By Jeremy Summitt –
ANN ARBOR – The waiting game is finally over.
An announcement about officially recognizing the Big Ten as a hockey conference occurred over two years ago, and there might not have been a more fitting beginning to the season than the matchup between Michigan (9-2-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) and Ohio State on Friday.
In thrilling fashion, sophomore forward Andrew Copp was the hero in the Wolverines’ 4-3 overtime victory. Senior captain Mac Bennett executed a perfect pass from the defensive zone as Copp skated over the offensive blue line, and the sophomore found the back of the net with 1:22 remaining in the extra period.
“We had talked about having our center high all week long so we kind of drew up the play off that faceoff, and both our guys knew their defenders had been playing pretty wide out,” Copp said. “It ended up just being a picture-perfect pass by Mac, and I was fortunate enough to bury it.”
The game winner marks his second overtime goal of the season, but this time the feeling is much sweeter.
“Any time you’re playing Ohio State, on a weekend like this, where Big Ten hockey starts up, I think that’s going to rank pretty high,” Copp said.”
Junior forward Alex Guptill added that he wishes Michigan could play the Buckeyes every game, and rightly so. He’s tallied 12 points in his career against Ohio State.
Two of those points came in Friday’s win, and freshman forward JT Compher also recorded a goal and an assist to match Guptill’s stat line. Guptill’s goal came with just 16 seconds left in the second period after Compher’s face-off win found Guptill open in the slot, where he sniped one into the top-right corner.
And at 6:41 into the second period, on the power play, Compher scored off senior forward Luke Moffatt’s rebound that was pushed out to the slot. Guptill recorded the second helper on the goal to extend both his and Compher’s point streaks to four games apiece.
“It’s nice to kind of get in there and get in a groove, and I’m kind of a streaky player like that,” Guptill said. “It’s good to get a little bit of momentum going for myself.”
In a back-and-forth affair, the power play was working all evening for both sides. The Buckeyes (8-5, 0-1) converted on both of its opportunities and the Wolverines scored on the man-advantage for the fourth straight game.
But it was an even-strength goal that constituted as the late equalizer for Ohio State. A defensive-zone turnover by Michigan allowed forward Tanner Fritz to recover the puck and dish a pass to Anthony Greco who scored from the slot with 3:13 remaining.
“Let’s face it, you have a-one goal lead in the third period at home, that’s pretty disappointing when you give it up, and especially in the way we gave it up,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “We turned the puck over and gave it right to them.”
On the first power play of the night for either team, the Buckeyes were able to knot the score up at one with 4:14 left in the first period when another defensive mishap by the Wolverines left forward Ryan Dzingel wide open at the right circle. He wound up and rifled a shot that trickled past freshman goaltender Zach Nagelvoort for Dzingel’s team-leading eighth goal of the year.
As Michigan was forced to play shorthanded again in the second period, it was McCormick getting on the scoring end this time to level the score at two, and silence what had been a raucous sell-out crowd at Yost.
Freshman forward Alex Kile recorded his second point in as many games after dropping a puck in deep to junior Travis Lynch for the first Wolverine goal early in the first period. Pausing for a moment, Lynch quickly made a move to the right side of the net and converted a wrap-around for his first tally this season. Freshman forward Evan Allen picked up the additional helper on the goal.
Numerous missed opportunities for Michigan during the second period, alongside some critical defensive breakdowns, are what kept this game close for so long. Allen drew a penalty shot with 11:05 left in the middle stanza but failed to convert, and multiple odd-man rushes didn’t result in a shot on goal.
But those squandered chances didn’t come back to bite the Wolverines this time, and they’ll sit atop the first edition of the Big Ten standings – at least until Monday, when they travel to Columbus.