While the rest of the Big Ten duke it out in their regular-season finales, No. 1 Michigan Hockey had a unique exhibition date with Simon Fraser, winning 8-1 on Thursday night at Yost Ice Arena.
The British Columbia-based university provided the Wolverines (26-7-1, 17-6-1 Big Ten) a nice opportunity to stay fresh with real game competition before the conference tournament, which, with No. 2 Michigan State’s victory over Minnesota, means Michigan will play a quarterfinal contest against Notre Dame next
weekend.
On the ice, it was a confidence booster for this already confident group, as senior forward T.J. Hughes netted two goals and had three assists, junior winger Jayden Perron had one goal and three assists, sophomore forward Michael Hage dished out a pair, and six other Wolverines hit the back of the net.
Freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic started between the pipes, stopping all 10 shots en route to a 2-0 lead after the first period. However, the floodgates opened in the second as Michigan piled on four more, and freshman Stephen Peck replaced Ivankovic. Sophomore Julian Molinaro eventually took over in this three-goalie rotation, going 9-for-10 on shots against, the lone blemish in an otherwise smooth evening in Ann Arbor.
More importantly than the result is the Wolverines will not have a long lay-off before these crucial Big Ten Tournament games that could certainly determine the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
