Hockey Falls at Michigan Friday
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michigan Tech (1-5-1) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|
Michigan (3-1-0) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Michigan Tech hockey team fell 4-3 to the No. 11-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Friday (Oct. 21) night at Yost Ice Arena. The Huskies came back from a two-goal deficit but surrendered a shorthanded goal with 52 seconds to go.
"We can't give up four goals on the road and expect to win," Tech coach Mel Pearson said. "We had a lot of good individual performances tonight, but we still need to get every single player in the lineup to play a team game."
Michigan (3-1-0) scored 5:03 into the second period to take a 3-1 lead. The Huskies quickly responded 27 seconds later as Chris Leibinger found Alex Smith open at the side of the net. Smith buried the second of his young career with the secondary assist going to Chris Gerrie.
Four minutes later, Reid Sturos took advantage of a misplay by UM goaltender Hayden Lavigne. A loose puck came out to Sturos who jammed in his team-leading third of the season. Michael Neville and Cliff Watson picked up assists on the game-tying goal.
Tech (1-5-1) went on the power play with 90 seconds left in the third and applied some early pressure, like they had been doing all night. The Wolverines got the puck out of their offensive zone, and it was Will Lockwood scoring the game-winner.
The Huskies pulled goaltender Devin Kero for a two-man advantage as the clock wind down but couldn't find the equalizer.
Michigan scored the game's first goal 13:05 in off the stick of Jake Slaker. Tony Calderone added to the lead 2:45 into the second.
Alex Gillies made it a 2-1 game with a shorthanded tally for Tech at the midway point of the second. Dylan Steman found him streaking to the net as Gillies scored his first of the season and ninth of his career.
Tech outshot Michigan 34-27, including at 15-8 advantage in the second period. Kero finished the night with 23 saves. Lavigne stopped 31 shots for the home team.
The Huskies were whistled for four minor penalties while UM had five.
Mel Pearson and former Tech assistant coach Bill Muckalt were honored on the ice at the first intermission as members of Michigan's 1996 NCAA Championship Team.
The two teams wrap up the nonconference series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 22).
"We've got to learn from this game so that we can beat team's like this, especially on the road," added Pearson. "We've got to bounce back tomorrow and salvage the weekend."
