OFFENSE

	Corsi	House	Possession %
First Period	18	7	42%
Second Period	22	3	54%
Third Period	14	1	52%
Overtime	n/a	n/a	n/a
TOTAL	54	11	49%

Analysis: Michigan was gifted a bit toward their offensive output tonight. Joe Cecconi dumped a puck on net from inside his own blue line that CALE Morris could not have seen, and it snuck under his arm and inside the post. The most ridiculous goal I’ve maybe ever seen. Nolan Moyle also had a sharp-angle shot that I cannot tell if he got his eyes around to see exactly where he was shooting it, but it hit the bar and dropped into the net. Morris also looked like he never saw that one, either. Both goals were fortunate. Will Lockwood also broke out of the neutral zone and got around a defender, getting a shot inside the short-side post and behind Morris. That was a legit play from Lockwood. Aside from that, Michigan had a few chances but was mostly pushed towards the edges of the zone. The Wolverines generated a nice volume and tested Morris (who bounced back after the first period to make a number a game-saving stops) a number of times. Starting up 3-0 rather early, Michigan took a more defensive approach and did not put themselves in dangerous spots trying to score when the opportunities were not present.

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[Bill Rapai]

DEFENSE

	Corsi	House	Possession %
First Period	25	10	58%
Second Period	19	3	46%
Third Period	13	2	48%
Overtime	n/a	n/a	n/a
TOTAL	57	15	51%

Analysis: Michigan’s defense played one of its better games of the season (again, aside from a few glitches early on). Anthony and I were talking about how the game was very similar to Michigan’s win against Notre Dame two months ago. After getting an early lead, the defense settled in and locked the Irish down. They only surrendered five shots on frame from the House in the last two periods combined, which is phenomenal. Nick Blankenburg especially stood out on defense (as a lot of Michigan Hockey Twitter echoed this) both as a defender and a puck-mover/offensive threat. His maturation will be one of the talking points as the second half progresses.

Overall, this is how Michigan must play in order to win games. Without elite NHL weapons up and down their forward lines, the Wolverines must be tight defensively and help Lavigne by limiting attempts by location and sweeping up anything in passing lanes. They’ve shown multiple times that they’re capable now, even without Quinn Hughes.

SPECIAL TEAMS

	PP For	PP Against	PP Corsi For	PP Corsi Against	PP Shots/Min For	PP Shots/Min Against
First Period	0/1	0/1	4	1	1(1/1)	n/a
Second Period	n/a	1/2	n/a	4	n/a	1(3/3)
Third Period	0/1	0/1	8	4	2.5(5/2)	1(2/2)
Overtime	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
TOTAL	0/2	1/4	12	9	2(6/3)	1(5/5)

Analysis: Michigan didn’t get many power plays (1.5), but they sure did look good when they had a chance. Six shots in three minutes is great. All of their looks were clean and a couple could have easily gone into the net. Alas, Cale Morris. Michigan didn’t generate enough dangerous offense to force too many penalties. With Norris and Hughes gone, that’s to be expected.

On the flip side, Michigan took four penalties. That’s about the ceiling for what you want to give the Irish, who have lived on the power play against the Wolverines over the last couple of years. Notre Dame had one scary chance from the slot that Lavigne saved and then had the goal off of a leg deflection after a shot from the point. Those happen. I don’t think the Irish ‘should’ have had more. They created enough to get a nice bounce, but that’s all.

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[James Coller]

GOALTENDING

	Shots Faced	Shots from House Faced
First Period	11	3
Second Period	11	1
Third Period	10	0
Overtime	n/a	n/a
TOTAL	32	4

Analysis: Hayden Lavigne started in net and looked very good. First, he did not have to deal with the poor sun angles and therefore give up one of the most bonkers goals in all of college hockey. He also didn’t have to face a whole lot of shots from dangerous areas thanks to a brilliant defensive night from the Wolverine blueliners. Lavigne deflected pucks well; he held his position. This is something we’ve seen from Lavigne off and on over the last two and a half seasons. His ceiling is a very good college goalie. When he plays at this level and his defense is contoured to him, these are the results.

ODD-MAN RUSHES

Defense	Rushes	Advs	Escape%	Offense	Rushes	Advs	Scoring%
1st Period
2nd Period
3rd Period
OT
Total

Analysis: I was watching from home, so I did not chart these. However, from what I can remember Michigan gave up maybe one 2v1 and got two or three 3v2s. Not much came of any OMRs.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS

I had: Notre Dame 57, Michigan 54

www.collegehockeynews.com had: Notre Dame 57, Michigan 56