ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The No. 20/RV University of Notre Dame hockey team dropped a heartbreaker in Ann Arbor Friday night, falling 2-1 in overtime to No. 7/7 Michigan at Yost Ice Arena.
The Irish did earn a point towards the conference standings with the overtime session while Owen Say made 45 saves between the pipes for a .957 save percentage Friday evening.
At the first media break of the night the Irish were outshooting the Wolverines, 6-5, but neither team had been able to break the opposing netminder as the game remained scoreless halfway through the opening period.
Following the media timeout, the Wolverines held possession in the Irish defensive end for a large portion of the period, peppering Owen Say with shots but the junior goaltender stood tall between the pipes to keep it a 0-0 game.
The Irish were whistled for the first infraction of the night, a two-minute minor for boarding, with 4:20 to play in the first frame. Michigan registered two shots on goal during the Notre Dame kill and the two teams returned to full strength still knotted 0-0 late in the period. The stalemate would hold through the end of the period as the two teams headed to the locker rooms through 20 minutes of play looking for the game’s opening goal.
Brennan Ali snapped the stalemate at 6:30 of the second period, picking up a pass from Michael Mastrodomenico and racing up ice before burying a shot top shelf behind Michigan’s Logan Stein in net.
Shortly after the Ali tally to make it 1-0, the Wolverines were called for their first penalty of the night, interference, and the Irish powerplay unit went to work in the offensive zone. Despite a few good looks on net, the Irish were unable to convert on the man-advantage.
Minutes later the Wolverines were called for cross-checking near center ice and the top Irish powerplay unit returned to the ice.
The Irish and Wolverines continued to battle in the second period with the Irish holding the 1-0 lead until a late goal by the home team evened the tally, 1-1, with 4:12 to go in the frame.
The Irish were called for hooking with just over two minutes to play in the second and the penalty kill unit was tested for the second time. Notre Dame successfully killed off the infraction and had one more rush into the offensive end but did not get a shot off before the buzzer and the two sides were tied after two periods of play, 1-1.
Notre Dame was called for a hook at 1:52 of the final period before getting whistled again less…