Game 1 Recap – 10/2/26 Ann Arbor, MI
The Wolverines opened the new season with a dominant 7-2 victory over the Falcons on Friday night. Michigan was the better team from start to finish, never trailing. It was a team effort as Michigan had six different goal scorers, and only four players were held off the score sheet. Ivankovic had a strong first start, making 29 saves for a .935 save percentage. Bowling Green kept the game close for one period, but Michigan took over and ran away with the rest of the game.
The honor of scoring the season-opening goal goes to freshman J.P. Hurlbert. He was sprung for a breakaway by an outlet pass from Mews and made no mistake beating Falcon goaltender Steinman five-hole. This is also Hurlbert’s first career NCAA goal.
What we don’t see from this clip is how Nic Sima made this goal happen. The play started with Sima going hard on a forecheck, causing an unorganized breakout for BGSU. Then he is quick on the backcheck, forcing the turnover at the Michigan blue line. The Falcon defenders were expecting the puck to get deep and were playing further up ice, leaving Hurlbert behind them waiting for the breakaway pass.
While I admire Sima’s grit, it led to a penalty shortly after Michigan took the lead. On the ensuing power play, the Falcons won the faceoff and utilized quick puck movement to tie the game with a redirected goal from Minville.
In the second period, the Wolverines added three more goals. McKinney and Perron both scored goals by getting to the front of the net and the puck finding them. Between those two goals, Hage scored a power play goal set up nicely by Perron and Mews.
Michigan’s first power-play unit features three forwards and two defensemen as opposed to the more common four forwards and one defender. Playing on PP1 are Horcoff, Hage, Perron, DuPont, and Mews. When you have multiple defensemen with offensive ability, you can get away with playing two of them on the same power play unit. The second unit uses the more common one-defenseman setup. PP2 is made up of Spence, Park, Valentini, Hurlbert, and Reid. Despite going 1-5 on the power play, both units moved the puck well and created great chances.
In the third period, teams played 4-on-4 early on, and Michigan captain Garrett Schifsky would score off the rush to add to the lead. Hage tallied his second goal of the game with a little luck from a puck bouncing off of him, then a defender, before crossing the goal line. That’s why you go to the blue paint! Immediately after the goal, Hage was given an extra shove while down, and Horcoff took exception to that, mixing it up with the Falcon defender. Horcoff received a two-minute penalty for roughing and a game misconduct. With the game out of hand, I definitely don’t mind seeing Horcoff getting tossed for sticking up for our best player.
Bowling Green would sneak one more past Ivankovic with a shot from Martin. And in the final minutes, Spence would tap home a loose puck in the paint to give Michigan its final goal of the game.
Game 2 Recap – 10/3/26 Bowling Green, OH
I won’t go as in-depth on game two. I’m not at the point where I can subscribe to all the different conference streaming services!
For game two, Michigan would dress the same 22 skaters as the previous game; however, Coach Naurato juggled up the forward lines a bit, except for the top line of Horcoff, Hage, and Perron. Since it’s still early in the season, I’m guessing the purpose is to simply explore line chemistry.
Call it cockiness or just starting flat, but the Falcons got the early jump on the Wolverines, taking a two-goal lead into the first intermission.
Michigan came out in the second period and retook control, though, getting a goal from Perron 13 seconds into the period. The Wolverines would get two more goals in the period from Hage and Schock to take the lead heading into the third period.
A power-play goal from Levis would tie it back up for the Falcons before Michigan would take the lead right back with Perron’s second goal of the game.
Ivankovic shut the door the rest of the way, making a whopping 38 saves, finishing with a .927 save percentage. Hage and Perron factored in on all of Michigan’s goals on Saturday, leading the Wolverines to a 4-3 victory.
WHH 3 Stars of the Series
Series Notes
- Power play efficiency was low despite looking good.
- DuPont had two assists; Reid couldn’t find the score sheet this series. Still, both looked very impressive in their debuts.
- Everyone contributed in game one. The guys who need to contribute did so in game two.
- Coach Naurato earned his 100th win in game two.
- So far, I’m not a fan of the big yellow center ice circle, or the light show after goals at Yost. We’ll see if my mind changes over time.