North Dakota got two goals in a 1 minute 14 second span of the third period to break a tie game with Michigan in a 5-2 win in the Midwest Regional championship game.
North Dakota celebrates its regional championship. Photo by Jake Murray/PHN
Rhett Gardner scored the game-winning goal at 12:03 of the third, when he redirected a shot from the point past Michigan goalie Steve Racine. The goal was reviewed to see if Gardner played the puck with a stick in the build-up to the goal, but a Michigan player touched the puck before a North Dakota player to nullify the high stick.
North Dakota’s Coltyn Sanderson celebrates his goal against Michigan in the Midwest Regional championship game. Photo by Jake Murray/PHN
At 13:17, Coltyn Sanderson redirected a Tucker Poolman shot from the blue line past Racine. Racine made 48 saves in the loss, 23 of them in a first period where the Fighting Hawks peppered the Michigan net minder. Drake Caggiula scored in the first period.
JT Compher scored his first of the game at 5:33 to tie game at 1. The game stayed that way until Luke Johnson’s unassisted goal with 46 seconds left in the period.
Michigan battled back in the third period with a Compher power play goal, but the late flurry from the Fighting Hawks won it late.
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