OFFENSE

Analysis: The Wolverines got the Jeff Jackson Special, the neutral zone trap, in the first period. There was little flow or space to skate at all. The Irish got their goal early, and Michigan seemed to adjust and created better chances before the DZTO-fest took over in the second period. However, once they were down, the Wolverines attack did seem to pick up. Mike Pasta had a nice offensive game, creating some chances and getting shots from dangerous areas. Truscott had a nice cross-ice pass to an open Morgan for a tap-in goal to start the Wolverine scoring. The aforementioned Pastujov got down the wing, faked a pass and shot through a beautifully-timed screen from Thomas Bordeleau to double the scoring output. Michigan did skate better in the third and almost tied the game a number of times. The Bordeleau/Pasta/Grano line had an extremely dangerous chance, but Ryan Bischel made that save and a handful of others to make all Wolverine fans think he was Cale Morris. If Michigan can cut down on their DZTOs tomorrow, their offense looked better after some intermission adjustments.

[AFTER THE JUMP: The culprits of tonight's game]

Now that we don’t take penalties, stop turning it over! [James Coller]

DEFENSE

Analysis: While they did settle down later, the Wolverine defense struggled with the Irish and turned the puck over in their own zone too many time in the first half of the game. Jack Summers had another not-so-great shift that led to the second goal. He turned the puck over in front of the net, then screened his netminder on the shot a few seconds later. Alex also mentioned that it looked like Michigan kinda freaked out after it was 2-0. Owen Power jumped up in the play rather quickly when Beniers was entering the zone. Matty was picked and one pass later Silianoff was off on a breakaway with Truscott left on one side of the ice. York had a rough pass that almost made it 4-0. They did settle down later on and cleared the zone well, leading to more rushes in the third period. The damage had been done, unfortunately.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Analysis: STOP TAKING PENALTIES! So…they did. Michigan did not take a single penalty tonight. At all. Not one. I don’t have anything else to say about this.

Michigan got one power play. They got a couple of looks from distance, but could not generate anything in the high danger areas. Alex said “It was fine.” I responded with “Yeah, fine.” That’s about it. There were no more special teams opportunities. At all.

Not a whole lot else he could do tonight, but just not good enough [JD Scott]

GOALTENDING

Analysis: Mann started in net again tonight. Again he was very solid, despite the few goals. Mann was beaten in the top corner, high and away, on a well-placed shot. He was screened on the second after a poor DZTO. Lastly, a poor entry, defensive pinch, combined for a breakaway that he let through. None of that can be traced back to him. Maybe he saves the corner shot or guesses right on the break, but those things happen. He rebounded nicely from all of that and kept Michigan around, making a few big saves in the final half. It will be interesting to see when Portillo finally gets in net.

ODD MAN RUSHES

Analysis: Michigan ceded two 3v2s that were…nothing. They also had a bad entry that turned into a 1v0 and the Irish cashed it. Conversely, when Beniers got his breakaway, Bischel saved it. Sometimes its like that.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS

www.collegehockeynews.com had: Michigan 59, Notre Dame 43