Category Archives: Cody Murphy
Going the Distance – Game 3 tonight
After Friday night, there was some panic around Oxford in regards to the Miami Hockey program after being shut out by the 11th seeded Spartans in game 1. “Was the whole season a waste?” “Was the regular season a fluke?” “Why did a team with such firepower get shutout 7 times this year?”
Well, I think Enrico Blasi and the RedHawks turned all of those doubts into more hope for this young team with a 4-1 victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated last night. Let’s take a look at the two nights’ work.
On Friday, Michigan State came out firing with their first goal at 8:04 of the night. Miami couldn’t counter punch at all. A usually stout Austin Czarnik was just 5 for 21 in the faceoff circle, and Miami’s scoring chances were minimal. Ryan McKay stopped 21 of 24 shots on the night, but on the other end, Freshman Jake Hildebrand blocked all 34 shots Miami fired at him and MSU skated away with the shutout win.
Turn the page to Saturday night, and we saw the team that has been in the top 10 for the entire season, currently stands as the #3 team in the land and the team that is second in the country in scoring defense at 1.63 Goals per game.
To start the game, Miami wasn’t messing around. Senior Captain Steven Spinell, having not played entirely up to his potential over the last several weeks, decided to set the tone. The very first time MSU tried to cross the red line at center ice, Spinell laid out MSU’s Kevin Walrod. In the post-game press conference, Spinell said he “saw the opportunity and took it to send a message and set the tone for our team. We’re here to battle, and that was our focus.” (courtesy: Rick Cassano, Hamilton Journal-News) Spinell took a 2 minute penalty for and Indirect contact to the head – elbowing infraction, but the tone was set.
Last night, Miami held Michigan State to just 4 shots in the first period, 5 in the second and 8 in the third. Unfortunately, scoring chances isn’t an official stat, but I’d venture a guess that Miami had around 17 scoring chances compared to those 17 actual shots by Michigan State. In the second period alone, Miami outshot MSU 20-5 and really made the game look like it was theirs without question.
Once again, Blasi pulled the right strings and added some extra strokes to his masterpiece of a season. Blasi took Blake Coleman out of the game as a healthy scratch and inserted Bryon Paulazzo seemingly on a whim. To make the lines fit, he also dropped Cody Murphy down to the fourth line. Murphy was centered by Max Cook and also had Jimmy Mullin on his line for the night. Murphy had a goal and an assist, and Mullin scored the first Miami goal of the series that really turned the momentum in favor of the Hawks.
Miami was clearly the better team, and after Mullin opened the scoring, the rout was on. Austin Czarnik scored the game winning goal – his NCAA leading 4th shorthanded goal – off of a fantastic effort from Riley Barber, and Miami never looked back. In all, 4 RedHawks had multi-point nights: Czarnik would add a second goal in the 3rd period, Matthew Caito (team high 6 shots) and Barber had 2 helpers each, and Murphy had his spectacular goal and added an assist to go along with his 4 shots on the night.
Tonight, we find out if the momentum gained in the first period of Saturday’s game will carry into Sunday’s deciding game 3. If Miami can win, they will head to The Joe and will face the hottest team in the NCAA in Michigan (7-0-1 in their last 8). If MSU wins, Miami still likely has a #1 seed wrapped up, but will not have the opportunity to win the final CCHA Tournament Championship in Detroit next weekend.
Tickets are still available for tonight’s game. Tickets are $3 for students and $18-23 otherwise. Puck drop is at 7:05 once again, and the game can be seen in HD on Miami All-Access.
Rico gets 300th (and 301st), RedHawks Sweep
Coming off of a weekend sweep in Oxford, the RedHawks look ahead to another (!?!?!) home series against Alaska to start off what looks to be a rugged February schedule. Miami hadn’t been at home for a game in 48 days before Friday night, and after the upcoming weekend will have played 4 home games in 9 days. Follow that up with the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo and Notre Dame on Friday 2/15 and Sunday in Chicago on 2/17, and Miami’s strength of schedule and RPI should be rising quickly. Here’s what you missed over the last week.
Week 2 Recap
Riley Barber in action against Colgate. The freshman led the way
this weekend against Providence. (source: MuRedHawks.com)
This weekend’s matchup with Providence brought us some fantastic hockey, as the then fourth-ranked RedHawks improved to 3-0-1 on the young season.
I’ll happily take some of the credit for this one: Riley Barber is this week’s CCHA Gongshow Rookie of the Week. Barber was on fire this weekend, and we love how this freshman has jumped right into the mix for the RedHawks. Despite missing his shootout attempt on Friday night (he beat Gillies but rang it off the post), Barber still was the Hawks biggest contributor over the weekend with a goal Friday and a goal and 2 assists in Saturday’s win. He also had 7 shots on the weekend, was a +3 and blocked 2 Providence shots.
In the polls, Miami jumps up a spot to #3 in each of the weekly rankings. It’s still the time of year where those who win, climb, and those who lose fall, but I don’t think that many people would have thought we’d be the third ranked team in the country after 2 weeks.
In the USCHO poll, Miami earned 4 first place votes – one of 8 teams to earn the top billing on someone’s ballot. Miami was one of just 3 to receive first place votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. Both polls had Boston College receiving the vast majority of the first place votes and in the top slot, with Minnesota second. Both were in Tampa last year for the Frozen Four, and BC beat Minnesota en route to the NCAA Championship.
If you didn’t catch them, here are Austin Czarnik and Cody Murphy’s shootout winning goals from Friday night. We like seeing them over and over again, even if the RedHawks didn’t get more than a tie and a moral victory on the evening.
Sorry for the shakiness on this one. It’s not the ABSOLUTELY FILTHY move that we saw from Austin Czarnik, but this one-move-magic from Cody Murphy was good enough for the game winner. Way to pick your spot, fella.
And finally, here is your Sunday SixPack of tweets. Be sure to follow @redskinwarriors to complete your Miami Hockey experience!
- Coleman’s stats through 1 period last night: 1 shot, 1 goal, 1 penalty, 6 for 6 on faceoffs. #insidethenumbers Miele + Jones = Coleman?
- Taylor Richart: Shot Blocker Extraordinaire. 9 blocks against Colgate and 9 more against Providence. He’s nothing short of a #brickwall.
- Miami is now 19 for 20 (95%) on the Penalty Kill, 3 for 17 (17.6%) on the Power Play and have allowed just 5 goals in 4 games. #DEFENSE
- First line (Paulazzo/Czarnik/Barber) had 3G, 5A last night and went +6. 7G, 7A and +12 on the season. #unstoppableforce
- Jay Williams and Ryan McKay are undefeated through 4 games. Combined .954 Sv%. Are you ready to see your records fall @knapper311 ?? #reloaded
- Every team in the #CCHA has a victory. Only Miami is left without a loss. Miami is 5-45-1 at Michigan all time, 0-2 in AA last yr #RoadTrip
Miami takes its first road trip of the season this week to Ann Arbor, MI to take on the 6th-ranked Wolverines. Friday’s game will be on Comcast Sports Net in Michigan. We’ll let you know if we find any local TV or internet feed for the games. As always, Miami All-Access will have Greg Waddell with the audio-only call for both games.
2011-12 Season Preview: Miami RedHawks Forwards
Over the next few days, we’ll preview the 2011-12 Miami RedHawks for you. We start with the Forwards today. Enjoy!
Returning stars (with Twitter handle, NHL Rights)
- Reilly Smith (@muckbro18, DAL) led the team in goals last year with 28, to go along with 26 assists. If it weren’t for 2 super-seniors, this guy is your MVP of the 2010-11 RedHawks. Reilly was a unanimous pick to the preseason First-Team All CCHA (9/27) after an outstanding sophomore campaign in which he led the CCHA in +/- rating at +27. He finished the year with several honors including First team all-CCHA, CCHA all-Tournament Team, College Hockey News Second-Team All-America and INCH Third-Team All-America. We are all hoping that Reilly’s scoring wasn’t inflated by Andy Miele’s presence last year and that he will carry over last year’s success into this year.
- Senior Co-Captain Alden Hirschfeld’s (@aldenhirschfeld, undrafted) 12 goals-14 assists — 26 total points line last year didn’t show much of the story. The kid scores big goals. Alden scored the game-winning goal in double overtime against Michigan in the Midwest Regional Final in 2010, and 1 each in NCAA tournament games against Denver (round of 16) and Bemidji State (Frozen Four) in 2009. Point totals have been 6, 14 and 26 in his first three years in Oxford. He netted two goals in Miami’s exhibition win over Windsor on Sunday.
- Trent Vogelhuber (@tvogelhuber, CBJ) and Curtis McKenzie (@muckbro16, DAL) will be counted on to mentor the 6 incoming Freshmen forwards.
2011-12 Rookies (Twitter handle, NHL Rights)
These guys are easily Miami’s best recruiting class ever. Scoring. Size. Speed. Scoring. Two-way ability. Toughness. Filthy hands. Did I mention scoring ability?
- Tyler Biggs (@Tyler_Biggs, TOR) Listed at 6’3″, 210 pounds, Tyler should make a great replacement for Justin Vaive and provide a much higher scoring punch. In the words of our friend, Miami Women’s Club Hockey Head Coach Scott Hicks: “He’s not as big as weber. He just provides a completely different dynamic than vaive. He is more of a playmaker with a scoring touch than just a goal scorer.” High praise for this youngster.
- Cody Murphy (n/a, undrafted) – Played for the Tri-City Storm last year, where he served as assistant captain, and recorded 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists in 60 games.
- Jimmy Mullin (n/a, TB) – registered 3 shots in the exhibition. In his one season in the USHL, Jimmy played for the Fargo Force, scoring 60 points on 23 goals and 37 assists in 52 games as he was named first team All-USHL.
- Blake Coleman (@BColes25, NJD)- 13 shots on goal in the exhibition (6 in the first, 7 in the third). Blake will get on the scoring sheet, and should do so often. Blake played 59 games for the Indiana Ice last season, and had an incredible 92 points on 34 goals and 58 assists in being named the USHL’s Player of the Year.
- Austin Czarnik (n/a, undrafted) Considered a steal for the RedHawks, as he was originally committed to Michigan State, de-committed and came to Oxford. Let’s hope he stays a few years. His speed and determination will be gamechangers for Miami as we battle east coast squads and move into the NCHC over the coming years.
- Alex Wideman (@awides10, undrafted) Under-sized, but according to some, has possibly the most upside of all the incoming forwards. His speed and savvy will be an asset as he could have the best overall career of any of this freshman class.
Key Losses
- Pat Cannone. Third leading scorer at 14-23–37 in 2010-11, and someone who scored 30 or more points EACH of his 4 years in Oxford totaling 133 career points. Sure the next two guys are hard to swallow, but this one is equally as hard.
- Some other guy named Carter Camper. 19-38–57 in 2010-11, 4o+ points per season (41, 42, 43, 57). Captain. ‘Nuff said.
- Oh yeah… I think I forgot someone… Hobey Baker Award Winner Andy Miele… 24 Goals, 47 Assists. 71 total points last season and 170 career points as a ‘Hawk. Gone. Poof.
Total scoring lost: 5 seniors (Cannone, Camper, Miele, Justin Vaive 9-7–16, and defenseman Vincent LoVerde 2-7–9), 70-122–192. 48% of goals scored last year. A total of 523 total points out of 4 guys over 4 seasons. Makes you think back to the amazing times we’ve enjoyed in the Goggin since 2007.
Predictions
Well, let’s not get too excited, but I don’t think the RedHawks will lose much production on offense. These guys are more than capable of picking up the slack where the 4 departing seniors left things after last year. The Media and Coaches seem to think the same, picking Miami #2 in the CCHA preseason polls and #1/2 in the National Polls, and you can’t do that unless you’re expected to reload.
The gun’s loaded and cocked. Let’s see how things shake down on Friday night!!! 3 days left until Regular Season HOCKEY!!!
>Future ‘Hawks Featured on NHL Watch List
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Future RedHawks Curtis McKenzie, Max Cook, Cody Murphy, Steve Spinell and Reilly Smith have been listed on the NHL Central Scouting “Watch List” for the 2009 NHL Draft.
McKenzie and Cook are “B-Rating” players while Murphy, Spinell, and Smith are “C-Rating” players.
Just what do these ratings mean you ask?
A Rating: A must see player who is predicted to be a potential First or Second Round Draft selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
B Rating: A player to note if you are in the area, a potential selection in the
Third to Fifth Round Draft Selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
C Rating: A player that Central Scouting is tracking, a potential late round
selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
>Murphy Commits to Miami
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News coming late tonight that Miami has landed it’s second hockey commitment this week. Forward Cody Murphy ,a 17 year old from Highwood, Illinois, has committed to play hockey at Miami beginning in the 2010 season and currently plays for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL. Here’s what some are saying about Miami’s latest catch:
From the Select 17 Camp Report:
Cody Murphy-Never really able to put things together and score like he is capable of, but is still incredibly talented. A good skater with excellent finishing ability.
From the Western College Hockey Recruiting Board:
Cody Murphy-Columbus(USHL)-Very fast with good finishing ability and a nice shot.
Murphy’s Stats from Team Illinois:
2007/2008- 24 GP, 14 G, 8 A, 24 PIM
2006/2007-26 GP, 6 G, 10 A, 32 PIM
2004/2005- 28 GP, 18 G, 19 A, 32 PIM
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