Updating you live from Ann Arbor, Michigan – the Michigan Hockey team is as good as seen on TV.
Last night I got to go check out the Michigan Wolverines take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Yost Ice Arena and oh boy did I make a solid decision buys tickets to tonight’s game as well. The first period alone, which ended 0-0, was one of the most intense periods of hockey I’ve seen with my own two eyes. Barely any whistles, massive hits getting laid left and right, Michigan and Notre Dame were neck-and-neck in shots on goal, and both tendies had impressive saves. Shoutout to Luke Hughes who was incredible last night, this is what he was up to in the first period.
Like I said we left the first 0-0 but things heated up in the middle frame.
The second period is where things got cooking. Michigan was on their heels for the first few minutes. They were botching passes, giving away the puck, it was a bit of a mess but nonetheless, they came out with this massive goal basically orchestrated by Matty Beniers (who is a fucking treat to watch play in person) with Brendan Brisson scooping the puck in the net when Ryan Bischel let it slip between his legs. Check it:
I was lucky enough to be right on that side of the ice and I don’t think I’m ever going to get over that.
We left the second with a 1-0 lead and despite how electric the third was, it did not go Michigan’s way. They did start off hot in the third, coming off that 1-0 high. Beniers once again worked some magic and got Michigan’s second goal of the game on this little snipe:
The feeling of “Hells yeah, a 2-0 lead” did not last long at all as Notre Dame got their first one almost immediately after that.
One reason I planned this trip is that I am both a Michigan and Notre Dame fan (when it comes to hockey, any other sport Go Hawkeyes). They both have some of the sickest players I have ever seen and that was shown all over the place last night. Right when you thought Michigan had a chance, Notre Dame would put themselves right back in the picture and vise versa. Every minute you were on the edge of your seat. If you ever want to get someone into college hockey, take them to a Michigan/Notre Dame game because it’s phenomenal.
Erik Portillo, Michigan’s goalie, did his best to keep this team up but he was getting peppered left and right. Notre Dame’s Ryder Rolston got a hard-fought goal late in the 3rd and suddenly it’s 2-2 (Notre Dame also never tweeted a video of it so use your imagination). Neither team could do anything about it in regulation so we go to OT. I thought I was loving 5-on-5 college hockey, 3-on-3 OT sealed the fucking deal that I am a fan of this for life. Same as all game, it was back and forth and back again. It looked like Michigan had a chance until Garrett VanWhyte took a 5-minute major for checking from behind in the dying minutes of OT. You could tell the second the ref blew the whistle, he knew he fucked up massively. It was all the way across the ice from me but I could see his head go up like “fuuuuuuck”. He get tossed from the game and Michigan was all of a sudden up against 4-on-3 in OT with a team that had been breathing down their necks at even strength. Obviously, it didn’t end well for the Wolverines. Ryder Rolston got the OT winner.
Obviously being in Michigan, wearing my new Michigan sweater, I was hoping they’d win but at the end of the day, can’t be too mad considering they’re the only 2 college teams I cheer for. Especially when I’m going to see a repeat performance of it tonight, this time from center ice 7 rows up. Absolutely incredible game, incredible atmosphere. The Children of Yost keep that place bumping at all times, it’s the most coordinated group of 17-23-year-olds I have ever seen. It made me have the thought of “wow, I wish I went to college” and then I remembered the crushing debt my friends are all in and I took that thought back.
As I said, I’ll be back tonight and getting more content for the blog so if you want more shoot me a follow on Twitter and keep your eyes peeled. (Hopefully I’ll have service this time around)
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