In the 2022 NCAA hockey tournament’s battle of (future) Pros vs. Joes, it turns out Michigan hockey, with its NCAA-record seven first-round NHL draft picks – did indeed have talent to cruise past American International in Friday’s first-round game in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, regional.
The top-seeded Wolverines scored two goals 39 seconds apart in the first period, then added two goals early in the second in a 5-3 victory over the fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets (who Michigan coach Mel Pearson called “scrappy” on Thursday).
The win sends the Wolverines to the regional final at the PPL Center, where they’ll face the winner of Friday’s late game between second-seeded Quinnipiac and third-seeded St.