U-M came close but lost in CCHA Championship Game 3-1 to Notre Dame. POSTGAME REACTION YOUTUBE UNDER: CURRICH5

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat the Michigan Wolverines, 3-1, in the CCHA
Championship game at Joe Louis Arena.



The Fighting Irish
controlled the pace of much of the opening period, firing 18 shots on Michigan
freshman goaltender Steve Racine, but the Wolverines found the back of
the net first. With Michigan on the penalty kill, junior forward Derek
DeBlois carried the puck over the Irish blue line and fired a shot that
bounced off of Fighting Irish junior goaltender Steven Summerhays. The
rebound went right to Michigan freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba. Trouba
fed a pass through the crease back to DeBlois, who tapped in a short-handed goal
to give the Wolverines the lead, 1-0, at the 19:00 mark.



The Irish got on the
board at 10:34 of the second period when junior defenseman Stephen Johns
took a shot from the right wing point that caromed off of the end boards. Junior
forward Jeff Costello grabbed the puck and sent a back-hand pass to
junior forward Anders Lee, who tapped it in past Racine, to tie the game,
1-1.



In the final period
the Fighting Irish wasted little time taking a 2-1 lead. Junior forward T.J. Tynan brought the puck over the left
wing blue line and threw a sharp pass in the low slot for freshman forward Mario Lucia. The puck bounced off Lucia’s
stick right to sophomore forward Austin Wuthrich, who tucked it under the
left arm of Racine to give Notre Dame the lead just 29 second into the
period.



The Irish sealed the
deal with an empty-net goal with 1:07 left in regulation. After a Wolverines
turnover in the offensive zone, Costello skated through the neutral zone and
launched a shot from the Wolverines blue line past a diving Racine, who had
started to skate to the bench for the extra attacker, but had to come back after
the turnover. Racine was in the high slot as the puck went under his
outstretched stick and into the net to give the Irish the 3-1 lead and the
win.



Summerhays made 20
saves to earn the win, while Racine blocked 30 shots in the loss.



With the victory,
Notre Dame captures the CCHA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The loss
ends the Wolverines’ streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances at
22.