The Florida Panthers’ Mackie Samoskevich scored less than a minute in overtime and the Michigan Wolverines celebrated their 27th trip to the Frozen Four with a 2-1 win over Penn State on Sunday night in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The Wolverines, a team full of NHL draft picks and prospects, will compete alongside Quinnipiac, Boston University and Minnesota in the men’s national hockey semifinals in Tampa, Fla. next month.
Adam Fantilli, one of the top picks for this year’s NHL draft, scored in the third period from a Samoskevich assist, leveling the game 1-1 and setting up the early overtime exploits that ended the Big-Ten’s season -Rivals Nittany Lions ended .
Defenseman Luke Hughes of Michigan, a No. 1 for the New Jersey Devils who is set to join the NHL club when the Wolverines’ season ends, was named the Allentown Regional’s Outstanding Player.
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“I thought our offense was excellent,” said Michigan coach Brandon Naurato. “Penn State is testing well. Our guys stuck to plan and tonight it happened to go our way.”
Earlier in the day, Skyler Brind’Amour, son of Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, scored the winner and his 14th goal of the season as Quinnipiac beat Ohio State 4-1 in the regional league from Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bobcats’ third Journey to the Frozen Four.
Christophe Fillion, Cristophe Tellier and Jayden Lee also scored for the Bobcats, who will face the Wolverines in the national semifinals on April 6th. The Golden Gophers meet the Terriers in the other game of the Frozen Four.
“We’re just thrilled to be returning to the Frozen Four,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “Of course we’ve been before, but my fifth graders made it into the Elite Eight twice and didn’t break through, so I’m just thrilled with these guys.”
It was a disappointing end for Ohio State, who advanced to the Elite Eight by beating Harvard 8-1 in the first round on Friday in Bridgeport.
“I thought we played a good game,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik on Sunday. “I thought we left everything on the rink. As you can understand there are two things that are really important to me to train at any level: It’s to be around great players and great people and I’m lucky to have both. I’m really proud of our hockey team and really proud of the people who put so much work into it.”
The national final is on August 8th.
All Frozen Four games take place at Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Source : www.espn.com