Canisius Alum Jacob Barczewski Backstopping Michigan Toward NCAA Title

Former Canisius Golden Griffin Jacob Barczewski is making the most of his time with a national contender following four years in Atlantic Hockey.

Apr 2, 2024 by Jacob Messing

Canisius Alum Jacob Barczewski Backstopping Michigan Toward NCAA Title

Former Canisius Golden Griffin Jacob Barczewski is making the most of his time with a national contender following four years in Atlantic Hockey.

Barczewski helped lead the Griffins to the 2023 Atlantic Hockey Championship, where an automatic berth to last year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship saw him surrender all nine goals in a 9-2 opening-round loss to No. 1 overall seed Minnesota.

Minnesota finished the event as the runner-up to Quinnipiac.

Barczewski entered the transfer portal as a graduate, eventually winding up in Ann Arbor and within a historic Wolverines program seeking its fourth consecutive appearance at the national tournament and third consecutive bid for the Frozen Four.

Fast-forward to the graduate backstopping the Wolverines to a quarterfinal upset over rival Michigan State over the weekend, and the Wolverines now sit one win away from their first championship game since 2011 and first national title since 1998.

Surrounded by NHL prospects and consistency, Barczewski has won eight of his past 11 contests and is the only netminder in the 2023-2024 to oust one of the primary No. 1 seeds in 2024, simultaneously ending a four-game win streak the Spartans held over the Wolverines this season.

Michigan now heads to its NCAA-record 24th Frozen Four.

“This is why you come to Michigan,” captain and senior defenseman Jacob Truscott said of transfers following the win over Michigan State.

Hear from the the Wolverines after tonight's 5-2 win over MSU that sends them to the Frozen Four #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/g0a9zO7bdZ
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) April 1, 2024

During his four years with Canisius, Barczewski played in 94 games with a 44-42-8 overall record, 2.57 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and six shutouts.

While there is a level of difference between conference opponents in Atlantic Hockey and those in the Big 10, Michigan took a chance when it lost goaltender Erik Portillo in the spring of 2023.

“(Barczewski’s) a light-minded kid, but when it comes to goaltending, he is very serious about his craft,” Canisius coach Trevor Large told Connor Earegood of The Michigan Daily back in July 2023. “He’s an excellent teammate. (We) got to know that through the recruitment process, and it couldn’t be more accurate. Spending four years with him, he was exactly what we could have hoped.”

Portillo played in 87 games with Michigan, posting a 60-22-3 record with a 2.49 GAA, .918 SV% and three shutouts.

And while Barczewski’s numbers do not quite stack up to Portillo’s stats – or those of the Mike Richter Award nominees – he has been steady in the crease.

Barczewski holds a 20-13-3 record, 2.81 GAA, .909 SV% and two shutouts during the 2023-2024 season with the Wolverines.

The 25-year-old also ranks 11th in minutes played by goaltenders in the NCAA this season.

The Wolverines next opponent is slated to be No. 1 overall seed Boston College on April 11 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The winner books a trip to the championship game.

Barczewski and Michigan hockey look to earn another 2024 title, as the Wolverines football team took home its first national championship since 1997.