Big Ten Hockey Tourney Recap (March 4)

Second-seed Michigan punched its ticket to the Big Ten Tournament Semfinals while Michigan State and Penn State extended their series into Sunday. A recap of Saturday’s action from three campus sites.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It was a historic night for Michigan State, which claimed its first-ever Big Ten Tournament win with a 4-2 victory over Notre Dame. The Spartans had lost their previous 13 games in the tournament.

MSU (17-17-2) also set a team record for most goals in a tournament game, breaking a 1-1 tie in the second period and scoring twice more in the third.

Notre Dame (16-15-5), which took just one penalty, will host the series finale on Sunday, starting at 6 p.m. at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Goaltender Liam Souliere made 55 saves to lead Penn State to a 2-1 overtime victory at Ohio State (21-14-1).

Souliere’s total was the third-most in tournament history as he stopped nine shots in the extra period. Kevin Wall scored his team-leading 15th goal at 10:35 of overtime to help the Nittany Lions (21-14-1) even the series.

The game remained scoreless until Penn State’s Ryan Kirwan found the back of the net with 3:57 left in regulation. Ohio State’s Joe Dunlap answered 2:23 later to force overtime.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan advanced to the tournament semifinals for the fourth-straight year after fending off determined seventh-seed Wisconsin, 7-4.

Wisconsin (13-23-0) rallied from three goals down to tie the game at 4-4 before Michigan (22-11-3) struck three times in the closing minutes.

Michigan’s Adam Fantilli recorded a hat trick while Mathieu De St. Phalle produced two goals for the Badgers. The weekend series produced 22 total goals.

Michigan will host the winner of Penn State-Ohio State series next Saturday at Yost Ice Arena.