>Estero, Fla. –

The St. Cloud State Huskies defeated the Miami RedHawks 4-3 in the championship of the Florida College Classic on Thursday night. In doing so, the Huskies became the first team from the WCHA to defeat Miami since North Dakota did on October 8, 2005 in the now defunct Lefty McFadden Tournament in Dayton. Additionally, the win was St. Cloud’s first against Miami in the last six contests as Miami is now 4-1-1 vs. SCSU since 2008.

Miami struck first on a goal by junior defenseman Cameron Schilling at 15:41 of the first period but St. Cloud quickly evened the score when Oliver Lauridsen converted on a one-timer just 24 seconds later. That type of quick strike goal coming off a center-ice faceoff would bite Miami again in the third period.

SCSU would score two goals in the second period on just three shots as netminder Connor Knapp was not sharp after a nearly month layoff. The junior from York, N.Y. was tested with just 11 shots on goal but he surrendered four goals on the night.

Leading 3-1 entering the third period, SCSU would win the opening faceoff and tally their fourth goal of the night just 13 seconds into the period.

Miami would attempt a rally cutting the 4-1 deficit to 4-3 within the first five minutes of the third period. Senior Pat Cannone and sophomore Reilly Smith tallied even strength goals but Miami could get no closer falling to 11-6-3 on the season.

For Smith, it was his 13th goal of the campaign tying him for the team lead with senior captain Carter Camper. The emergence of Smith has made it easier for head coach Enrico Blasi to roll four lines with the top two lines carrying significant scoring punch.

Miami returns to action Friday, January 7 with an unusual two-game series at Ohio State. Unusual in the sense that historically the Buckeyes and RedHawks have been paired together in the CCHA’s old “cluster scheduling” format and would typically play home-and-home weekend series. But, with the departure of Nebraska-Omaha for the WCHA, the league schedule has been modified significantly to account for an 11-team league.

Friday’s game will start at 7:35pm at Value City Arena and will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports. Saturday’s finale will faceoff at 7:05pm. Greg Waddell will have the call via Miami All-Access.

Notes

• For his 1-3-4 line, Reilly Smith was named to the all tournament team.
• Miami’s series with Ohio State will be the first for new Buckeye head coach Mark Osiecki since he took over for John Markell who’s contract was not renewed following last season.
• Osiecki is current assisting Yale’s Keith Allain at the World U20 Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. By virtue of winning Group A, Team USA advances to the semifinals on Monday, January 3 at 7:30pm where they will face the winner of the Canada/Switzerland matchup that will be played on Sunday, January 2.
• Miami is currently rated 9th in the KRACH rankings and tied for 8th in the more important, though perhaps more flawed, Pairwise ratings which closely simulate the figures the NCAA uses to determine the 16 participants in the season-ending national tournament.