**PSA: There will be no Breakdown tomorrow night to unfortunately scheduling.**

CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): In a game featuring the most drafted skaters played in the NCAA this season, the narrative quickly shifted from Mitchell Gibson outplayed Noah West to Mitchell Gibson saved the game multiple times and then again for Harvard. The game was mostly even through two periods, but Michigan poured it on to overcome 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to tie the game in the third…and they had numerous good chances to win it…before overtime. Harvard couldn’t cash a 4x3 power play, and Gavin Brindley couldn’t finish a breakaway. Appropriately, the game ended in a tie.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-After the first half of the game, Michigan just started to dominate. They were down 3-1 (and later 4-2 after a PPG), but they started to create more and more chances. After the Harvard PPG that made it 4-2 in the early third period, the Wolverines just avalanches the Crimson. They controlled the play and pushed the Crimson to the brink with every forward combination. Nolan Moyle slit into the lead to make it 4-3 after a nice redirect from Philippe Lapointe. Lapointe later tied the game after a very nice pass from Gavin Brindley on the boards. If regulation had lasted much longer, Michigan would have won it easily. Mitchell Gibson single-handedly got this game to overtime. The last 30 minutes might have been the best by Michigan forwards/lines all season.

-Freshmen are starting to pop. Rutger McGroarty had a handful of great plays. Gavin Brindley was flying up and down the ice all night creating chances and putting Crimson defensemen on…skates. These are two guys Michigan needs desperately to start clicking to reinforce the FSD/MAD line. Speaking of which, Dylan Duke almost created another couple of Duke Goals near the net. Adam Fantilli scored a Harvard Donation goal after Alex Gaffney left the puck behind the net and Duke hit him with a quick pass into the slot.

Ethan Edwards #EyeballEmoji (Patrick Barron)

Defense Notes.

-Ethan Edwards looked really lively again. He power around a guy at the point, got into the slot, and buried a shot (thanks a Lapointe screen). He also Makar’d a dude straightaway, walked down the slot, but fired just wide with a chance to win the game. This game had to have been a huge confidence booster for him.

-The defense overall was pretty fine again. There are always little blips, but they didn’t give away many Grade A chances off of bad DZTOs or eye-rolling misfire passes. Luca Fantilli and Johnny Druskinis both rotated on the third pair and they both looked…good. I saw each of them make simple, fundamental plays that held pucks in, got pucks out, or took a guy off his angle and to the boards. These are encouraging signs.

SPECIAL TEAMS CHART

Power Play. Michigan looked pretty good on their first power play. They created a few chances and got multiple shots from dangerous places, but Mitchell “Don’t Call Me John” Gibson bailed out his Crimson. Adam Fantilli hit the post on the second power play. That was about it for real chances.

Penalty Kill. Harvard got one power play during regulation and scored on it. A shot came from the dot, off end boards, where Sean Farrell poked the puck into the crease and Noah West seemed to kick it in, as he backed up towards the goal line. Harvard has a lethal power play so far this season, and they got one when they needed it. Mackie Samoskevich took a penalty in overtime, and the Wolverine PK stepped up and killed it. That might have been the kill of the season.

Goaltending photo caption (Patrick Barron)

GOALTENDING CHART

Notes. Noah West started for Erik Portillo on Friday night. He made two point-blank saves right away. Then…let in a couple of clinkers. A shot from the point beat him after the seas appeared to part. Soon after that, West was beaten by a shot just off the goal line that went short-side, high. It was a great shot, but…those chances cannot be goals. West had a better second period, shutting down a couple of OMRs and closing off his post on dangerous chance. He didn’t have any chance on the third goal, after a well-placed unfortunate deflection. In the third period, West got off his post a bit and looked to kick in the fourth goal for Harvard, after a chance put the puck behind him in the crease. To his credit, Noah made quite a number of point-blank saves and did his job on the overtime penalty kill. In the end, it was an uneven performance that gave Michigan a chance to win, but didn’t really do enough to steal anything from Harvard. If this was meant to shake up Erik Portillo, hopefully it did.

Gavin Brindley was SO CLOSE to winning it (Patrick Barron)

ODD MAN RUSH CHART

Notes. Harvard got out in transition a couple of times, running a 3v2 very well that forced a solid save out of Noah West. West was also able to shut down Matthew Coronato on a breakaway, after Coronato beat Luke Hughes to a loose puck.

Gavin Brindley had a chance on a breakaway out of the box in OT to win the game…and Matthew Gibson beat him to the post to make the save.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beat Ohio.