Michigan hockey stuns North Dakota, 4-3, to advance in NCAA Tournament
For one period Friday night, the Michigan hockey team played on its heels and let North Dakota take the fight to them in a first round NCAA Tournament game. The Wolverines trailed 1-0 after one period, managed only 4 shots on goal, and were fortunate to be down only a goal. They were still down 2-1 after a much better second period, but faced an uphill task — UND was 20-0 this year when leading after two periods.
But a third period scoring outburst, including a pair from alternate captain Dylan Duke, propelled No. 3 seed Michigan to a 4-3 win over No. 2 seed UND and into a quarterfinal match with Michigan State Sunday in Maryland Heights, Mo. The No. 1 seed Spartans rallied from 4-2 down in the third to beat Western Michigan, 5-4, in overtime.
“We talked about some things,” Naurato told reporters of the second period intermission, “just inside of our identity and how we play, and we really didn’t find it in the first two periods. I think that’s probably credit to [North Dakota]. [But] we made a little bit of a tweak with maybe, like, five to 10 minutes left in the second period, and it worked.”
That’s when he put Duke on a line with T.J. Hughes and Garrett Schifsky. They were responsible for all three goals in the final minute — three in a row, in fact, that gave U-M a 4-2 lead — before the Fighting Hawks countered with just under 5 minutes remaining. Goaltender Jake Barczewski came up big down the stretch and Michigan held on to set up the rematch with the Spartans.
Duke, though, was the hero.
“Adversity has been something we’ve been going through all year,” Duke said. “We had a good team talk in the locker room. We talked about doing it for the guy next to you. So, we came out in the third, did that, and found a way to win a big game.”
Duke got the equalizer only 50 seconds into the third when he sent a trickler toward the net, watching it go in off a North Dakota player’s skate. Hughes scored just a few seconds later at 2:23, and then Hughes set up Duke with a beautiful pass at 11:56. Duke buried it to make it 4-2, and U-M held on.
The Wolverines outshot North Dakota, 30-27, including 26-20 over the final two periods. Now it’s on to MSU, which beat the Wolverines in a controversial Big Ten title game to capture the championship. The stakes will be higher this time. The two teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think it’s exciting,” Naurato said. “I think it’s exciting for the Big Ten. They’re a really good team. Obviously, they’ve proven that, and we’re excited to play them.”
