COLUMBUS — The No. 1 Michigan hockey team blew out Ohio State both nights when the Buckeyes visited Ann Arbor in November. This game was anything but that.
In a disjointed and high-scoring affair, the Wolverines (21-4 overall, 12-3 Big Ten) topped Ohio State (8-14-1, 4-9-0), 6-4.
Despite a goal being scored just 58 seconds in, the game’s pace was sluggish early. The sophomore forward duo of Michael Hage and Will Horcoff took advantage. The Ohio State defense seemed content to let the Wolverines’ leading goal scorers take as much ice as they wanted as the pair closed in on Buckeyes goaltender Sam Hillebrandt. Hage darted around a defender and bounced the puck off Hillebrandt’s pads to the waiting Horcoff. He gladly took the opportunity to snap his four-game goalless drought and potted it for the early 1-0 advantage.
The game’s strangeness only increased. Play was choppy and oddly paced throughout the period. Michigan’s only power play was disrupted by the puck constantly ramping up sticks and out of play. The Wolverines had numerous chances, but couldn’t extend the lead. Instead, Buckeyes forward Max Montes deflected a shot sent from below the goal line past freshman goaltender Stephen Peck with just over a minute left to tie the game at 1.
Normalcy stubbornly refused to make an appearance in the second period as the teams went blow-for-blow. The scoring bonanza began just 25 seconds in when freshman forward Adam Valentini deflected in a shot while falling to make it 2-1 Michigan. It was the only bright spot in a disastrous ten minutes for the Wolverines. Montes scored his second of the game on the power play as the puck trickled through Peck’s five-hole and crept across the goal line to once again tie the game.
Michigan struggled to recover from both the goal and an Ohio State power play, and the defense began to flounder as the Buckeyes gained steam. With seven minutes to go, the puck bounced off the left post of the Wolverines’ goal and behind Peck, who desperately dove back to make the save but couldn’t. The Buckeyes had their first lead of the night, 3-2.
Michigan seemed almost indignant that Ohio State had taken the lead and responded with its first sustained offensive push of the period, culminating in a wrister from freshman defenseman Asher Barnett from the left dot that beat Hillebrandt to tie the game at 3. Shortly after, T.J. Hughes wristed one in from the opposite side, but it was ultimately overturned for goaltender interference, only adding to the irregularity of the night. The Buckeyes regained momentum shortly after and continued to pile onto their shot advantage, culminating in a goal from forward Jake Karabela, who ripped the puck past Peck while falling backwards to give them the lead 4-3.
And then, with 41.7 seconds to go in the period, junior forward Jayden Perron wired a puck from the left dot to tie the game at 4 and cap off a truly frenetic second period. Ohio State had dominated the period offensively, doubling Michigan in shots, 15-7, but the game was still anyone’s heading into the third.
It took seven whole minutes for the tie to be broken again — no first-minute goal this time — when Hughes snapped home a rebounded shot for the Wolverines’ first power-play goal of the night and their first lead since the beginning of the second, 5-4. The captain managed to extend the lead to two with just over two minutes remaining, again on the power play.
And as the clock wound down, Michigan held on to that advantage to claim its third victory against the Buckeyes of the season.
