Category Archives: Miami Alumni
RedHawks and Redskins Hockey Alumni
>Wednesday Tidbits
>– NHL.com has a nice feature on Sharks’ defenseman Dan Boyle, who is off to a fantastic start this season. The article mentions this tidbit, which I found interesting:
Boyle actually wears jersey No. 22 in honor of his favorite Flyer — Rick Tocchet, now the Tampa Bay Lightning coach. The Lightning were Boyle’s former team.
Check it out by clicking here.
– Ryan Jones scored yet another goal on Wednesday night, as the Milwaukee Admirals defeated Quad City, 5-3. Jonesy now has 6 goals and 3 assists in 8 games with the Ads. Can a brotha’ get a call up?
– After a weekend sweep of lowly Western Michigan, the RedHawks have moved up one spot, to number three, in the latest USCHO.com Division I Poll. Miami trails Notre Dame and Minnesota at 1 and 2, respectively.
– Former RedHawk captain Andy Greene participated in the New Jersey Devils optional morning skate today and should be close to returning to the lineup after breaking his right hand on October 29. Greene says that he isn’t sure exactly when he’ll be back in the Devils’ lineup, but says he does expect to practice tomorrow.
UPDATE: Devils Coach Brent Sutter said before Wednesday’s game that Andy will not play until at least next week. Source.
– The United Way of Oxford is partnering with the Miami hockey program to help those less fortunate this holiday season, by offering two “hockey themed” packages, to raise money charity organization. Here’s a link to each of the packages, listed on eBay:
Package One (Click Here): Fans can bid to be the “Guest Coach” for the RedHawks and join Coach Blasi on the bench as Miami hosts Bowling Green Falcons on January 30. Bidding ends on December 14 at 5:30pm.
Package Two (Click Here): Up for grabs here, are four tickets to the Miami/Northern Michigan game on February 20. However, these aren’t just any tickets. The lucky winner of this auction will get to enjoy this CCHA match up from Coach Blasi’s box suite at Cady Arena. This auction also ends at 5:30pm on December 14.
Be sure and have the checkbook ready if you plan to bid. Both packages are already quite pricey, but it’s for a great cause. For more information on the United Way of Oxford, check out UWOxford.org.
– Ryan Jones scored yet another goal Wednesday night, as the Milwaukee Admirals defeated Quad City, 5-3. Jonesy now has 6 goals and 3 assists in 8 games with the Ads. Can a brotha’ get a call up?
– And finally, the RedHawks take on the RPI Engineers this weekend. Once again, it’s a Saturday/Sunday series. Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on ONN with Dave Allen (play-by-play) and Kevin Ackley (color commentary).
Here are the game notes, courtesy of the RPI Athletic Department. (For those wondering, RPI’s record is 3-11-1. They’ve only beaten Harvard, Brown, and Robert Morris.)
>Wideman Named Defenseman of the Week
>Freshman defenseman Chris Wideman has been named the CCHA Defensive Player of the Week. Here’s the league release:
Wideman (0-4-4) assisted on the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 4-2 win at WMU before setting up three more goals in Sunday’s 7-3 victory over the Broncos.
Congratulations Chris!
>This N’ That
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– The Cincinnati Hockey Blog has a nice feature on the pro career of RedHawks Assistant Coach Chris Bergeron. Happy (belated) birthday Berge! You can check that out at this link.
– Ryan Jones scored the game winning goal in OT Friday night as the Milwaukee Admirals defeated the Houston Aeros, 2-1. Jonesy was also named the as the game’s first star. Milwaukee and Houston again, face-off today at 3:50pm.
– Nino Musitelli had a knee first collision with the dasher board on Friday night and sat out of Saturday’s game against Reading. No word on whether or not Musitelli will play tonight, as the Dayton Bombers once again host Joe Cooper and the Reading Royals. Nino has been impressive with the Bombers, scoring 6 goals and 9 assists.
– Mitch Ganzak (Wheeling) is currently second in the league’s plus/minus ranking, with a +15 on the season. Another former RedHawk, Ernie Hartlieb, is fourth, with a +13.
>Jones Update
>As many of you know by now, Ryan Jones was assigned to AHL Milwaukee last week by the Nashville Predators. Here’s a quick update on Jonesy, from The Tennessean:
Forwards Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones will play at least two more games for Milwaukee of the American Hockey League.
The two rookies were reassigned last week and were scheduled to play at least three games for the Admirals. They finished their third game on Wednesday, with Hornqvist posting four points and Jones two during that stretch.
The Admirals will visit Houston on Friday and play host to the Aeros on Sunday.
“We’ll reevaluate things after that,” Predators general manager David Poile said. “(Director of hockey operations) Mike Santos was up there and said they’ve played fine. But our coaches are happy right now with this team, so we’ll just go on a game-by-game basis.”
>Jones Sent to Milwaukee…
>In case you missed it yesterday…
Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has reassigned rookie forwards Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League. Both players will join the team in Iowa for the Admirals games against the Chops this weekend.
Jones has also skated in 15 of the team’s first 18 games, posting three goals and six points with four penalty minutes and 23 shots on goal. Acquired in a trade from the Minnesota Wild this summer, the 24-year old is playing in his first full professional season after four years in the NCAA ranks with Miami of Ohio.
With the addition of Jones and Hornqvist, the Admirals have reassigned forward Ian McKenzie to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. McKenzie has skated in nine games for Milwaukee this season and recorded two penalty minutes.
>Felder Says Jones Needs a Better Line…
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Brandon Felder over at HockeyBuzz is back with his latest column, and playing Doctor this week as he assesses the first few weeks of the Predators season. Here’s his take on Ryan Jones:
Ryan Jones – 15 games played, 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points, 0 on the +/- ratio, and 2 power play goals. This Preds rookie has been able to produce when put on the 2nd line, but finds himself on the 3rd and 4th lines recently. Dr. Felder has discussed before why this won’t work for Jones style of play. Ryan has done well so far this season, he plays in the dirty areas, is willing to take punishment, does well at the garbage goals, draws penalties, and has had a good start to his rookie campaign. Dr. Felder says Jones should keep doing what he is doing, but take a “More TOI and Better Line” pill if possible.
>Hustead Honored for Rookie of the Year Award
>Former RedHawk Taylor Hustead was recently recognized for his 2007-2008 SPHL Rookie of the Year award. Here’s the press release:
Taylor Hustead, chosen as the Southern Professional Hockey League’s 2007-08 Rookie of the Year was formerly recognized for his accomplishment last Thursday night by SPHL Commissioner Jim Combs. The presentation by Combs came during an on ice ceremony prior to the start of the Twin City Cyclones’ game with the Columbus Cottonmouths. Hustead, age 24, of Scottsdale, AZ scored 25 goals and had 21 assists in 47 games with the Cyclones during the 2007-08 season, his first year in pro hockey.
Hustead, played junior hockey in both the North American Hockey League and the United States Hockey League and his collegiate hockey with Miami University (Ohio) before turning professional. He spent most of the 2007-08 season with the Cyclones after a short stint with Muskegon of the International Hockey League.
He returned to the Cyclones Thursday night after playing six games in the Central Hockey League with Memphis. He scored a goal in his season debut in the loss against Columbus.
General Manager Sean Cowan also congratulated Hustead. “Cyclones fans and management congratulate Taylor on this recognition. Taylor obviously had an excellent year for us last season and with his return we are excited about his potential contributions this year.
The Twin City Cyclones are members of the SPHL, the leader in Single “A” Hockey.
Congratulations to Taylor!
>Knapp Honored as CCHA Rookie of the Week
>Link
Connor Knapp picked up the second rookie of the week award of the season for Miami University and his first conference weekly award of his career.
Knapp earned the award with his Perani Cup first-star performance against then-No.17 Michigan State on Nov. 15 at Munn Ice Arena. Knapp posted 23 saves and only allowed one goal en route to his fourth win of the season, all against CCHA foes. The freshman lowered his goals against average for the fourth consecutive game and has only allowed three goals in his last four games. Corey Tropp scored at 11:49 of the third period and ended Knapp’s streak of three consecutive periods of shutout hockey. Knapp went 85:26 without allowing a goal. His biggest save of the night came in the second period when Tropp looked like he had a great opportunity to even the score at one, but Knapp made a solid kick save and preserved the lead for Miami.
The RedHawks are not just a one man operation in the net. Fellow freshman goalie Cody Reichard is also one of the conferences’ top goalies. Both Knapp and Reichard hold goals-against averages below two, and both have save percentages above 92-percent. Together they have helped Miami to a 1.88 goals against average on the season. The two have played so evenly that they are tied for 12th in the Perani Cup standings. Both have a first star and a second star to their credit. On the campaign Miami has split time evenly between the two net minders as Reichard has handled all the Friday starts and Knapp all the games on Saturday.
>ECHL News
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– Some minor news today: Former Redhawk goaltender Charlie Effinger was traded from the Gwinnett Gladiators to the Trenton Devils today. Effinger was 0-2 with a 5.50 GAA with the Gladiators.
>Jones’ Life Impacted by Girl’s Fight
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If you’ve followed Miami University hockey over the last few seasons, you’d understand why Ryan Jones hadn’t gotten a haircut (much to the dismay of many opposing teams’ student sections). He was donating it to Locks of Love, in honor of a special girl with a life threatening condition that Jones was made aware of.
Sad news came this week, as Korinne Croghan, the young girl Jones was offering his support for, lost her battle with cancer. She was 14.
The Tennessean has an article on it’s website, mentioning that Jones is attempting to try and meet the Croghan family sometime soon and that he will be donating several Predators’ items (signed sticks, gloves, etc.) to raise money for the future, in Korinne’s name.
Many condolences go out to the Croghan Family.
If you’d like to find out more information, or make a donation to either the American Cancer Society, or Locks of Love, simply click the organization’s name.
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