Cleary Pulls Away in Third Period to Defeat UM-Dearborn, 6–4
Despite a two-goal night from Matt Cunningham and a strong push late, the University of Michigan-Dearborn men’s ice hockey team surrendered three early third-period goals and fell 6–4 to Cleary on Friday night in Howell.
HOWELL, Mich. -- The University of Michigan-Dearborn dropped a 6–4 road decision to Cleary on February 14 at Howell Ice Arena, moving to 16-14-1 overall and 12-8-0 in conference play.
Cleary opened the scoring at 6:35 of the first period, but UM-Dearborn answered quickly. Matt Cunningham tied the game at 8:40 off an assist from Jamieson Franz. The Cougars regained the lead less than two minutes later and carried a 2–1 advantage into the first intermission.
In the second period, Carter Allen evened the score at 2–2 at the 8:06 mark, finishing a setup from Bailey Byrd. Cleary responded late in the frame with a goal at 17:42 to take a 3–2 lead into the final period.
The game turned decisively in the opening minutes of the third. Cleary scored just 36 seconds into the period and added another at 3:06 to stretch the lead to 5–2. UM-Dearborn cut into the deficit at 4:58 when Joey Cibor converted on the power play, finishing assists from David Dell and Will Barrett to make it 5–3. However, Cleary answered again at 11:22 to restore a three-goal cushion.
Cunningham netted his second of the night at 19:00 of the third, assisted by Jake Emery, but the late push came up short as the Wolverines fell 6–4.
UM-Dearborn outshot Cleary 42–39 and capitalized on its lone power-play opportunity (1-for-1), while successfully killing all three Cougar power plays. Carter Allen led the Wolverines with eight shots on goal, and Cunningham paced the offense with two goals. Goaltender Jack Miller made 33 saves in the loss.
The contest featured a heated sequence midway through the third period that resulted in multiple majors and misconduct penalties for both teams, contributing to 88 combined penalty minutes.
