The Michigan hockey team was looking for a storybook ending to cap off its regular season, but the book never got published.
There was one final game — Saturday’s contest at Yost Ice Arena, on Senior Day and against its in-state rival, a game that seemed as if it could handle all the components of a storybook ending. The 19th-ranked Wolverines needed just one victory to capture the Big Ten regular-season championship, but Michigan State wouldn’t let them etch the final words into their coveted story.
“We had the opportunity to do something special and it didn’t happen,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson.
Michigan lost 2-1 against the team it hates losing to most. The Spartans threw a pair of villains into the Wolverines’ fairytale, and their names are Matt Deblouw and Jake Hildebrand.
Twenty-nine seconds into the third period, DeBlouw scored the eventual game-winning goal. He was sprung on a breakaway thanks to a Wolverine turnover in the neutral zone and was able to slip a shot past sophomore goaltender Zach Nagelvoort.
“You never want to give up a goal in the first shift of the period, but we had a lot of time to come back,” said senior forward Zach Hyman. “We pressured them really well.”
It wasn’t as if Michigan didn’t have enough chances to find the equalizer. It had plenty.
With 6:19 remaining in regulation, a loose puck squirted out to sophomore forward Tyler Motte. He had a wide-open net, he ripped a shot, and he saw the wide-open net vanish.
Hildebrand shifted from the right to left goal post, flung his glove in the air and Motte’s shot somehow landed in leather instead of twine.
During the final minute of regulation, Hildebrand stood tall against Motte once more. A rebound opportunity was smothered, and the Wolverines couldn’t break through with the extra attacker despite a lengthy stay in the offensive zone.
“Their goalie stood on his head and played as well as I’ve seen a goalie play this year,” Berenson said.
Michigan State led the entire game and was sparked by an early goal off the stick of forward Michael Ferrantino. Midway through the first period, just as a Michigan penalty had expired, Ferrantino skated through the left circle and fired a rising shot over Nagelvoort’s left shoulder.
The Wolverines br0ke through just once, as they evened the score at one when freshman defenseman Zach Werenski netted his ninth of the season with 7:10 left in the second period. Werenski corralled the puck at the high slot, paused momentarily and fired a shot into the top corner.
Shortly after Ferrantino’s goal, the Wolverines began to take control of the game, flipping the switch on its dangerous offense. They peppered Hildebrand with a flurry of chances, and none were better than Hyman’s missed breakaway whose rebound prompted a pair of near misses by freshman forward Dylan Larkin and senior defenseman Brennan Serville.
“Sometimes the puck isn’t going to go in, but they played well defensively and unfortunately they capitalized on the little chances that they had,” Hyman said. “I mean, that’s the name of the game is putting your chances in.”
The initial half of the second period played to the same tune as the final half of the first, but Hildebrand continued his stout performance. Michigan whizzed a pair of shots wide and couldn’t beat Hildebrand even in the midst of a stretch where it outshot Michigan State 6-0 in the first 9:27 of the middle frame.
All evening, the Wolverines won the possession battle and finished the game with 19 more shots than the Spartans. But not every ending is a happy one, even if all signs point toward such a finish and even if Michigan deserved one.
“I think our team has put everything they had during this weekend,” Berenson said. “We went down there and played a good game in Lansing and we played another good game tonight, and it didn’t happen.”
Throughout the final month of the season, the Wolverines controlled their own destiny for a Big Ten title, but they fell short. A victory one night ago in East Lansing set the stage for Michigan to win its first conference championship since 2011, but it fell short.
And with a myriad of chances to find the goal — and the words — that would have been enough to compose a happy ending, it fell short.
The Wolverines’ storybook ending was almost complete, but sometimes the most promising of storylines don’t pan out. It just didn’t happen. Michigan will have to settle for a new story — a shot at redemption in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
With this fairytale in the wastebasket, the Wolverines are back to writing once more, but writing a new story is better than being unable to write anything at all.