Despite outshooting Denver 52-26, victory was not in the cards for the Michigan Hockey team on Thursday night in the national semifinals in Las Vegas.
The Pioneers outlasted head coach Brandon Naurato’s squad 4-3 in a double overtime thriller, further solidifying themselves as the marquee program in college hockey and shattering hearts in Ann Arbor.
Early on, senior defenseman Tyler Duke was sent off for holding seven minutes into the first. Even without one of their top killers, the Wolverines did
well to deny entries and escaped the two minutes unscathed.
However, shortly after the penalty expired, Denver picked off senior defenseman Luca Fantilli’s awkward breakout pass, leading to a tic-tac-toe look from the slot that beat freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic.
The Pios kept up their rampant forecheck, hemming the Michigan defense in uncomfortable areas. Though, the Wolverines still had quality looks on the other end, namely a pair of chances for senior captain T.J Hughes and a step-down from Duke that hit Pioneers goaltender Johnny Hicks’ helmet and into the netting.
Hicks would eventually earn another win, improving his collegiate starting record to 15-0-1.
On the ensuing offensive zone faceoff, senior forward Josh Eernisse corralled the puck from the dot and fired a wrist shot to level the score with under four minutes to play in the period.
59 seconds later, Hughes delivered another goal.
Michigan rode the momentum of Eernisse’s score into a solid possession, a Denver player broke his stick, freshman forward Adam Valentini fired a point shot that deflected off the backboard and, fortuitously, onto the stick of Hughes — who had to do well to bury a bouncing puck — on the back door for the 2-1 lead.
Suddenly, this once overwhelmed-looking bunch of Wolverines could head to the intermission up a goal.
That momentum quickly dissipated when Duke was charged with his second penalty of the game, this time a high-stick. Similarly to the first instance, Michigan killed the two minutes without any major harm.
But, Denver kept the pressure on the tired Wolverines, and a seeing-eye shot from the point beat a screened Ivankovic to make it 2-2.
After that tally, it was a far sloppier, clunkier frame than the first as each team looked more insistent on preventing than generating danger.
The forgettable evening for Duke continued with yet another minor penalty — a trip for his third trip to the box in just over 40 minutes of game time. For the third time, Duke’s teammates had his back, mitigating another lackluster Pios power play.
That unit would end the evening scoreless on its five tries, including a chance after Duke’s third as Schifsky was called for boarding.
Finally, just over halfway through the third, Michigan and its vaunted power play took the ice.
The five forwards set up, and sophomore forward Will Horcoff handed a pass to junior forward Jayden Perron, who sizzled a high-circle wrist-shot past a screened Hicks to give his team a crucial one-goal advantage.
The Wolverines, who have done so well this season to contain leads and limit their opponents, had their neutral zone game going, Ivankovic stayed steady in between the pipes and they needed only the clock to expire to advance to the National Championship.
Until the three-minute mark, that felt like a reality.
However, Denver and its winning DNA came alive late, and a low-angle pass hit a stick in front, deflecting a near-side high shot past Ivankovic, tying the game.
A few minutes into overtime, Schifsky had a fantastic look as the puck slipped through the slot and onto his forehand. Hicks’ outstretched pad denied him, and the two blue bloods remained in a standstill.
Jabs were traded. The physicality somehow reached another level in this highly physical affair. The desperation to win permeated throughout each bench, and it appeared over when the Pioneers redirected a shot past Ivankovic with eight minutes left in overtime.
But it hit the crossbar.
Ivankovic had to be sharp again in sudden death, blockering away a low-to-high point shot that, like several looks in the period, could have ended the contest.
Duke nearly earned his fourth penalty of the night when his stick sandwiched a Denver forward. The refs stayed silent.
However, a couple of shifts after, Horcoff was called for a slash, further inducing anxiety in an already anxious fanbase.
That is, until Denver returned the favor with a trip of senior forward Kienan Draper, eliminating the power play and, after a quiet final stretch, providing the Wolverines with a brief double overtime power play.
Nothing came of that man-advantage, and while Michigan had plenty of chances in the second overtime, none would go.
It was not until later in the frame that the Pios’ captain, Kent Anderson, found space in the slot and his shot beat Ivankovic for the game-winner.
An eerily familiar demise to 2022, when that David Carle-led Denver team broke the Wolverines’ hearts with an overtime winner, Michigan once again found itself on the losing side of an instant classic Frozen Four showdown.
There will be questions as to whether or not Naurato and this youth-heavy, top-end-skill-oriented program can win the big one. Fair or not, those doubts will linger until Michigan gets over the hump for the first time since 1998.
Will Naurato break the drought, or are the Wolverines simply cursed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
