“It was difficult to overcome some of the goals that we gave up,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “... We weren’t able to recover from that.”

Junior defenseman Andrew Sinelli led the Wolverines on Friday, scoring the final three goals to finish with a hat-trick.

The Wolverine win also most likely ensures U-M will win the season series between the two rivals. U-M has won three of the four meetings this season, with one more left, but the two rivals could meet again in the Big Ten or NCAA tournament.

Sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand was pulled after the second period, matching a season-worst five goals against. It was the first time this season that Hildebrand was pulled from the game.

Hildebrand said the rough night won’t shake his confidence, as he plans to forget about the game.

Senior goaltender Will Yanakeff came in for the final period, allowing the final two goals. It was his first appearance in a game outside of exhibition play since Nov. 9 at Michigan Tech.

Junior forward Matt Berry was the lone Spartan to score on Friday. Berry’s goal trimmed the Wolverine lead to only one heading into the first intermission, but it went all downhill from there.

Senior forward Derek DeBlois scored the first Wolverine goal in the first minute of the game. The goal came off a turnover behind the Spartan net, created by junior forward Alex Guptill.

U-M would strike again quickly, this time senior forward Luke Moffatt putting it past Hildebrand with 12:14 left in the 1st period. Moffatt created the play, chipping the puck past MSU sophomore defenseman Travis Walsh off a faceoff in the U-M defensive zone.

However, MSU would rally to end the first period, scoring on the power play with 5:15 left in the frame.

Berry was in the right place at the right time to trim the U-M lead to one goal before the first intermission. 

Junior forward Tanner Sorenson delivered a hard shot from the middle of the ice just inside the U-M blueline that hit off the right post and redirected to Berry. The net was wide open and Berry had to just slide it in for the Spartan goal.

Despite trailing by one goal, Anastos felt good about MSU’s play in the first period.

“As the period was going on, we were building some momentum and I liked some of the things that we saw,” Anastos said.

The Spartans controlled the tempo of the play for the second half of the period and outshot U-M, 11-6 in the first 20 minutes.

However, the second period was a different story for MSU. The Wolverines used three second period goals to open the floodgates on the Spartans.

Junior forwards Zach Hyman and Phil Di Giuseppe, along with Sinelli, had the three Wolverine goals, all within a span of 12:21 in the second period.

Hyman’s goal came on a redirection in front of the net. The other two goals came off redirections, but this time off Spartan defenders.

Di Giuseppe’s goal came off Boyd’s skate and Sinelli’s off Walsh’s stick.

The Wolverines also were tough on the defensive front, holding MSU to only one shot in the second period.

Sinelli would cap off the night with two more goals in the third period, securing the hat-trick. The two goals came at the 7:31 and 18:12 mark of the period.

Late in the game, freshman forward Thomas Ebbing was ejected with a game misconduct penalty. 

Ebbing still is eligible to play on Saturday, unless the Big Ten Conference reviews the play and elects to suspend him.

MSU will get its final regular season crack at U-M on Saturday night back at Munn Ice Arena. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.

Senior forward Greg Wolfe said the team needs to forget about the loss, and start looking forward to Saturday’s matchup with its biggest rival.

“I think they’ll be hungry tomorrow,” Wolfe said. “That’s going to leave a bad taste in our mouths, that’s not fun and everyone knows it. We know that kind of stuff can’t happen and were going to swallow that pill and our focus is on tomorrow. It’s not the end of the world but it’s probably the worst feeling I’ve had in a long time.”