No. 6 Notre Dame split an away series with No. 14 Michigan at Yost Ice Arena this weekend.
Friday night was a slow contest for two of three periods, as the first and the third periods were scoreless for both squads. The only goal for the Irish (5-4-1, 2-2-0 Big Ten) came in the second period, as sophomore defenseman Matt Hellickson got the Irish on the board courtesy of an assist by senior forward Dylan Malmquist. But the Wolverines (5-4-0, 1-1-0) would quickly respond with two goals of their own to take the lead. Both teams went scoreless in the third, and the Irish lost the first game of the series 2-1.
On Saturday night, the Irish offense bounced back, managing to put six goals on the board and claim the win by a four-goal margin.
Nearly three minutes into the game, Michigan got on the board thanks to a power play goal. Irish sophomore Dylan St. Cyr stayed strong in net through the deficit, making several clutch stops to keep the Michigan lead at one. Freshman forward Alex Steeves and junior forward Cal Burke scored in the final four minutes of the period to hand Notre Dame the lead heading into the second.
The Irish offense came out with energy in the second period, scoring three goals in the first 4:10 of the middle frame. Senior forward Joe Wegwerth struck first, netting his sixth of the season, Steeves came 12 seconds later, slotting his second of the game, and senior defenseman Bobby Nardella finished the trio. Then, with 2:23 left in the period, senior forward Jack Jenkins slotted his second goal of the season to give the Irish a 6-1 lead.
Michigan would go on to score once more in the third period, but the Irish held off any further efforts, ending the game with a 6-2 victory.
Notre Dame will continue Big Ten conference play next weekend with a two-game road series in East Lansing, Michigan, against Michigan State.
