Just as it did a year ago, Michigan's season has come to an end with a loss in overtime in the NCAA hockey tournament. Unlike last year when they were defeated in the national championship game, this time around the Wolverines were eliminated in the first round of the tournament. Michigan battled back from a 2-1 deficit to send Friday's game to overtime, but Cornell emerged victorious, winning 3-2.
At the start of this game, Michigan looked like it was on its way to routing the Big Red. Luke Glendening scored 1:11 into the game, and on the very next shift Kevin Lynch put the puck in the net for the Wolverines. The score read 2-0, and Cornell looked stunned. After the referees decided to review the play, however, it was Michigan that ended up being stunned. The officials determined that goalie interference had occurred on Lynch's goal, and they took it off the board. Shockingly, the score went from 2-0 to 1-0, and Cornell looked like a different team after all of this.
Midway through the first period, Cornell scored on a power play. John McCarron put a rocket of a shot past Shawn Hunwick, tying the game up. Later, only 40 seconds into the second period, Joakim Ryan made it 2-1 in favor of Cornell by scoring a shorthanded goal. Michigan's power-play unit struggled throughout the night and especially in the second period.
With only four minutes left in regulation, Michigan tied the game up. Lynch scored, and this time the goal actually counted. He tapped it into the net on a rebound and ultimately sent the game into overtime since neither team was able to score in the final minutes of regulation.
Rodger Craig ended this game and Michigan's season at the 12:35 mark of overtime. The puck came out right to Craig on a rebound, and he buried it for the game-winning goal. The careers of Shawn Hunwick and Michigan's other seniors came to an end with that one shot, as the Wolverines were sent packing with a 3-2 loss.
With the win, Cornell is headed to the Midwest Region final against Ferris State, which beat Denver earlier by a score of 2-1.
You can check out a full bracket for the NCAA hockey tournament on the NCAA's official website.
For more on the 2012 NCAA hockey tournament, check out SB Nation Detroit's StoryStream.