ALLENTOWN, Pa. — No. 1 Michigan scored twice in each of the first two periods Sunday night, then held off a furious third-period opposing rally by scoring two empty-net goals to oust second-seeded Quinnipiac 7-4 in the Allentown Regional final at the PPL Center.
Michigan will meet Denver in a Frozen Four semifinal in Boston on April 7.
“We have two weeks to prepare for Denver,” Wolverines forward Brendan Brisson said. “I can’t wait to play in that game.”
Michigan is seeking its first NCAA title since 1998, which also occurred in Beantown, when coach Mel Pearson was an assistant coach with the Wolverines. Now he’s headed back with his own team.
“We’re going to Boston,” Pearson said. “These guys earned it. They earned it.”
The Wolverines took only 33 seconds after the opening faceoff to get going. Owen Power’s try at a loose puck in front was stopped by Quinnipiac goaltender Yaniv Perets but assistant captain Nolan Moyle followed up to chip it home for the early lead.
The two teams then went up and down the ice, trading intermittent chances, but it was Michigan that next put one home. Following a faceoff to the right of Perets, Luke Hughes took the puck at the center of the blue line and skated into the right circle. He then threaded a backhand pass through the low slot for Jimmy Lambert to redirect home at the far post to make it 2-0 at 14:36.
Michigan goaltender Erik Portillo kept the opposing Bobcats at bay early in the second stanza, when he turned away successive in-close shots by Jacob Quillan and TJ Friedmann. The Wolverines then went on the game’s first power play minutes later and made it 3-0 when Power and Brendan Brisson fed Thomas Bordeleau in the slot for a shot that got through Perets at 6:06.
Quinnipiac had two power plays in the second period but couldn’t convert. The second one proved deadly, but to the Bobcats. Just 13 seconds into that man advantage, Michigan captain Nick Blankenburg got loose down the right side and passed across to Garrett Van Wyhe, who poked the puck past Perets in the crease for a four-goal Michigan lead. It was Van Wyhe’s second goal in as many games in the regional, and Michigan’s eighth short-handed marker this season.
“Congratulations to Michigan,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “They had an outstanding first two periods tonight, and found a way to keep it going in the third.”
Dylan St. Cyr replaced Perets (19 saves) in net to start the third period, just before the Bobcats’ second power-play opportunity came up empty. Quinnipiac, however, got on the board just over four minutes into the final frame when Jayden Lee did a 360-degree spin dropping down from the left point, then wristed a low shot through a screen that slipped just inside the right post.
“Yaniv was outstanding, and we have the luxury of having Dylan,” said Pecknold. “We thought he would energize our team, and he did.”
The Bobcats then cut the lead in half almost midway through the period when Ethan De Jong chased down a loose puck in the Michigan zone after a Wolverines defenseman fell down. He picked it up along the right wing boards, curled back towards the net and set up Wyatt Bongiovanni for a perfect tap-in at the far post at 9:01 for his 16th goal of the year.
“We had to give it all we had in the third or we were going home,” Quinnipiac forward Zach Metsa said of the comeback. “We knew what we had to do.”
The Bobcats weren’t finished. Two minutes later, Ty Smilanic rounded the Michigan net left to right and fed Desi Burgart right in front, who pushed the puck home to make it a one-goal game.
“We got a little casual,” Pearson said. “They (Quinnipiac) won 30 games. They’re a good team, and I give them a ton of credit.”
Quinnipiac pulled St. Cyr for a sixth skater with just under four minutes remaining in regulation before a faceoff in Michigan’s zone, but Michael Pastujov scored into an empty net soon after for the Wolverines. Another empty-netter followed just over two minutes later by Moyle, his second goal of the game. Michigan’s Brendan Brisson (power play) and Quinnipiac’s Metsa then traded goals in the final minute of play to close out the scoring.
“We’re a young team,” said Pearson. “You don’t realize how difficult it is to close out teams, with their season on the line, and it’s a good lesson for us.”
Big Ten champion Michigan is 31-9-1 overall on the season, as is Portillo, who finished with 30 saves, while Power notched four assists. Quinnipiac, which was the last ECAC Hockey school left in this year’s tournament, finished at 32-7-3.
“I’m really proud of our group,” said Pecknold. “It was an awesome year for us, a great year, with 32 wins, and this is a tough pill to swallow.”
