Michigan hockey stumbles vs. Notre Dame, settles for series split

Michigan hockey’s team’s win streak against Notre Dame is over.

The ninth-ranked Wolverines fell to the Irish 7-4 Saturday in South Bend, their first loss to Notre Dame in nine games.

After a slow start Friday, Michigan scored five straight in a 5-3 victory in the series opener. It was the Irish that used a five-goal surge to propel it to victory to earn a series split.

Sophomore Evan Werner opened the scoring for the Wolverines (13-8-1, 7-5 Big Ten) at the 11:48 mark of the first period, but Notre Dame answered with five straight.

William Whitelaw and Philippe Lapointe scored power-play goals 32 seconds apart in the second period to make it a two-goal game, but that’s as close as the Wolverines came to a comeback.

They were done in by a disastrous stretch in the second period where the Irish (7-14-1, 2-11-1) scored three goals in 32 seconds. Saturday was Notre Dame’s first Big Ten win in regulation.

Michigan outshot Notre Dame 41-29 but gave up a season-high seven goals.

It faces rival Michigan State, the top-ranked team in the country, for the first time this season next weekend, hosting the Spartans on Friday and traveling to East Lansing on Saturday.