for the Wolverines, stopping nine of 12 shots over 40 minutes before being replaced by Steve Racine for the third period. Luke Opilka started for the NTDP squad, stopping 34 of 41.

Michigan, who lost to No. 9 Ferris State on Saturday, will play one more exhibition contest when they take on Wilfrid Laurier on Thursday. The Wolverines will then return to regular-season contests on Oct. 17 when they welcome New Hampshire to Yost Ice Arena.

The game was a unique situation for many of the players, as many NTDP alums now make up the Wolverines’ roster, while U18 forward Brendan Warren is a Wolverines’ commit. It was an even stranger spot for Zach Werenski, who made his Yost debut as a member of the Wolverines after playing for the NTDP U17 Team last year.

“It was fun,” Werenski said after the game. “It was a pretty good crowd for a Monday night. The student section was pretty good and it was fun to play here. Coming down the stairs and touching the ‘Go Blue’ sign is definitely something I’ll remember. It was fun walking out and hearing ‘Hail to the Victors.’ It was nice to get a win here.

“I think I was more nervous for this game than I was the first game. Going against my old team and coaches was definitely a little nerve-wracking for me.”

It didn’t take long for the NTDP team to find the back of the net in their yearly contest with their cross-town neighbors. Tkachuk, son of former NHL Keith, scored just 1:14 into the contest after getting free for a short breakaway. It was his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Jeremy Bracco.

The Wolverines took control of the contest just a few minutes later, as Alex Kile took a feed from Larkin and buried a shot from just outside the NTDP crease.

Just a minute later, Motte recorded his first goal of the night, a redirection off an initial shot from the point by Kevin Lohan.

With 30 seconds left in the first period, NTDP alum JT Compher took the puck off a face-off win by Boo Nieves and fired a shot past Opilka for a 3-1 Michigan lead.

“We wanted to play well,” Berenson said. “We came off a game that we thought we finished the game strong and ran out of time on Saturday. I didn’t like the fact that we gave up the first goal again tonight. On the other hand, I like the way our team just kept playing and we got better as the game went on. And maybe the last part of the game from the halfway point of the second to the third I thought was our best game.”

Motte increased the Wolverines’ lead to 4-1 at the 5:37 mark of the second period, once again on a tip in front of the NTDP goal. Sam Piazza picked up the primary assist on the goal.

White pulled the NTDP within two goals when he finished off a pass from Tkachuk less than a minute after the Motte goal.

At the 12:20 mark of the middle frame, Thompson scored for U18 squad, cutting the Wolverines’ lead to a single goal. However, Larkin scored his first of two with 1:45 left in the second period, finishing off a drive to the net by Zach Hyman. Kile also picked up an assist on the play.

“It was a pretty good feeling,” Larkin said of his first game at Yost as a member of the Wolverines. “I had some chances at Ferris State that I thought about later that night after the game, but it felt good to score and hear ‘Hail to the Victors.’ I had some good chances with Zach Hyman and it’s easy to score when the goalie’s not in the net and I had a wide open net, so I have to give credit to my linemates.”

The scoring exchanges continued early in the third period, as Matthews scored for the NTDP to once again make it a one-goal game, this time at 5-4. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native buried a wraparound on Racine just 16 seconds into the third period.

Selman regained the two-goal lead for the Wolverines less than two minutes later, burying a rebound off a point shot from Cutler Martin (East Lansing). Max Shuart (Northville) also picked up an assist.

Larkin scored his second goal of the night, and second goal of his Wolverines career, 9:17 into the third, finishing off a cross-crease pass from Hyman. The Red Wings draftee’s goal would be the final tally in a 11-goal contest.