Category Archives: NCAA Hockey
>Games 23 & 24 – Miami v. Ferris State
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#2 Miami sweeps #6 Ferris State, regains command in CCHA
Big Rapids, Mich. – What a difference a week makes.
Stripped of their #1 national ranking and coming off two non-conference losses to lowly Robert Morris University where their offense generated just two goals, the #2 Miami RedHawks took to the road to take on #6 Ferris State in a battle of the top two teams in the CCHA. Both squads entered the weekend with 34 league points and the Bulldogs brought a 12-game league unbeaten streak and a perfect 11-0 record at Ewigleben Ice Arena to the table.
On Friday, Miami rode the excellent goaltending of sophomore Cody Reichard in posting a 4-0 victory. With the win, Reichard improved his record to 11-2-2 in registering his fourth shutout of the season stopping all 23 Bulldog shots. The shutout tied Reichard with David Burleigh for the most in a single season in Miami history in just 16 games.
Seniors Jarod Palmer and Brandon Smith and junior Andy Miele and sophomore Trent Vogelhuber (CBJ draft pick) scored for Miami as they received scoring from throughout the lineup and dominated the play from start to finish.
Saturday’s game started slowly as the first period ended with a scoreless tie. However, in the second period, Miami would trail 2-1 before erupting for three-straight goals to take a 4-2 lead into the third. Miami would score first in the third period and lead 5-2 before allowing a late powerplay goal and extra-attacker goal to make the score much closer than the RedHawks would have preferred. It was the first time this season that Cody Reichard allowed more than three goals in a game as he made his first back-to-back starts in more than two months. Still, you have to be concerned about Miami’s inability to kill late game, extra-attacker situations. This really hasn’t improved since last season’s debacle in the national title game.
With the victory, Miami (15-4-5, 12-1-3-1 CCHA) leads now second place Michigan State (15-7-4, 10-4-4-1) by five points and Ferris State (16-6-2, 10-4-2-2) by six points (remember, CCHA regular season victories are worth 3 points) in taking the season series 2-0-2 against the Bulldogs. Miami has two games in-hand over the Spartans in the race for the CCHA regular season championship. Miami received two goals from junior captain Tommy Wingels (San Jose draft pick) and single goals from Jarod Palmer, sophomore defenseman Chris Wideman (Ottawa draft pick) and sophomore Alden Hirschfeld in scoring five goals for the first time in the past five games.
Though Cody Reichard allowed a season’s-high four goals in Saturday’s game, his stats remain spectacular. In 17 games, Reichard is 12-2-2 with four shutouts, a 1.54 goals-against average and a save percentage of 93.2. In conference games, Reichard is 10-0-1 with a 1.18 goals-against average with a save percentage of 95.0. He is a legitimate Hobey Baker Award candidate, and if he continues his pace, will easily shatter most of the Miami single-season records for goaltending excellence.
Next week, Miami makes its longest road trip of the year with a trek to the land of the Midnight Sun, from where you can purportedly see Russia from your house, Alaska. In fact, the RedHawks will be playing the University of Alaska in Fairbanks which is actually north of North Pole, Alaska and just 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The Nanooks will enter the weekend in fifth place in the CCHA with an overall record of 10-7-5 and a league mark of 7-7-4-4. Alaska picked up two points in Ann Arbor this weekend losing 6-0 on Friday before bouncing back with a shootout win on Saturday, which was technically a 3-3 tie with the Wolverines. Interestingly, the Nanooks have won all four league shootouts in which they have participated this season.
Here’s a quick look at the rest of the Top 10 and how they fared this weekend.
#1 Denver – off
#3 Wisconsin – split at #8 Colorado College
#4 North Dakota – tied and lost at unranked Minnesota – The Gophers appear to be pulling it together with the help of Bowling Green transfer, and Ohio native, Jacob Cepis who has provided instant offense with four goals and five points in his first six games. The Gophers are now 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
#5 Yale – beat Brown 8-5
#7 Michigan State – lost and won shootout over unranked Notre Dame who is also beginning to show signs of life
#9 Cornell – tied St. Lawrence 1-1
#10 Minnesota-Duluth – Swept Minnesota State moving into first place in the WCHA with Denver’s bye week.
>Miami vs. Robert Morris – January 8 and 10
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Well, it might not be the sexiest matchup, but the #1 Miami RedHawks finally return to the ice on Friday night for the first time since finishing off a sweep of Ohio State on December 12 in Oxford. The RedHawks will particpate in the 2010 Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase facing Robert Morris University of College Hockey America. The day of hockey will feature the RMU women’s team against UConn at 2pm followed by RMU club hockey at 5pm against Penn State while the nation’s number one ranked team will face the varsity Colonials at 8pm from Mellon Arena in downtown Pittsburgh. The teams will complete the back end of the home-and-home on Sunday at 4pm from Steve Cady Arena in Oxford. Sunday’s game will be televised across the great state of Ohio on ONN.
RedHawk Rundown
The last time we saw the Miami RedHawks, they were finishing the back end of a home-and-home with Ohio State sweeping the Buckeyes 6-0 and 4-2. Currently, Miami is riding a five-game unbeaten streak that includes CCHA league series sweeps against Ohio State and Notre Dame, and a tie against current #5 North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D.
The RedHawks enter the weekend perched atop all three major polls (USCHO, USA Today, INCH), are ranked first in the KRACH ratings (a sophisticated computer model) and first in the Pairwise rankings that simulate the NCAA’s RPI ratings that largely determine the participants in the NCAA Tournament. To suggest the first half of the season was successful would be an understatement.
But, that brings us to the subject of the second half of the season which has become known by some as the “Rico Swoon” in honor of head coach Enrico Blasi’s less than overwhelming second half coaching record. In particular, the first ten games after the winter holiday break have been the most difficult for even the best Miami teams over the years.
Here’s a look at Miami’s record in the first ten games after the winter break/the start of the second half of each season since 1999-2000*.
99-00: 4-5-1
00-01: 6-4
01-02: 3-6-1
02-03: 3-6-1
03-04: 7-2-1 (NCAA Tournament)
04-05: 5-4-1
05-06: 6-3-1 (CCHA Regular Season Champions, NCAA Tournament)
06-07: 3-4-3 (NCAA Regional Finalist)
07-08: 7-2-1 (NCAA Regional Finalist)
08-09: 4-5-1 (NCAA Finalist)
* source: http://muredhawkshockey.blogspot.com
So, since 1999-2000, Miami is an average 48-41-11 in the first ten games of the second half of the season. As it is, Miami is currently 13-2-5 and atop the CCHA standings. Last year, Miami started fast at 12-3-3, but underperformed during January and early February effectively eliminating themselves from the CCHA regular season title chase falling well off the pace that was being set by Notre Dame. And, the first two games of last year were in the now defunct Ohio Hockey Classic with Miami losing to Clarkson of the ECAC and Army of Atlantic Hockey. These were games that Miami was heavily favored to win.
This year’s opponent to kick off the second half, Robert Morris University, enters Friday’s game a dismal 3-12-3 in the final season of College Hockey America (the Colonials will join Atlantic Hockey beginning next season). Amazingly, RMU is in second place in the CHA with a league record of 1-4-2 though they are a distant second as Bemidji State is 8-0 in conference play. Furthermore, the Colonials score just 2.67 goals per game while allowing an average of 4.06 goals per game meaning their defense and goaltending simply aren’t getting the job done for them. Conversely, Miami leads the nation in team defense having allowed just 34 goals in 20 games (1.70 goals-against average). But, if you take away two games where they allowed five goals to New Hampshire and North Dakota, Miami has allowed just 24 goals, or an average of 1.33 goals per game in the other 18 contests. That, my friends, is team defense.
Sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard leads the nation in goals-against average at 1.34, he is second in save percentage at 93.8 and is tied for second in shutouts (3) and should get the start for Miami on Friday night. Sophomore Connor Knapp (2.18, .913) is no slouch either and will likely play Sunday in Oxford.
Offensively, the Colonials are led upfront by juniors Nathan Longpre (8-13-21) and Chris Kushneriuk (9-11-20) while junior Denny Urban anchors a porous defense corps posting 5-7-12 in 18 games.
Miami continues to be paced offensively by the stellar junior class led by Andy Miele (7-12-19) and captain Tommy Wingels (10-8-18) while sophomore Cameron Schilling leads the defensemen in scoring with 1-9-10. While no Miami skaters appear in the nation’s top 40 scorers, Miami is evenly balanced across four lines with seven players having recorded ten or more points in the season’s first twenty games. It will be a challenge for Robert Morris to defend Miami for 60 minutes.
While the stats and records all point to a Miami sweep, the Rico Swoon cannot be overlooked. Will Miami return from a month-long break as focused as the team that ended the decade with three shutouts in their last four games. Or, will they struggle to regain the momentum that’s often lost in visits home for Christmas dinner and gifts?
Parting Shot
The Colonials are the second team Miami has faced from the CHA this season with the other coming against current #10 Bemidji State in a rematch of last year’s national semifinal that was won 4-1 by Miami in Washington. The Beavers handed Miami their only loss in regulation by a 3-2 score and gained a measure of revenge against the RedHawks over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Fearless Predictions
Miami has appeared on a mission from the outset of the season. But, with road trips to #11 Ferris State and Alaska looming over the next two weekends, the RedHawks must take advantage of these two games against a seemingly weaker opponent to get the second half off to a good start. Accordingly, Miami cannot afford to come out flat, and yet, they cannot look ahead to the showdown with Ferris State next weekend.
Enrico Blasi has had his men focused all year and I think that continues against Robert Morris.
Friday (Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh)
Miami 4
Robert Morris 0
Sunday (Steve Cady Arena, Oxford)
Miami 5
Robert Morris 1
>Game #19 – Red Bull Gives You Wing(el)s
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Columbus, Ohio (Dec. 11, 2009) – With all due respect to Red Bull, maybe their tagline should be revised. Junior captain Tommy Wingels netted #1 Miami’s first four goals including three on the powerplay as the RedHawks cruised past Ohio State 6-0.
Wingels, who entered the game with six goals on the season, also added an assist for a final line of 4-1-5 enabling him to assume the team lead in goals (10) and forge a tie with junior forward Carter Camper for team points supremacy (18). It was Wingels first four-goal game of his college career and he couldn’t remember a time in recent history that he’d had a similar performance.
“It hasn’t happened in a while, maybe not since the squirt leagues,” Wingels said. “We’re all happy to come out with the win, no matter who scores. Our goal was just to finish with three more (CCHA) points for the team tonight.” (Ohio State Buckeyes)
Three other RedHawks enjoyed three point evenings as Camper (0-3-3), junior forward Pat Cannone (1-2-3) and freshman forward Curtis McKenzie (0-3-3) helped set up Wingels and senior Jarod Palmer who scored the sixth and final goal of the night for Miami at 15:49 of the third period.
Lost among the offensive fireworks was the solid defensive job Miami was doing in holding the Buckeyes to just 17 shots on goal. The team effort enabled sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard to notch his second consecutive shutout and lower his nation’s best goals-against average to 1.34 as he improved to 10-1-2 on the season. Miami has not allowed a goal since November 28 as they have recorded shutout victories in their last three games. In fact, the scoreless streak has now reached 202:14 minutes which is a school record.
For the Buckeyes, the loss had to be disheartening as head coach John Markell thought he was settling in on a starting goaltender in sophomore Cal Heeter that he could ride during the second half of the season. Heeter came into Friday’s game with a 2.75 GAA and 91.4 save percentage. However, the native of St. Louis, Missouri was average at best surrendering all six Miami goals and perhaps had a case of the jitters. With the performance, Heeter earned himself a spot on the bench for tonight’s series finale in Oxford. Junior goaltender Dustin Carlson will apparently return to the Buckeye crease to face the always creative Miami student section in Steve Cady Arena.
“(Heeter) is not too happy with himself,” Markell said. “I thought he had some freshman moments there… He made some saves in the second period just couldn’t sustain it.” (USCHO)
With the win, Miami improved to 12-2-5 on the season and 9-1-3-1 (31 points) in the CCHA. Miami will need to continue to win as both Michigan State (26 points) and red hot Ferris State (25 points, two games in-hand) continued to post league W’s and are in the RedHawks rear view mirror for the top spot in the conference.
Ohio State will be looking for a better effort in tonight’s rematch in Oxford as they saw their record drop to 7-11-1 overall and 5-7-1-1 in the league. The Buckeyes’ 17 points is good enough for 8th place and the final home ice slot if the CCHA playoffs began today.
Notes
- Reichard’s shutout was his third on the season which is a new career high. Last year, Reichard posted two shutouts during a stellar freshman season.
- Given the winter break begins after tonight’s game, it will be interesting to see if Miami coach Enrico Blasi goes with his typical Saturday goaltender (sophomore Connor Knapp) or if he goes with the red-hot Cody Reichard as this is the final league game for about a month, and as such, is very important for Miami.
- Wingels is just five goals behind his career high of 15 that was established during his freshman season with more than 18 games to play. He has responded both on and off the ice in his new role as RedHawk captain.
- Camper recorded the 100th point of his career with his assist on Wingels’ second goal.
- The Buckeyes have been shutout three times this season and are averaging just 2.31 goals per game.
- Miami was 4 for 6 on the powerplay while Ohio State was 0 for 6.
- Miami has now successfully killed 23 consecutive opponent powerplays and Ohio State has not converted in their last 24 man advantage situations.
- Heeter made 27 stops as the RedHawks outshot the Buckeyes 33-17.
- A pro-Miami crowd of 4,496 was in attendance at Value City Arena.
- Tonight’s game will be televised live across the great state of Ohio on ONN at 7pm.
>Game No. 11
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After completing a weekend sweep in Ann Arbor last weekend, the Miami RedHawks returned home to the friendly confines of Cady Arena on Friday night to host a surging Ferris State Bulldogs’ team, fresh off a sweep of their own at hapless Bowling Green last weekend. By all accounts, this was a trap game Miami was heading into. One can make the point that “on paper,” there’s only one way this game could have gone- Miami’s way. But then again, there’s a reason why games aren’t played “on paper” as Ferris showed Friday evening, by earning a shootout win in Oxford, 3-2.
Let’s face it. Ferris has Miami’s number. With the tie tonight, the RedHawks are 0-3-2 in the last five meetings against Big Rapids canines. The visitors started the scoring in the second frame, after a flat Miami first period that saw the good guys with a flurry of chances to get on the board as time expired, but to no avail. Senior winger Blair Riley reaped the benefit of a Miami turnover. Defenseman Will Weber tried to skate the puck into the Ferris zone and dump, but it was intercepted by Zach Redmond who fed a perfect pass to Riley, waiting at the blueline. He broke in, with only Miami’s Joe Hartman trailing and found the twine by wristing the puck over the trapper of Cody Reichard, who stopped 19 of 21 shots on the night. It was Riley’s 7th goal of the season.
But back came the RedHawks, resilient as always this season and on the penalty kill. With time running out in the second, Andy Miele made a great play to move the puck up the ice. As he crossed the FSU blueline, he threw the puck to the point and it was Hartman who stepped into it and scored a shorthanded goal, on the one-timer with 1.3 seconds left. It tied the contest at 1 apiece, but provided the momentum the ‘Hawks needed heading into the third.
Although Miami had the momentum and controlled the tempo in the final period, it remained scoreless for several minutes. FSU did a good job of hanging tough all night, outworking, and frustrating the RedHawks. They forechecked hard and took away the passing lanes. But they didn’t have the tempo in their favor in the final period and Miami’s hard work came to fruition late. Sophomore Chris Wideman made a great play to hold the puck in the zone and worked in to the right half wall. He made a great pass to junior captain Tommy Wingels, who fired a slapshot from the high slot to give his team the lead, 2-1 at 15:22. Ferris goaltender Taylor Nelson was screened by Curtis McKenzie on the play and didn’t have a great view of the shot.
UPDATE 11:35pm: The goal was later credited to McKenzie, with Wingels and Wideman getting the assists.
But then came the 6 on 5…
With time ticking away in the game, Ferris coach Bob Daniels pulled Nelson in favor of an extra attacker and once again, Miami’s inability to clear the zone came back to bite them in their collective rear-ends, when Riley struck again to tie the game at two with only 23.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Bulldog captain Cody Chupp was able to corral a “knucklepuck” and feed Riley, who was waiting crease right and buried it, five-hole. The tally was his second of the game, the biggest of the night, and his 8th of the season. Remarkably, 7 of his 8 goals have been scored on Friday nights.
The stalemate continued into the five-minute overtime period and the skills competition would be needed to decide a winner on this night.
In the shootout, junior Carter Camper had the first crack at Nelson, who was solid throughout the night. Camper broke in, he went to his backhand, but it found Nelson’s right pad and was kicked away. For the Bulldogs, Zach Redmond was up first and he gave his team a 1-0 advantage on a wrist shot that eluded Reichard. That’s all Ferris would need as Miami’s next two shooters Miele and Wingels, were unsuccessful.
Once again, here’s an explanation of the points system, used by the CCHA:
Regulation win- 3 points
Overtime win- 3 points
Regulation loss- 0 points
Overtime loss- 0 points
Shootout win- 2 points
Shootout loss- 1 point
So the ‘Hawks walk away with one point in the CCHA standings and the game goes down as a tie as far as the NCAA is concerned. Miami still holds down the second spot in the league though, 3 points behind Michigan State due to the Spartans 3-2 win against Michigan on Friday.
The weekend series concludes on Saturday in Oxford. Gametime is 7:05pm and can be seen on the Ohio News Network.
>Friday Update, Jones Sent Back to Milwaukee
>– NHL.com has a nice article about the impressive performance of Jeff Zatkoff, for the ECHL’s Ontario Reign.
These days, it’s the Los Angeles Kings who are far from mad with Zatkoff, who was selected in the third round by the club in the 2006 Entry Draft. Playing in his first professional season, Zatkoff is 7-6-1 with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage for Ontario, which is the Kings’ ECHL affiliate.
You can check the rest out at this link.
– USCHO “prognosticator” Paula C. Weston predicts a Miami sweep this weekend against hapless RPI:
The RedHawks swept the Engineers in Troy, N.Y., last season, outscoring RPI 12-4. RPI is 3-11-1 overall this year; last week the Engineers broke a six-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over Brown. This series is Saturday-Sunday. Miami 4-2, 4-1
– Ryan Jones has been sent back to the Milwaukee Admirals after being recalled yesterday by the Nashville Predators. Jones suited up for his 16th NHL game last night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, seeing 10:43 worth of ice time.
>No Day Off: Ferris Rolls Into Oxford on Friday
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TV Coverage:
Friday Night: Ohio News Network and NHL Network (DirecTV 215)
Saturday Night: ONN
Radio Coverage:
Friday Night: All-Access
Saturday Night: All-Access and 1450 WMOH-AM
“CHECKING” FERRIS STATE
Miami leads the all-time series 41-38-12 against Ferris State including a 21-19-4 record in Oxford. Last season, it was the Bulldogs that swept the Red and White in Big Rapids, Mich., (6-5 on Feb. 15; 3-1 on Feb. 16) which likely kept Miami from the CCHA regular season title. Over the last 10 match-ups between the two schools, Miami holds a record of 6-3-1. Miami has never lost to Ferris State in Steve Cady Arena and has not lost to the Bulldogs in Oxford since Dec. 11, 2004.
TURNING 70
Jarod Palmer reached the 70-point plateau Nov. 1 against Alaska as he picked up the first assist on Carter Camper’s shorthanded goal in the third period. Brian Kaufman also picked up point number 70 for his career Nov. 1 against Alaska. The senior captain was credited with the second assist on the first goal of the game by Camper. Miami now has three active players with 70 or more career points (Kaufman, Palmer, and Justin Mercier, 79).
DYNAMIC DUOS
Forwards
Carter Camper and Pat Cannone are currently tied for the team lead in points with 12. Camper has been hot on the power play as he has a national best 10 points, with the man advantage. Camper (3-7-10) also leads the conference in overall power-play points and he and Cannone (2-4-6) are the only players in the CCHA with more than five points on the power play. With his assist on Oct. 31, Camper became the fourth-fastest RedHawk to 50 points in the CCHA era. Cannone currently leads the team in points in conference with 11 and has recorded nine of those points in Miami’s three home games.
Goalies
Connor Knapp earned his first career shutout as he blanked Alaska 5-0 on Nov. 1. Knapp is part of a dual threat for Miami in the net with fellow freshmen Cody Reichard. Together the two have helped Miami to a 2.08 goals against average and a 1.64 goals against average in conference play. Knapp is undefeated and untied in conference play with a 3-0-0 mark. Reichard holds a record of 1-1-1 in CCHA play with 77 saves against conference foes. Knapp has also made two saves this season on penalty shots.
MIELE ON A MELEE
Andy Miele got off to a slow start in the 2008-09 campaign but has come on strong in the last two series’. Over his last four games Miele has scored two goals, dished out three assists and earned the CCHA offensive play of the week honor on Oct. 27. He racked up three points against then-No.7 Notre Dame in the Joyce Center (Oct. 24-25) as the RedHawks swept the Fighting Irish. Miele earned his first goal of the season against Alaska as he found the net at 12:20 of the first period on Nov. 1. Miele would strike again in the third period giving him two goals on the night, tying his career high for goals in a game.
WELCOME ABOARD
Trent Vogelhuber made his first career appearance for the Red and White as he was in the starting line-up for the RedHawks on Nov. 1 against Alaska. Vogelhuber was a seventh-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2007.
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POWER OUTAGE
Since allowing a 5-on-4 goal on its first penalty kill attempt of the season Miami has not allowed another single man-advantage goal on the campaign. Miami has also killed off 36 consecutive power plays including going 10-for-10 against Alaska on Nov. 1. Miami currently leads the CCHA on the penalty kill as it has stopped opponents on 96 percent (52-54) of their power-play chances. This gives Miami the third-best penalty-kill unit in the nation.
THIS IS GETTING OFFENSIVE
Miami has been one of the top teams in the CCHA in offense in 2008-09. Miami has been led by Pat Cannone and Carter Camper, who both have 12 points on the season. Seventeen different RedHawks have recorded a point on the season and 10 different members of the Red and White have a goal this season. Of the 10 players with a goal only one, Brian Kaufman, has one the remaining nine all have at least two on the campaign. Gary Steffes has been the biggest offensive surprise as he posted 11 goals in his first two seasons with the RedHawks and has five in the first eight games of his junior year. Camper has been on a tear on the power play as he leads the nation in power-play points with 10 and has 11 points on special team (one shorthanded goal).
>RedHawks Head to South Bend
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Our No. 10 ranked Miami RedHawks will continue CCHA play this weekend, as they make the trek to South Bend to take on a very good, very tough Notre Dame squad, ranked 8th in the country. If you’ll recall, the Fighting Irish came into Oxford last season and knocked off Miami, at the time, the No. 1 team in the nation. Miami would take the second game of the weekend series, before eventually knocking Notre Dame out of the CCHA tournament.
This week, you’ll be able to view both games, online, for free! Here is the link and you’ll need to click on the gold colored “live events” tab to access the video.
Note: you’ll need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer to run the video player. If you don’t have it, there is a link to install it when you click on the feed for tonight’s game.
From the Game Notes:
“CHECKING” NOTRE DAME
Miami holds the all-time lead in the series between the two schools with a record of 30-15-8 and Notre Dame is one of only two schools in the CCHA that the RedHawks have a winning record against on the road. The Red and White lead the all-time series at UND with a record of 12-8-6. Notre Dame opened the season with a loss to then-No.6 Denver in Denver, Col., and since that 5-2 loss at the hands of the Pioneers, the Fighting Irish have not surrendered a goal. In the second weekend of the season, Notre Dame blanked Sacred Heart 3-0, Friday, Oct. 17, and 7-0, Saturday, Oct. 18 both games were at Notre Dame.
The last time the RedHawks and the Fighting Irish played each other the game was a thriller as Miami won 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals of the 2008 CCHA Tournament. Ryan Jones tied the game with four-seconds remaining and the RedHawks won in overtime on a goal by Alec Martinez.
FEELING AT HOME IN BURLINGTON
Tommy Wingels scored his first goals of the season on the road trip to Burlington, Vt. Wingels posted two goals, one in each game. Wingels scored his first when he intercepted a neutral ice pass and beat the goalie right side for the RedHawks first shorthanded goal since Justin Mercier netted a goal on the penalty kill Jan. 26, 2008 in Alaska against the Nanooks.
THIS IS GETTING OFFENSIVE
Miami has been an offensive power house through the first four-games of the season and it is not just one player it is a team effort as 13 different players have at least one-point and nine different players have goals on the young season. The team is led in goals by Carter Camper and Gary Steffes, who both have three. Camper has been a one man wrecking crew on the power play as all of his seven-points this season have come on the power-play. Camper is also tied for the top spot in the nation in power-play goals as the sophomore from Rocky River, Ohio already has three goals on the power play.
Three members of the RedHawks are also in the Top 20 nationally in points per-game. Camper, Pat Canonne and Captain Brian Kaufman are all averaging 1.75 points per-game and the three members of the Red and White each have seven-points on the campaign.
FIRST TIMERS
Three RedHawks have registered their first career points in the first two weekends of the season. Chris Wideman racked up four points in back-to-back games against Ohio State and earned CCHA Rookie of the Week honors for his performance. Will Weber got on the score sheet in Vermont as he picked up the first assist on the goal by Pat Cannone in the third period of the Oct. 17 game against the Catamounts. Neither Wideman nor Weber had to wait as long as Brandon Smith did for this first career point. Smith was credited with the second assist on Alexandre Lacombe’s goal in the Oct. 18 game against Vermont. Smith was in only his fourth career game for the RedHawks but the Pepper Pike, Ohio native is now in his third season in Oxford.
USCHO prognosticator Paula C. Weston, once again predicts another RedHawk split this weekend.
The first time these two teams met last season, Miami was ranked No. 1 — the death knell for any team playing the dragon-slaying Fighting Irish. The teams split in Oxford with ND taking the first game, and Miami went on to eliminate Notre Dame from the CCHA tournament … while the Irish went all the way to the national title game. Should be a great series. ND 2-1, Miami 2-1
Inside College Hockey also has a nice feature on the ND defense and it’s efforts to build on consecutive shutouts. Check it out by clicking here.
Go RedHawks!
>RedHawks Head Into Burlington
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This weekend gives the No. 7 RedHawks their first true test of the season…a 2 game series against the No. 17 ranked Vermont Catamounts.
From the Game Notes:
“CHECKING” THE CATAMONTS
Last season the RedHawks went two-for-two against Vermont when at Steve Cady Arena. Miami combined to outscore the Catamounts 6-2 on the weekend. The wins last season by the RedHawks were the first in school history against Vermont and the Green and Gold still lead the all time series 6-2-0. Current Miami head coach Enrico Blasi holds an all-time record of 2-2 against the Catamounts.
RECAPPING THE WEEKEND
The RedHawks went 1-0-1 (1-0-1-0) in their first weekend of action as they made history by being a part of the CCHA’s first regular-season shootout. Miami earned a tie against Ohio State in Columbus but had an offensive explosion against the Buckeyes in Steve Cady Arena. Miami scored seven goals in the final two periods of action. It was the biggest two-period total for the RedHawks since they scored seven in the first two periods against Western Michigan Feb. 23, 2008.
With the tie and the win, Miami extends its unbeaten streak against Ohio State to nine games. Miami has only lost to the Buckeyes once in the last 13 games between the CCHA rivals.
Pat Cannone registered six points in the second game against Ohio State. It was the first time since Nathan Davis amassed five points against Northern Michigan Nov. 3, 2006, that a RedHawk had scored five or more points in a game. It is the most points by a RedHawk in a game since John O’Connor registered six points against Ohio State Nov. 21, 1986.
WIDEMAN NAMED CCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
After posting four assists in his first weekend in the Red and White, freshman defensemen Chris Wideman was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week.
Wideman, a native of St. Louis, Mo., dished out two assists in his first career game. The first came on the RedHawks’ first goal of the season when Carter Camper
After the first weekend of play, Wideman is tied with teammate Jarod Palmer in overall power play-points in the CCHA. Wideman also leads all conference defenseman in scoring and all league rookies in scoring. The honor is the second-consecutive CCHA Rookie Award for Miami as Andy Miele won the final honor of the 2007-08 season after posting one goal and three assist against Ohio State.
I assume that Rico will once again play Cody Reichard on Friday night and Connor Knapp on Saturday night. From my standpoint, Knapp looked to have had the better performance in last weekend’s series against the Buckeyes. It will be interesting to see if the powerplay, led by thus-far freshman defenseman Chris Wideman, can continue it’s impressive performance.
Both games are slated for a 7:05pm start time. Over on the official athletic website, a blog is being kept about the RedHawks trip to Burlington. You can check it out here.
The Blog of Brotherhood - RedHawks Hockey 