Utah Women’s Hockey Struggles In Loss To Michigan

SALT LAKE CITY – After an intense matchup on the legendary Yost Enviornment in Ann Arbor, Michigan simply over a month in the past, it was Michigan’s flip to journey to Utah for an ACHA Division 1 girls’s matchup.

The earlier matchup between these two groups noticed the Michigan Girls’s staff triumph 2-1 in additional time over Utah. Michigan got here into tonight’s recreation boasting a powerful 6-2-1 file and is ranked the sixth-best staff within the nation, whereas the Utes had been barely above water with a file of 8-7.

After the primary interval of tonight’s recreation concluded 0-0, it was trying like this recreation would additionally come all the way down to the wire. Utah’s goaltender Samantha Griswold was turning away each shot she confronted and the protection was doing properly to maintain Michigan’s scoring possibilities restricted.

With 12:57 left within the first interval, the dam broke and Michigan tallied their first goal of the night. After a turnover within the defensive zone by Utah, Julia Lindahl skated up from the nook and fired dwelling a slapshot from simply above the circles. From there on, it was all Michigan, concluding the interval with a three-goal lead over Utah, who nonetheless had but to attain.

Needing a spark, Utah determined to modify goalies to begin the third interval. Miranda De Antunano got here in for Griswold, who stopped 28 of the 31 photographs she confronted. It took three minutes for Michigan to get their first on De Antunano as Mariah Evans’ shot from the purpose bounced off of the goalie’s glove and into the online.

Robin Goldman would add one other aim off a clumsy deflection proper in entrance of the online simply two minutes later to carry the rating to 5-0. The shot totals confirmed Michigan’s domination as they outshot Utah 42-17.

Whereas this was Utah’s final recreation of the Beehive Showcase, Michigan performs in a top-10 matchup in opposition to the College of Massachusetts-Amherst in Salt Lake Metropolis on Sunday afternoon. Utah has a protracted break as they appear to bounce again earlier than they head to Bozeman to tackle Montana State on January 15.