ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Behind goals from Nick Leivermann, Nate Clurman and Grant Silianoff, the Notre Dame Hockey team handed third-ranked Michigan its first loss of the season, 3-2, on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena.
Sophomore goaltender Ryan Bischel made 32 saves, including 11 in the third period to secure the win in his first start of the season.
“It was a big first win for our team,” said head coach Jeff Jackson. “The fact that we got off to a good start was really important, those first couple of games we were chasing the entire time so it is a lot easier playing with the lead. I thought Ryan Bischel gave us a good game in net and then the good thing is we didn’t crumble after they scored that second goal. I thought we did a good job responding and playing pretty solid and that’s the most important thing. It’s still early in the season and I just want to get a little better every game and today was good progress.”
In the Michigan net, Strauss Mann finished with 15 saves. There was just one penalty called in the game, which Notre Dame successfully killed off early in the first period.
How It Happened
After some work on the forecheck, the Irish took a 1-0 lead at 10:31 of the first when Leivermann one-timed a Michael Graham feed high past Mann for his first goal of the season.
Notre Dame extended the lead with a pair of goals scored just 1:28 apart in the second period.
Clurman scored his first career goal at the 6:13 mark when his shot from the point beat Mann with Max Ellis providing the screen in front. Playing in their first career game together, brothers Graham and Landon Slaggert earned the assists on Clurman’s goal, marking Landon’s first career point.
Then Ellis picked off a pass in the neutral zone and caught Michigan on a line change when he fed the puck up to Grant Silianoff at the far blue line and the freshman forward buried his first career goal on a breakaway. Ellis notched his first career assist on the goal, which was scored at 7:41 and proved to be the game winner.
The Wolverines got one back at 17:48 of the second when Luke Morgan scored his first of the year for a 3-1 scoreline after two.
Michigan then made it a 3-2 game at 2:25 of the third with Michael Pastujov finishing an odd-man rush.
But Bischel and the Irish held strong the rest of the way. Michigan pulled Mann with 2:06 left in the third for the extra attacker, but some key faceoff wins by Jake Pivonka and Graham Slaggert helped seal the win.
Notes
- Seniors Matt Hellickson and Colin Theisen skated in their 120th-consecutive games, dating back to the first game of their freshman season.
- Nate Clurman scored his first career goal.
- Skating in their first game together, brothers Graham and Landon Slaggert assisted on Clurman’s goal marking Landon’s first career point.
- Grant Silianoff scored his first career goal.
- Max Ellis notched his first career assist.
- Notre Dame’s last win over a top-5 opponent was Oct. 13, 2018 (3-0 win over #4 Providence).
Next Up
- The Irish and Wolverines close out their weekend series tomorrow night (Nov. 28) with another 7 p.m. game at the Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- The game will be on Big Ten Network+ (streaming).
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