Ann Arbor: Michigan’s Brandon Naurato didn’t sound like a coach that just watched his team earn a crucial 6-4 Big Ten win over Penn State on Friday night.
The 12th-ranked Wolverines, who have struggled to preserve third period leads this season, flirted with another late-game collapse against the 18th-ranked Nittany Lions before icing the victory with an empty-net goal in the waning seconds at Yost Ice Arena. But, most notably, the team lost three forwards to injuries that Naurato said could be “major.”
“Just surviving,” Naurato said postgame. “Shorthanded surviving.”
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Junior Mark Estapa exited the game in the first period and was on crutches in the press box for the rest of the game. Sophomore Dylan Duke, who’s sixth goal of the season gave the team a 5-3 lead late in the second period, took a body check to the head in the third period and left the game. Later in the third, Rutger McGroarty, a 2022 first-round pick who is second in the nation with 18 points, fired a shot on his off-wing and was hit when he was off-balance and went crashing into the boards.
McGroarty need help getting off the ice and was placed on a stretcher. Naurato said he was taken to the emergency room, although the extent of his injury is unknown
Junior Mark Estapa exited the game in the first period and was on crutches in the press box for the rest of the game. Sophomore Dylan Duke, who’s sixth goal of the season gave the team a 5-3 lead late in the second period, took a body check to the head in the third period and left the game. Later in the third, Rutger McGroarty, a 2022 first-round pick who is second in the nation with 18 points, fired a shot on his off-wing and was hit when he was off-balance and went crashing into the boards.
McGroarty need help getting off the ice and was placed on a stretcher. Naurato said he was taken to the emergency room, although the extent of his injury is unknown.
