Michigan hockey blows out Colgate in NCAA Tournament first round, 11-1
The Big Ten got off to a great start in the NCAA hockey tournament and Michigan kept it rolling Friday night in Allentown, Pa. The Wolverines scored 7 goals in 10 minutes in the second period to plaster Colgate, 11-1, and move on to the second round.
The Wolverines will face host Penn State, an 8-0 winner over Michigan Tech, Sunday for the right to go to the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.
Michigan opened the scoring at 10:20 of the first period. Nick Granowicz took a pass from Luke Hughes, skating behind the Colgate goal, and buried it behind netminder Carter Gylander for a 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines outshot the Raiders 17-7 in the first period but could only manage the one goal.
Michigan picked up the pace in the second period, but Gylander was stellar — for a while. The Wolverines picked up goal No. 2 at 12:27 of the second when Eric Ciccolini scored on the power play. Forty-three seconds later, frosh Adam Fantilli used his speed down the left side to beat the defense and score the third Michigan goal.
Frank Nazar scored the fourth goal at 8:54 … 30 seconds later, Mark Estapa made it 5-0.
Rutger McGroarty was up next. He took a pass from Fantilli and scored high on the short side to make it 6-0.
Gavin Brindley added the extra point at 4:11 with a straight on shot from 12 feet, his 12th of the year.
Luke Hughes capped the second period scoring barrage with a shorthanded goal, unassisted at 3:06.
Michigan outshot Colgate 19-7 in the second period and chased Gylander. The last time Michigan scored seven goals in a period was Oct. 16, 2005 vs Merrimack in a 9-2 win. The Wolverines tied Colorado College (1957) for third for most goals in a period in NCAA DI Tournament history with their seven.
The Raiders finally scored in the third period, getting one past Erik Portillo, but the game was well in hand at that point. The Wolverines would add three more goals to finish the 11-1 pounding, tallies from Luke Hughes, Dylan Duke, and another from McGroarty.
Michigan outshot the Raiders 51-21 in the win.
Ohio State did its part for the Big Ten with an 8-1 win over Harvard, while Minnesota beat Canisius 9-2 Thursday. That gives the conference 4 of the final 8 teams.
