Early penalties seal Michigan fate in Wisconsin loss

MADISON — This season, the No. 10 Michigan hockey team has had plenty of penalty trouble. The Wolverines are seventh in the country and first in the Big Ten in average penalty minutes per game, sitting at just over 12 minutes. 

Penalty minutes aren’t a statistic Michigan wants to lead the conference in. And when penalty minutes are high, the players who work on the penalty kill are forced to take on more aggressive and exhausting minutes. 

So in the Wolverines’ close loss to Wisconsin, that penalty trouble didn’t wane. While Michigan was able to stay out of the box in the third period, its five penalties in the first two periods compared to the Badgers’ one allowed Wisconsin to gain and eventually take over the Wolverines. 

“The first two periods, we took five penalties, they took one,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “Guys are sitting on the bench too long, other guys are playing too much.”

Eight minutes into the first period, the Badgers had a multitude of net-front chances that the Wolverines were able to mitigate, but the mess in the crease led to a scrum between the teams. After junior forward T.J. Hughes got mixed up with a Wisconsin skater and was slightly shoved, Hughes retaliated and received a roughing penalty. 

Although Michigan was able to kill off that first penalty, the unit was put right back to work just 30 seconds later. While freshman defenseman Will Felicio checked a Badger skater into the boards, junior forward Josh Eernisse snatched the puck from beneath them and skated behind the Wolverines’ goal to start an offensive drive. As Eernisse crossed the Michigan goal line, senior defenseman Ethan Edwards got an interference penalty for bringing down Wisconsin forward Sawyer Scholl. 

Edwards is a crucial element to the Wolverines’ penalty kill, and without him on the ice, the Badgers scored five seconds into their power play, tying the game at one. Instead of aiding Michigan in killing off another penalty, Edwards had to watch and sit in his mistake from the penalty box. 

While the Wolverines committed just two penalties in the first period, one had allowed the Badgers to tie up the game. And by the time the 20-minute frame had commenced, Wisconsin had a one-goal lead over Michigan. 

The Wolverines took another four penalties in the second period, going on the penalty kill three times as junior defenseman Tyler Duke’s penalty was matched by Badger forward Christian Fitzgerald. 

While Wisconsin failed to capitalize on its first power play of the period, it found success on the second. Sophomore forward William Whitelaw, a Badger transfer, knocked a Wisconsin skater to the ice in the neutral zone and was sent to the penalty box for interference. And with just two seconds left in their power play, the Badgers struck gold at the net front, creeping closer to Michigan’s lead. 

“It’s hard to win a hockey game when you take (five) penalties,” Whitelaw said. “Obviously, I took one too, which is not good enough, but you don’t win championships taking that many penalties, and that’s our goal here.”

Graduate defenseman Jacob Truscott sealed the Wolverines’ penalties with a direct contact to the head penalty. Michigan may have been able to kill it off and not take another penalty for the rest of the game, but the damage was already done. Wisconsin may have been down a goal as the second period closed, but two of its three goals had been on the power play. Had the Wolverines not taken those penalties, the Badgers wouldn’t have gained on Michigan.

The nail-biting matchup between the Wolverines and Wisconsin came down to a battle of discipline and penalties. The Wolverines relinquished triple that of the Badgers, and while the score going into the third period didn’t reflect that penalties were a factor in Michigan’s loss, the final score did. 

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