April 5, 2018
By John Heisler
Twenty-one banners hang from the rafters of Xcel Energy Center, in alphabetical order representing the teams that have won NCAA men’s hockey titles.
The Irish would like to think they could position one of their own between those of Northern Michigan and Rensselaer.
They’ll get that chance now after 18,026 fans watched as captain Jake Evans’ goal with 5.2 seconds remaining provided a 4-3 University of Notre Dame victory over Michigan late Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in a Frozen Four semifinal.
The Irish, who also defeated the Wolverines in a national semifinal in 2008 to claim their only previous NCAA title-game appearance, will meet Minnesota Duluth, a 2-1 winner over Ohio State earlier Thursday.
Whatever happens Saturday night, the Irish will have to go some ways to match Thursday night’s ending as they came back from a two-goal deficit.
Then again, that’s been the typical finish of late for a Notre Dame team that shrugs off pressure and thrives on drama.
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The lone power-play opportunity of the opening period came 34 seconds into the game when the Wolverines were called for hooking. But the Irish couldn’t convert (they’d been five of 12 this year on extra-man chances against Michigan), and Mel Pearson’s club controlled much of the play the next 10 minutes.
All of the Wolverines’ 10 first-period shots on goal came in the opening 10:35 — one of those a Tony Calderone tally with 11:41 remaining. Calderone smacked it in from Cale Morris’ right as defender Justin Wade lunged toward him.
Michigan amazingly won 15 of 17 face-offs in the first 20 minutes. Maybe Notre Dame’s best scoring chance in that period came on a two-on-one rush with Cal Burke and Dylan Malmquist that Michigan goalie Hayden Lavigne thwarted just before a media timeout at 13:22.
Said Irish junior forward Andrew Oglevie, noting the face-off differential, “We knew if we could just possess the puck we’d get some goals.”
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The Wolverines made it 2-0 17 seconds into the second period on a quirky goal by senior Dexter Dancs that bounced past Morris off Irish defenseman Dennis Gilbert’s shoulder.
Said Oglevie, “We’ve had some unlucky bounces before and we’ve had to handle it. You have to be resilient. We kept our nose down and did what we had to do.”
The Irish got one right back nine seconds into a power play on an Oglevie marker (his eighth power-play goal of the season — twice as many as any other Notre Dame player has recorded in 2017-18) with 17:19 left in the middle period. Assists went to Jordan Gross and Evans.
Then an all-alone Evans tied it up at 13:40 as he fired a one-timer past Lavigne from between the circles with the teams playing four on four. Gross again had the assist.
“We did not play with the lead very well tonight,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “But credit them.”
The Notre Dame defense hung tough, allowing Michigan only three shots on goal in a nearly 20-minute span that included most of the final 10 minutes of the first period and the first 10 of the second.
The Irish later defended consecutive Michigan power plays (and one more in the third) — making the Irish 11 for 11 in that category in five games with the Wolverines this year (while allowing only 17 combined shots).
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The Irish took their first lead (on their third consecutive goal) as a perfect pass from Malmquist set up Burke whose last goal had been Feb. 3 at Penn State. Burke’s shot slipped past Lavigne at 18:52 of the third, as Oglevie also earned an assist.
Notre Dame killed off yet another penalty on a debatable hooking call midway through the final period.
Michigan tied it 3-3 on a rebound shot in traffic by freshman Michael Pastujov at 5:22.
Then, just when it appeared another overtime was on tap, Evans ended it. He did it with a Wolverine defender draped all over him, after a perfect pass from Cam Morrison who skated wide left with the puck before centering it. It marked the last of only five third-period shots on goal for Notre Dame.
Said Evans, after arguably doing his best Arike Ogunbowale impersonation, “I thought Cam might get to the net and then he did a great job of putting it out there for me. I just sort of poked at it.”
The game also marked the sixth straight one-goal result for the Irish — the last five of those wins (two in overtime and one tonight at the death).
“You’d like to pile up the goals, but that’s not going to happen at this time of year,” Evans said.
Michigan threw 25 shots at the net in the final period compared to seven for Notre Dame — yet the Irish outscored the Wolverines 2-1 in the period to win it.
Now the Irish get a chance against a Duluth team that has played 10 straight one-goal games in NCAA play (wins in seven of those).
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Notre Dame’s unofficial mascot, five-year-old Rudy Chapman who is battling Ewing’s sarcoma, received the honor of placing the Notre Dame sticker on the finalist line on the enlarged NCAA bracket in the Irish locker room.
Said Irish coach Jeff Jackson to his squad in those giddy Notre Dame dressing quarters: “Boys, you did it again. I’ve got calluses growing on my heart. We started slow, but then we came back — just another tremendous effort.
“You’ve put us in position to win a national championship. We know the objective, we know what’s ahead of us.
“We’ve got one left. We get to play in the final game of the year.”
With that “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles began blaring from the sound system.
The Irish only hope they’ll be dancing to it on Saturday night.
Senior associate athletics director John Heisler has been following Notre Dame sports since 1978.