Notre Dame defeats Michigan in last seconds of Frozen Four

The Michigan Wolverines and Notre Dame Fighting Irish know each other well, facing each other four times this season before their Frozen Four tilt.

Both teams were evenly matched in 2018, going 2-2 against one another.

It was all Michigan in the first period, with a 15-2 faceoff advantage, U-M capitalized mid-way through the period with a Tony Calderone goal.

Then, just seventeen seconds into the 2nd Period, Dexter Dancs scored for the Wolverines, and it looked like Michigan was about to put a whooping on Notre Dame.

That wasn’t the case. Notre Dame came back in a hurry.

A Notre Dame goal by Andrew Oglevie made it 2-1.

Then Jake Evans tied the game 2-2.

And then Cal Burke put Notre Dame ahead in the 3rd Period 3-2.

But with 5:22 left in the 3rd, Michigan decided they weren’t dead yet. A loose puck found the stick of Michael Pastujov who cashed in on his opportunity, tying the game 3-3.

With seconds remaining it looked as if the game was destined to head to overtime, but then ND made one last push down the ice, the speed and strength of Jake Evans was too much for the Michigan defenders to handle and Evans found the back of the net, putting Notre Dame up 4-3 with 5.2 seconds left.

And that would be the final, 4-3 Notre Dame.

The shot by Evans is already being called “The Miracle in Minnesota.” The fans were stunned, as were the Michigan players and coaches.

Michigan had their chances in this game, but it slipped away. U-M went 0-3 on power plays, and when you don’t capitalize on those, there’s little to no margin for error. And at the end of the night, Michigan will be thinking about a couple opportunities that would have changed the outcome of this game.

Still, it was a great season for the Wolverines and Mel Pearson in his first season at the helm, going 22-15-3 on the year, and exceeding expectations.