Michigan falls to Western Michigan 3-2 in overtime
Western Michigan celebrates after scoring their second goal of the second half of their game against Michigan taking the lead at Comerica Park, Friday, December 27, 2013.
(Courtney Sacco | The Ann Arbor News)
DETROIT -- Josh Pitt cut through three Michigan skaters and buried a shot high glove side with 18 seconds left to send Western Michigan to a 3-2 overtime win over Michigan Friday night in a Great Lakes Invitational semifinal game.
Western (8-8-3) now advances to the championship game of the 49th GLI, being played outside for the first time as part of the Hockeytown Winter Festival at Comerica Park.
In the first semifinal, Michigan Tech topped Michigan State in the fifth round of a shootout to advance to its second straight GLI championship game. MTU won the GLI last year for the first time since 1980.
The GLI consolation game will take place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, featuring Michigan (10-3-2) against Michigan State, followed by the championship game at 7 p.m.
After Michigan took a penalty with 1:36 left in overtime, Western finished the game on the power play.
When Pitt skated into the Michigan zone with nothing but maize and blue jerseys surrounding him with 20 seconds left, it looked like the game was destined for a shootout. But after he chipped the puck over three Wolverines sticks and squeezed between the players for a breakaway he had earned his team the win.
“It’s exactly the way coach Facca, our power play coach, drew it up this morning,” WMU coach Andy Murray said with a smile.
Western came out strong to open the first period, putting three shots on goal in the first five minutes and challenging Wolverines freshman goaltender Zach Nagelvoort.
Wolverines freshman forward J.T. Compher opened the scoring with a shorthanded breakaway goal, cutting across the net in front of Broncos goaltender Lukas Hafner to finish in the corner.
Compher was originally ruled out for the GLI, after suffering an injury at USA Hockey’s World Junior evaluation camp, but after a subsequent evaluation he was declared ready to play this weekend.
“It’s feeling really good," Compher said of his foot. "I was glad to be out there."
Western took the lead on a pair of goals in the latter half of the second period.
With nine minutes left, the Broncos’ Shane Berschbach was left wide open in front of the Wolverines net, and defenseman Jordan Oesterle found him for a pass that led to a point-blank goal.
Five minutes later, Will Kessel picked up a puck in the faceoff circle in front of the Michigan goal, and buried a shot high over the glove-side shoulder of Nagelvoort to give Western a 2-1 lead.
Both times, a Bronco skater found open space in front of the Michigan net for point-blank goals.
“It was frustrating, that’s for sure," Michigan captain Mac Bennett said of the defensive breakdowns. "There was way too many chances in the slot for them. We gave them way too much and we couldn’t bury on our chances.”
The score stood until five minutes into the third period, when Michigan’s Travis Lynch took a long shot from near the outside of the faceoff circle that Hafner misjudged and saw fly over his shoulder to tie the game.
Hafner kept the Broncos in the game for the next nearly 20 minutes, until Pitt's highlight-reel play sent Western to the finals.
“It was a great goal, certainly one that gave us the victory, but there was so many other things that were part of the equation before that," Murray said.
Kyle Austin covers sports for The Ann Arbor News. E-mail him at kyleaustin2@mlive.com