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Czarnik Named to Team USA Roster
Earlier this morning, Miami’s Austin Czarnik was named to the final Team USA World Junior Championship roster. Team USA will compete in the IIHF U-20 Championship in Calgary, Alberta starting on December 26.
Czarnik’s 1-1-2 performance in Team USA’s 7-3 victory over Switzerland in exhibition play likely earned him a spot on the final roster.
The United States will face Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic and Canada in group play and hope to medal for what would be an unprecedented third consecutive year in program history.
Last season, the U.S. entered the tournament as the defending gold medalists but were unable to reclaim gold on U.S. soil. That honor went to the Russians who mounted an unbelievable third period comeback to defeat Canada 5-3. The Russians erased a 3-0 deficit after two periods to score 5 in the third to win gold. Blame Canada, indeed.
Good luck to Austin and Team USA!
Notes
The Edmonton Journal has more on Austin’s game.
Steven Spinell garners first Player of the Week award
Congratulations to Miami Junior Steven Spinell for earning the CCHA Gladiator Defenseman of the Week for his performances against Ohio State this past weekend. This is his first career weekly or monthly award from the CCHA, and the second time the ‘Hawks have taken home the Defensive POTW, as Chris Wideman won the same award November 21st.
As Redhawk95 mentioned on Friday night, Spinell was propelled by his +4 rating on Friday, and he also assisted on Bryon Paulazzo’s game winning goal in the 5-3 victory in Columbus. He was on the ice for 4 of the 5 Miami goals including Matt Tomassoni’s shorthanded goal, and also blocked 3 shots on the night. In Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the same OSU squad, Steven had 3 shots and blocked another 2 for a total of 5 on the weekend. Spinell also spearheads Miami’s second Penalty Kill line, and for the weekend the ‘Hawks were 10 for 11 on the penalty kill.
On the season, Spinell has played in all 20 games (only 1 of 4 Hawks that can say that), he leads the team with 29 total blocked shots, and has 1 goal and 6 assists for 7 total points. Spinell is turning into another excellent blue-liner, and appears headed towards a captaincy in the 2012-13 season if things fall right for Head Coach Enrico Blasi next year.
Video Issues Tonight on Miami All-Access? You’re Not Alone
As confirmed by “The Voice of the RedHawks” Steve Baker in tonight’s Miami Hawk Talk game thread, the All Access Video feed was haunted by some ongoing issues in Oxford this evening. Around campus, the university has been dealing with “upload bandwith problems” and this was causing issues uploading tonight’s video feed for the Hockey game. All throughout the game, the feed was choppy and had the impression of buffering.
According to The Voice of the RedHawks, he “believed the university may have some bandwith issues, as [he] had the same problem at Millett today” (for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball games held this afternoon). Upload speeds were cut in half for the day.
By the end of the game, the video feed was approximately 18 minutes behind. The feed showed Ohio State scoring their 2nd goal of the evening late in the third period just seconds before they were actually scoring the game winner in overtime.
We thank Steve Baker for all that he does for the university and Miami Athletics, and especially for diligently working through the entire officiating debacle game to try to get our video feeds up and working.
duhOSU Coach: “Learnin’ Got in the Way”
In a manner of speaking, Ohio State head coach Mark Osiecki said that because of finals week at the degree factory school, the Buckeyes’ preparation was affected ultimately leading to tonight’s 5-3 loss at the hands of the RedHawks.
Only Ohio State, folks.
SCSU’s Journey to the NCHC
Earlier this week, the St. Cloud Times published an incredibly interesting article about SCSU’s circuitous journey to become the 7th member of the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Through a significant public records request, the Times pieced together how St. Cloud’s president (Earl Potter III), head hockey coach (former Miami assistant Bob Motzko) and a consultant (former North Dakota head coach Gino Gasparini) worked the back channels, the media and the other NCHC athletic directors and coaches to earn a home in the new conference.
Kudos to St. Cloud State’s leadership in trying to take the high road and being ready to accept the invite that eventually came in September even though the charter members, including Miami, were announced in July.
Though I must be honest and profess that I would have preferred Notre Dame over St. Cloud, in the end, I think the inclusion of the Huskies will benefit the league. And, as Gasparini said in an email, SCSU “allows the fox into the hen house.” By that, Gasparini was referring to the opening of the recruiting flood gates for Miami (and Western Michigan) as they will now have more occasion to be in Minnesota, playing and selling the state’s best junior/high school players on Miami hockey. In short, the league will most certainly make recruiting the “State of Hockey” easier and more effective than ever for the RedHawks. And, the inclusion of St. Cloud State is one reason why it will happen.
Czarnik invited to Team USA World Junior Camp
Earlier this week, Miami freshman center Austin Czarnik was invited to attend the United States’ World Junior Team camp meaning he has an opportunity to earn a spot on Team USA’s U-20 team and play for his country.
The International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship is the most prestigious junior tournament in the world and includes the best hockey players under twenty years old on the planet. This year’s tournament will be held December 26, 2011 – January 5, 2012, in Calgary and Edmonton, Alta.
Last year, the United States hosted in Buffalo, N.Y. and did so as the defending champions. However, the red, white and blue were unable to defend their crown and instead settled for bronze by defeating Sweden in the bronze medal game. In doing so, the U.S. medaled for the second consecutive year for the first time in our nation’s hockey history.
Czarnik will be one of 29 players who attend camp hoping to earn a roster spot with the goal to run the U.S. streak to three consecutive years to earn hardware. The team will head to camp in Camrose, Alta. on December 17 and the final U.S. National Junior Team roster is expected to be released on December 22, 2011.
Congratulations, Austin!
Miami defeats Ohio State 5-3
I have to believe Peter Venkman was thinking of what would happen to the world should Ohio State ever put forth a competitive hockey club when he uttered the famous line, “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”
Thankfully, all was right with the world, for at least one night, as the up-and-down Miami RedHawks (9-8-3, 5-6-2-1 CCHA) hit an “up” as they defeated Ohio State (12-4-1, 9-3-1-1 CCHA) 5-3 at Cheap Furniture Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Miami received goals from freshmen Jimmy Mullin, Blake Coleman and Austin Czarnik and sophomore Bryon Paulazzo and senior Matt Tomassoni (shorthanded) also lit the lamp for the RedHawks.
On the night, Miami outshot Ohio State 38-30 as senior netminder Connor Knapp won his third game of the season against four defeats.
We’ll have more on tonight’s game as well as Saturday’s series finale in Oxford later this weekend.
Notes
– Miami broke Ohio State’s nine game winning streak and eleven game unbeaten streak
– The victory was the 600th in school history and head coach Enrico Blasi’s first against OSU’s second-year coach, Mark Osiecki. Ohio State swept Miami last year in Columbus.
– Miami won for the first time in the last four games in Columbus (1-2-1)
– With the victory, Miami is currently 17th in the Pairwise and 15th in KRACH having played the 7th most difficult schedule in the country.
– Miami is now 3-0-1 vs. Top 10 opponents. The talent is there, now it’s time for consistency.
Miami drops opener at NMU, 2-1
Northern Michigan’s Brian Nugent scored at 17:50 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie and someone named Jared Coreau made 25 saves as #18 Miami dropped a 2-1 decision on Friday night at the Berry Events Center in Marquette, Mich.
Miami outshot the Wildcats 26-17 on the evening but could muster just one goal, from junior defenseman Steven Spinell of all people. This against a team that dressed just 17 skaters, played its back-up goaltender, had three starting defensemen sit out due to suspension and had exactly one win in their previous eight games.
That pretty much says it all.
This team has me completely confused and sits tied with Michigan State for 6th place in the CCHA — though the Spartans have two league games in-hand. A loss in the series finale Saturday night would allow Northern Michigan to pass the RedHawks in the CCHA standings as their roller coaster season continues. Worse, the consistent manner in which this team continues to allow late third period goals is astounding. Here’s a quick run down of the late third period tallies that have doomed the season thus far.
Oct. 7 vs. Bemidji – score tied 3-3, BSU scores at 18:05, wins 5-3
Oct. 28 vs. Lake State – Miami trails 4-3, Lakers score at 18:03, win 5-3
Nov. 12 vs. Michigan – Miami leads 3-2, U-M scores at 16:06, game ends in 3-3 tie
Nov. 19 vs. BG – Miami leads 4-3, BG scores at 18:48, game ends in 4-4 tie
Dec. 2 vs. NMU – score tied 1-1, NMU scores at 17:50, wins 2-1
Needless to say, Saturday’s game is a must-win lest the RedHawks allow the momentum of the 6-0-2 streak and Denver Cup championship to waft silently away.
Notes
– Cody Reichard started the game allowing one goal on three shots before giving way to anointed starter Connor Knapp who entered at the 9:39 mark of the first period. Knapp was denied the chance to start by head coach Enrico Blasi because he was late to the team’s breakfast. Presumably Reichard starts Saturday night.
– Spinell’s goal was just the third of his Miami career (85 games).
Weekend Preview: Miami v. Northern Michigan
Coming off last weekend’s sweep of Providence and Denver at the Denver Cup Classic, # 18 Miami (8-6-2, 4-4-2-1 CCHA) is again on the road as they travel to Marquette, Mich. to take on the Northern Michigan University Wildcats (5-6-3, 2-5-3-2 CCHA) in a two-game CCHA series.
Last weekend Miami concluded an unbeaten November (6-0-2) by claiming the second Denver Cup in school history defeating Providence and # 10 Denver by 6-2 and 4-2 scores, respectively. The RedHawks were led by junior forward Reilly Smith as he was named the most outstanding player in the tournament, freshman forward Austin Czarnik and senior goaltender Cody Reichard who played outstanding in Miami’s win over Denver on Saturday night. All three RedHawks were named to the all tournament team and all three were named CCHA players of the month for November capping quite a turnaround from October’s dismal 2-6 start.
While Miami enters on a roll, Northern Michigan comes into play having won their last game 2-1 over visiting Michigan State on November 19. However, that win snapped an eight-game winless streak and cost the Wildcats the services of three defensemen who all received DQ’s as a result of the “pleasantries” that occurred at the end of Saturday night’s contest. According to Matt Wellens of the Marquette Mining Journal, sophomore Wade Epp, junior Kyle Follmer and junior captain Scott Macaulay will all sit out Friday night’s game along with senior forward Andrew Cherniwchan who will miss the weekend due to injury. The Wildcats will dress just 17 skaters Friday and move several forwards back to defense to accommodate for their missing teammates.
Considering this, Miami needs to jump on NMU quickly on Friday and hope to carry momentum into Saturday night’s finale. The RedHawks really have no excuse to do any less than split in Marquette even though the RedHawks’ all-time record there is just 7-16-1. Miami has won the previous four in the series but still trails all-time 19-31-3 as the Wildcats beat up on Miami in the 80s as the program was in the early days of existence.
Though defensively hobbled on Friday, Miami must still find a way to beat senior netminder Reid Ellingson who has been outstanding this year with a 2.31 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. The Wildcats are led offensively by seniors Justin Florek (7-4-11) and Tyler Gron (6-3-9). The leading assist man on the team is junior defenseman Kyle Follmer with 1-8-9.
While I think we should sweep, I get the feeling we’ll split.
Notes
– Here is a link to the Miami game notes.
– Coverage from John Boyle of the Dayton Daily News.
– Coverage from Upper Michigan Source.
North Dakota to Begin Transition Away from Fighting Sioux Nickname
Here’s an interesting article about the end of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. Apparently, today is the beginning of the transitional period where the law in the state of North Dakota that protected the nickname has ended and the transition to a new name will officially begin.
We at Miami remember how that worked for this university as the athletic teams were stripped of the “Redskins” nickname and old Indian-head logo, and played basically as the “Red and White” for a year or so until the RedHawks name was settled upon. But, the true transition took years. In fact, Miami was initially asked to drop the Redskins name by the Miami tribe in the early 1970s, but of course the school did not comply until 1996, and it didn’t disappear from Miami’s athletic teams until the end of the following year.
And, just earlier this year, Miami issued a statement saying the old logo could no longer be used or sold on merchandise, even though it had been updated to conform with the new “block M” logo and even still hung in Steve Cady Arena (thanks Happy Girl) until the beginning of the season. So, though Miami officially changed the nickname 15 years ago, you can still purchase a T-shirt with it in Oxford shops or online until at least the current supply of such merchandise is exhausted. In other words, until very recently, you could find the Indian-head logo on or around campus without much difficulty. But, it sounds now like that will be a thing of the past.
The point for Fighting Sioux fans and alums is to embrace change knowing it’s going to take time for events to unfold. And, as an alum of a school that’s already gone through such drastic change, at the end of the day, it’s still going to be North Dakota just as Miami has, and always will be, Miami University. If you can’t get past that, then perhaps you should reevaluate your relationship with your school. And, that’s something I’ve said to Miami fans and alums just the same.
NOTE
For the record, the name of this blog is not intended to demonstrate support for the old nickname, but rather, honor the tradition of the university’s athletic programs by using the old nickname as a reminder of how far the hockey program has come over the past 30+ years. The writers and editors of Redskin Warriors each fully supported the name change and have no ongoing concerns or delusions of grandeur about it. The name Redskin Warriors is not politically motivated in any way, shape or form.
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