Michigan Wolverines news: Hockey wins in OT, a new analyst hire for Michigan football, and more

The Michigan Wolverines defeated Wisconsin in overtime in the Big Ten tournament, Michigan football hires a new analyst and more. 

The postseason has arrived for the Michigan Wolverines hockey team as the Wolverines opened the 2023 Big Ten tournament with the first game of a three-game set against Wisconsin at Yost on Friday night.

It was a back-and-forth battle between the two Big Ten squads, but in the end, Steven Holtz was able to find the back of the net in overtime to give the Michigan Wolverines a 6-5 win over the Badgers.

Adam Fantilli scored his 21st and 22nd goals of the season which at the time, gave the Michigan Wolverines leads of 3-2 and 4-3. The Badgers rallied and took a 5-4 lead in the third period before Rutger McGroarty scored with less than a minute to go to send the game to OT.

From there, Holtz became the hero for the Wolverines who are now 21-11-3. The fourth-ranked Michigan hockey team will host Wisconsin again on Saturday and with a win, will close out the series and advance to the Big Ten semifinals. The puck drops at 7 PM EST.

Michigan football hires a familiar face with NFL experience

Following the promotion of Chris Partridge to a coaching position from being an analyst, Michigan football has hired another analyst according to On3 and it’s a name that Wolverines fans will remember, Mike Mallory.

Mallory played for Michigan football back in the 1980s and has been coaching special teams in the NFL for the Jaguars, Broncos, and Saints in various roles from 2008 until this past season.

It seems like that will be his focus. Michigan football has excelled in special teams under Jay Harbaugh, but you can never have enough quality coaches.

There’s no reason Mallory can’t contribute on defense too and honestly, analysts are just about adding as many smart football coaches as you can, which is a good move for Michigan football.

Adding more NFL experience to the staff is never bad a thing. Speaking of the NFL, Michigan football players also stood out in the NFL combine as DJ Turner ran a 4.27 and Mazi Smith put up 34 reps on the bench. 

Michigan Wolverines lose to Ohio State in women’s hoops

It wound up being a clean sweep for the Ohio State Buckeyes over the Michigan women’s basketball team as the Wolverines were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday by a score of 81-79.

Ohio State led by five points with less than a minute to go when Maddie Nolan connected on a 3-pointer. Michigan would get the ball back down just two and got a couple of shot attempts up, but the final one by Emily Kiser wouldn’t go down.

Leigha Brown led the Michigan Wolverines with 19 points in the loss. Lalia Phelia scored 17 off the bench, while Nolan added 16 and Kiser finished with 14.

Michigan finishes the season 22-9 and will wait for the NCAA selection show next weekend to find out where they will play in the NCAA tournament. It appears likely they will start on the road and have dropped out from being a top-16 overall seed.