It was all going so well, wasn’t it? The Michigan hockey team was 10-2-2 and had climbed as high as No. 2 in the national polls. The Wolverines had stellar goaltending, luck and just enough offense to look like contenders for both Big Ten and national championships.
You know the rest. On Dec. 27, Western Michigan exposed a porous defense like no other team had, adding an emphatic conclusion with the game-winning goal on a fantastic individual play by Josh Pitt with 19 seconds remaining in overtime. Thanks to more surprisingly poor play and some badly timed bye weeks, the Wolverines didn’t win a game until nearly a month later.
Michigan lost to Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament, finishing the second half of the season with a sub-.500 record that had turned the Wolverines into a middling team and placed them squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The Daily looks back on the best and worst of Michigan’s 2013-14 campaign.
BEST WIN: It’s easy to point to the Wolverines’ 6-2 win over No. 1 Minnesota on the final day of the regular season as their biggest moment of the season. And, to be fair, Michigan needed that result to have any chance at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. But the Golden Gophers had already clinched the Big Ten title and played like it, taking some of the luster off of the rout.
In retrospect, the Wolverines’ biggest win was their season-opening 3-1 triumph over Boston College. They held the Eagles’ two Hobey Baker Award finalists, Kevin Hayes and Johnny Gaudreau, to just four total shots and no goals. Sophomore forward Andrew Copp picked up a goal and two assists for Michigan, feeding senior forward Luke Moffatt with a cross-ice pass that put the team up by two early in the third period.
WORST LOSS: Here are four for the price of one.
* Dec. 28: In the consolation game of the Great Lakes Invitational, Michigan lays an egg against Michigan State. Sophomore goaltender Steve Racine makes 37 saves, but the offense stagnates in the 3-0 defeat. If the Wolverines find a way to win, they likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in March.
* Feb. 8: A day after embarrassing Penn State, the Nittany Lions return the favor. Freshman netminder Zach Nagelvoort surrenders three goals on the first nine shots he faces, and Michigan can’t find twine all night as Penn State picks up its first-ever Big Ten win, 4-0. If the Wolverines find a way to win, they likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in March.
* Feb. 21: With 4.6 seconds left in regulation, the Nittany Lions stun the Yost Ice Arena crowd with a tying goal, and they eventually finish the overtime upset, 5-4. If senior defenseman Mac Bennett clears the puck instead of making a blind pass, or Nagelvoort makes one more save, or the Wolverines put away the Big Ten’s worst team when they have the chance, they likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in March.
* March 20: Needing one win to all but assure themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines fall to Penn State again, 2-1, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. In the first of two overtime periods, Copp wrists a shot that rattles off the post and spins on the line but never fully crosses it. One more inch and the Wolverines likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Instead, as Michigan’s online schedule reads, “there are no upcoming events.”
BEST GAME: If any one game showcased Michigan’s maddening inconsistency, it was the March 14 meeting with Minnesota. The Wolverines took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, pouncing on every Gopher mistake to the delight of the raucous crowd at Yost. But Michigan didn’t score the rest of the way and took five penalties in a 3-2 overtime loss.
The Wolverines demonstrated their ability to go toe to toe with the nation’s best team. Minnesota was fighting to clinch first place in the Big Ten and played like it, and Michigan still delivered a blow in the first period. That scoring touch disappeared in the final 40 minutes and into overtime, but the Wolverines hung on for dear life, coming just 136 seconds from a tie that would’ve likely earned them a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
BEST SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE: There’s no debating this one. With the season on the line, Nagelvoort set a program record with 63 saves against Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. The freshman stood on his head, and Michigan needed the performance, as it recovered from an apathetic first two periods to force overtime.
Nagelvoort did everything his team could’ve expected from him and more, but he didn’t get much help. In 92:47, the Wolverines only scored once, and the freshman netminder didn’t see the shot that buried itself in the twine behind him and ended Michigan’s season.