Michigan hockey falls to Notre Dame 5-2 in South Bend

In early January, the Michigan Wolverines hockey team had a big 5-2 win outside at Notre Dame Stadium over the Fighting Irish.

A month removed from the victory, Michigan’s had an up and down stretch of peaks and valleys, but still find themselves within striking distance of making the NCAA Tournament if they can get hot.

On Tuesday night Michigan found themselves back in South Bend taking on Notre Dame, and things didn’t go well for them this time around.

Notre Dame jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Dylan Malmquist, followed by a Pierce Crawford goal midway through Period One.

In Period 2, during an intermission, a peculiar event transpired when Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly was interviewed, saying Michigan “should stick to football”:

Michigan narrowed the deficit by a goal in Period 2 on a beautiful one-timer by Will Lockwood:

But within two minutes, Notre Dame netted two more goals to make it a 4-1 Irish lead, and never looked back, ultimately adding another goal in Period 3. Michigan was able to narrow the deficit to 4-2 via a Garrett Van Wyhe goal, but ND answered right back yet again on a power play goal by Colin Theisen to go up 5-2.

The killer for Michigan against Notre Dame in this one was the amount of penalties they accumulated, 6 in all, 2 of which went for ND goals.

The loss dropped Michigan to 12-12-6, but they still remain at No. 2 in the Big Ten standings behind Ohio State.

Next up for Michigan is a series against Ohio State on the 22nd and 23rd, then a two-game series against Wisconsin the beginning of March. Those are the remaining regular season games on the schedule for Michigan before they take part in the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines will look to hold on to the all important No. 2 seed, because that will net them at least one home series in the tournament.