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RedHawks to head to ‘Somewhere in Middle America’
With apologies to Adam Duritz and “Counting Crows,” Miami hits the road for Omaha to take on old CCHA foe Nebraska Omaha in a weekend NCHC series.
The Mavericks, you may recall, were conference mates with Miami from 1999 until leaving the CCHA in favor of the WCHA in 2010. That, of course, was an ill-fated and perhaps short-sighted move, as college hockey underwent enormous realignment after the announcement that the Big Ten would field its own hockey conference in spring 2011. And, after all was said and done, UNO and Miami, along with charter schools Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota would announce the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference in summer 2011.
After two more seasons in the CCHA and WCHA respectively, Miami and UNO once again find themselves facing off as conference rivals. This weekend marks the first time the programs have met since February 20, 2010 in Oxford when UNO knocked off then #1 Miami 4-2 in head coach Dean Blais’ first trip to Steve Cady Arena.
The ‘Dean’ of the NCHC
Speaking of Dean Blais, his resume speaks for itself. But, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi summed it up nicely during his weekly press conference.
“The one thing I know about Dean Blais’ teams is they’re going to play hard and they’re going to be in your face and you’re going to have to be ready to compete for 60 minutes.”
UNO’s Dean Blais is in his fifth season behind the Mavericks’ bench. (BleacherReport.com)
One of the most decorated American amateur coaches in recent history, Blais spent 10 seasons behind the bench at North Dakota, where he compiled a record of 262-115-34 and won two national titles (1997, 2000) before leaving to take an associate head coaching job with the Columbus Blue Jackets. After spending four years in Cowtown, also serving as director of player development, Blais went back to his amateur roots where he was hired by the Fargo Force of the USHL to be their head coach, and was eventually lured back to school in 2009 by new Omaha AD Trev Alberts. In going to Omaha, he took over the reins of the program from long time head man Mike Kemp, who is largely regarded as the Father of UNO hockey. Blais has also long been involved with USA Hockey winning a gold medal in 2010 with the U-20 World Junior team. The two-time Spencer Penrose winner (1997, 2001) has an all-time record of 342-189-49 over nearly 15 seasons in college hockey.
Whom to Watch
On the ice, the Mavericks (6-6, 3-1 T2nd NCHC) are led by 2013 Hobey Baker finalist, senior Ryan Walters, who finished last season with 52 points (which tied for 2nd in program history for a single season) after scoring 22 goals. Listed at 6-0/190, Walters has started strong and is tied for the team lead in points (13) on three goals and has helped the Mavs rebound from a 2-4 start to win four of their past six including last weekend’s split with then #2 Michigan in Omaha. Along with Walters, Miami much watch
Senior Ryan Walters leads a dangerous UNO offense. (Colorado Springs Gazette)
junior forward Josh Archibald who leads the team in goals (9) and is tied with Walters atop the team’s scoring list. Archibald’s name should be familiar to some as he skated on Team USA’s 2012 U-20 team which failed to medal a year after earning bronze in Buffalo. Others to make note of include junior forward Dominic Zombo (5-5-10) and senior Brock Monpetit (6-3-9) who rank third and fourth in team scoring for UNO.
Overall, the Mavericks are second in the NCHC in scoring averaging 3.08 goals per game. Miami at 3.42 goals per game leads the way in the league with 41 goals though St. Cloud is averaging just a shade more at 3.50 goals per game in two fewer contests played.
Who’s in Net?
Defensively, the Mavericks are allowing 3.25 goals per game as they have struggled to find consistency in net. Lately however, UNO has gotten better goaltending from junior Ryan Massa and freshman Kirk Thompson having allowed more than three goals just once over their past six games. Massa and Thompson are very similar goaltenders. Both are around six feet tall and possess nearly identical numbers. For instance, both goaltenders are 3-2 with goals against averages north of 3 and save percentages below .900. In contrast, Miami allows just 2.08 goals per game and sophomore Ryan McKay leads the nation with three shutouts and has posted sterling 1.74/.943 numbers. However, because McKay has played the last four games for Miami, I would not be at all surprised to see McKay in net Friday night and fellow sophomore Jay Williams (2-2/2.75/.905) between the pipes on Saturday.
The RedHawks
For Miami (7-4-1, 2-2 T5th NCHC), the eighth ranked RedHawks enter the weekend having faced two top 15 teams in a row after splitting series with NCHC foe St. Cloud State and Big Ten opponent Wisconsin just last weekend in Oxford. That stretch has catapulted Miami’s strength of schedule to the top of the heap. This week’s KRACH ratings show Miami’s SOS sitting at #1 having played the most challenging schedule in the land.
Overall, the offense is simply not delivering against top teams as they have managed just 13 goals in their last six games against ranked opponents including just seven goals total over the past two weekends.
Junior Blake Coleman has picked up his game this year. (MURedHawks.com)
As teams focus on shutting down the top line of Riley Barber, Austin Czarnik and Jimmy Mullin, Miami must have secondary scoring from throughout the lineup. To this point, most of that scoring has come from junior Blake Coleman as he has netted seven goals which ties him with Czarnik for second on the team. Last season, Coleman scored nine goals so he’s well on his way to surpassing that total as his game continues to improve. But, outside of Coleman’s efforts, only two other RedHawks have scored at many as four goals (Alex Wideman and Anthony Louis).
And, as head coach Enrico Blasi said earlier this week, Miami needs to have all four lines contributing in order to play their game and be successful. Said Blasi,
“We need everybody in our lineup doing the same thing. Everybody’s got to be on the same page. This is not a team that’s going to rely solely on one or two players.”
Prediction
All-time, Miami is 17-7-3 against Omaha including a 7-4-1 mark in the self-proclaimed, “Gateway to the West.”
Tired of splitting, I think Miami gets a much-needed league sweep this weekend in Omaha. And, we’ll be live tweeting from the press box of the Century Link Center @miamihockeyblog and will have updates and recaps immediately following Friday night’s game. Miami All-Access has the call both nights along with local radio coverage at 1450-AM (Friday only) and 1490-AM (both nights).
Recapping the Weekend: Miami and UND Split
The first 2 NCHC games are in the books for the Miami RedHawks. There were ceremonial puck drops, plenty of firsts and two evenings of exciting hockey.
Miami Athletic Director David Sayler and President David Hodge drop the NCHC’s ceremonial first puck. (Miami University Athletics)
6th ranked North Dakota took Friday night’s game 4-2 on the strength of 2 goals from Brendan O’Donnell and 35 saves from goalie Zane Gothberg. Jay Williams blocked 21 of 25 shots, but was victim of a couple of bad bounces and bad breaks by the end of the night.
The first 2 goals on Friday night were partly the cause of bad bounces, and especially the second goal. The second tally for UND was fired from the point and sailed high over Jay Williams’ head. The puck hit solidly on the back glass and rebounded to hit him directly in the back before rolling into the net.
Miami would go down 3-0 with just 14 seconds gone in the second period, but would fight back later in the frame. Sean Kuraly put in a rebound and Anthony Louis snuck one through Gothberg’s legs to pull within 3-2. Miami carried much of the play in the second half of the game, but a low shot from the point hit Austin Czarnik’s stick in the slot and rocketed over William’s shoulder for the nail in the coffin.
Saturday night started entirely differently for the RedHawks. Gothberg had been pulled after allowing 4 goals in 24 minutes of play. Backup Clarke Saunders allowed a shot on his first save attempt and it was Miami 5 and North Dakota 0 in seemingly the blink of an eye. On the night, Miami fired 40 total shots, had 9 of them blocked and fired one off of the post. On the other end of the ice, Ryan McKay stopped 34 of 36 shots on the night.
Did any of you get a chance to meet John Buccigross, who was in the house Friday night? Share with us your pictures of the weekend on Twitter at @MiamiHockeyBlog. You can also share with us your 3 stars of the weekend. Ours are below.
3 Stars of the Weekend
3. Jimmy Mullin was absolutely on fire on Saturday night. It’s not to say he played poorly on Friday, but Saturday he was a different skater altogether. His speed was on display all night and he was flying past UND defenders on almost every shift. He finished the night with 2 assists and 4 shots, helping Blake Coleman on his 2nd and 3rd goals of the night. Jimmy looks great so far this year after suffering a knee injury in the 2013 NCAA tournament that knocked him out of the Regional Final against St. Cloud State.
2. Your number 2 star is the head coach once again. Enrico Blasi made some changes from the first game to the second game of the series. These timely lineup moves, detailed below, proved to be very significant and helped to propel Miami to the win. Perhaps more importantly, it also prevented the sweep.
- The first change was to put Cody Murphy on the top line with Austin Czarnik and Riley Barber. The speed and agility these guys had was on display all evening and all three scored goals, and Murphy picked up an additional point on an assist.
- Devin Loe and Johnny Wingels were inserted into their first NCAA games, and Bryon Paulazzo also played on Saturday after sitting out on Friday night. This threesome took the places of Michael Mooney on the blue line and Max Cook and Justin Greenberg on the forward lines.
- It is unknown if Max Cook suffered any type of injury to be dropped from the top line all the way out of the lineup, but this was one of the more shocking moves of the night.
- Loe took advantage of the start by contributing 2 assists, 3 shots and was a plus-3 on the night. I really liked his play and his speed as surprising.
- Wingels also looked great, playing on a defensive pairing with Sophomore Taylor Richart.
It seemed as though on Friday night Blasi decided to go with muscle and size against UND, but switched it up to go with speed on Saturday night. The move paid off as Miami got their first ever win over North Dakota.
Coleman netted a hat trick on Saturday night to carry #1 Miami to victory. (Miami University Athletics)
1. Blake Coleman scored a hattrick on Saturday night. The hattrick was the first of his career and the first ever in the NCHC. Goals 2 and 3 came just 14 seconds apart, and he nearly scored a 4th goal only a couple of shifts later. He also won 8 of the 12 faceoffs he took. Two side notes here:
- On Friday night, Coleman was hit – incorrectly in my opinion – with a 5 minute major penalty for checking from behind and missed the final 15 minutes with the accompanying game misconduct penalty the penalty carries with it. Whether warranted or not, Coleman certainly made up for the penalty on Saturday night.
- Late during Saturday night’s game, Blake was seen stretching frequently in the third period. After hobbling off the ice with only a few minutes to go, Coleman missed a shift, but then gave it a go, only to come off the ice again after chasing down a loose puck. We’ll keep you apprised of any injury news this week.
Thanks again for reading, and we’ll see you next weekend!
McKay’s Return Lifts Miami to Weekend Sweep
Light the lantern!
Fueled by the return of freshman goaltender Ryan McKay and the first two goals of senior transfer Marc Hagel’s Miami career, the fourth ranked Miami RedHawks (9-2-3, 6-2-2-2 CCHA) completed the weekend sweep of the Alaska Nanooks 4-0 at Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska on Saturday night.
McKay, who had missed Miami’s last eight games due to injury, recorded his second career shutout in just his fourth career start. In 3+ games (he was injured early in his start against Michigan on October 26 and played just five minutes), he has allowed only one goal and sports some outrageous numbers. In four games, McKay is 2-0-1 with a 0.32 goals against average with an astounding .989 save percentage. Last year’s co-USHL goaltender of the year has most definitely come in “as advertised.” And, that’s to take nothing away from classmate Jay Williams who has been very good in his own right. Williams has carried Miami over the past month and is 7-2-2 on the season with a 2.16 goals against average with a very strong .918 save percentage.
After a scoreless first period that featured an Alex Wideman disallowed goal, the sophomore from St. Louis would get on the scoreboard as he converted a pass from Austin Czarnik for a 5×3 powerplay tally to give Miami the only goal it would need.
From there, the teams traded powerplays and quality chances, but McKay and the RedHawks stood strong taking 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
Miami broke the game open in the third period with two goals in a three minute span as Hagel took advantage of a Blake Coleman rebound to beat Nanook netminder John Keeney for his first as a RedHawk at 8:20. Then, at 11:24, Czarnik found sophomore Jimmy Mullin on a breakaway and the Cincinnati native made it look easy in beating Keeney for just his second goal of the season.
For Coleman and Mullin, it was nice to see them rewarded on the scoresheet, and in Coleman’s case, he was very involved in the game finishing with a team-high four shots on goal and a +2 rating. Though he did not put the puck in the net, he was all over the place creating offense notching his third assist of the season. Hopefully, Mullin and Coleman will continue to pile up the points providing additional scoring threats to complement Riley Barber and Czarnik. Speaking of ‘the Czar,’ the sophomore center collected two more points with assists on Hagel’s first goal and the Mullin breakaway. He has now taken over the team and league lead in points with 19, one ahead of Barber in both categories and 10 more than senior Curtis McKenzie for Miami’s top honors.
To close the scoring, Hagel collected his second of the night with a shorthanded empty-netter with 47 seconds left as Alaska attempted to capitalize on a late powerplay by pulling Keeney. Freshman defenseman Matthew Caito and McKenzie were credited with assists. Caito leads all Miami defensemen in scoring with 1-5-6 on the year.
Next weekend, the RedHawks return home to face the Lakers of Lake Superior State on Friday and Saturday at Steve Cady Arena. Over the weekend, the Lakers (7-9, 4-6 CCHA) were swept by Notre Dame in South Bend and will again face a lengthy bus trip south as they head to Oxford.
Notes
– Mullin’s goal was his first since October 27 in a 4-3 win at Michigan.
– Coleman’s assist was his first point since November 9 when he registered an assist against Northern Michigan in a 5-2 Miami victory. He has not scored a goal since October 20 in a win against Providence.
– McKay’s two shutouts are good enough for fourth nationally though he has started just four games.
– Czarnik continues to pour on the points. His five-point weekend gives him points in Miami’s last three games and his 19 points ties him for eighth nationally in the overall scoring race.
– Miami is now unbeaten in its last seven games (5-0-2) with the RedHawks’ last loss coming on November 2 when they were shutout 3-0 at Ferris State.
Week 1 wrap-up
The RedHawks completed a convincing sweep of Colgate this weekend. Now that the games are in the books, we have an updated set of polls as well as the CCHA awards that have been announced today.
Miami Sophomore Blake Coleman has earned CCHA Postgame Offensive Player of the Week. Coleman had 2 goals during the 3-0 victory to open the season, and added a goal and an assist on Saturday in Miami’s 5-1 victory. It’s ridiculously early, but Blake is tops in the country in goals scored with his 3 from this weekend – a great start to his second year in Oxford.
In the polls, Miami jumped 4 spots in each of the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls, landing at the #4 position in each.. Notre Dame made the biggest jump of the week after winning the Ice Breaker tournament in Kansas City. We’ll keep a keen eye on the Irish this year, as we look forward to the Hockey City Classic in February.
And in other RedHawks news, the Hawks recorded their 2012 PSA for the You Can Play project. You can view the PSA by clicking here.
McKay, #8 Miami blank Colgate in Season Opener
Photo: Ryan McKay courtesy MURedHawks.com
Looking completely “as advertised,” Miami freshman netminder Ryan McKay made 24 saves and Blake Coleman added two goals as Miami shutout Colgate 3-0 at Steve Cady Arena on Friday night.
Wearing 90s throwbacks, and the number 35, McKay could have been confused for former Miami goaltender Mark Michaud for those old enough to remember, as he efficiently turned away each Raider chance. McKay comes to Miami with an incredible resume. Playing the last three seasons with Green Bay of the USHL, McKay backstopped the Gamblers to the Clark Cup title in 2011-12 as Green Bay notched a league record 98 points last season. During his time in along the shores of Lake Superior, McKay’s “worst” goals against average was 2.20 and “worst” save percentage was .909 as he was named the recipient of the Dave Peterson Goalie of the Year by USA Hockey and the USHL’s Co-Goaltender of the Year sharing the honor with the Fargo Force’s Zane Gothberg – now with North Dakota. McKay helped the Gamblers reach the Clark Cup finals each year he was on the team winning twice.
Sadly, my review is woefully incomplete because Miami’s new internet partner through IMG Sports’ partnership with Neulion was interweb inept.
The video feed was so terrible that it was unwatchable. For the entire first two periods the feed “skipped” and at that point, I would have settled for the past’s awful quality just to listen to Dave Allen and at least be able to see the action. Hockey is the most important sport on campus. Get it fixed and now because Mike Commodore, and others, pay real American dollars for this stuff.
As for the game, Miami’s many new faces will undoubtedly need time to gel, it’s expected the team will be led by the back end and McKay. But, the offense found a spark from sophomore Blake Coleman who opened the scoring at the 13:02 mark of the first period with assists from senior transfer Marc Hagel and sophomore Alex Wideman. Coleman’s goal was the only one tallied in the first period as Miami took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
Miami added two goals in the second period as junior Bryon Paulazzo notched his first on an assist from sophomore Austin Czarnik and Coleman would add his second of the night, unassisted, with just 1:15 left in the second to effectively seal the deal.
Typically, Miami was whistled for a game-high nine penalties but killed all eight Colgate powerplay chances. The Raiders did lose freshman forward Mike Borkowski to a game misconduct for contact to the head in the second period but the RedHawks were unable to convert on the ensuing 5-minute major penalty. Miami was 0-for-4 with the man-advantage on the night.
McKay made 12 of his 24 saves in the third period as the Raiders pressed to get back into the game and had this to say about his performance, “I’ll take it any way I can get it, but definitely starting out with a shutout is a nice way to do it. I felt like as a team we played well enough to deserve a shutout tonight,” McKay said. “A lot of these guys I played with along the way when I played in the USHL with Green Bay. That definitely helps the transition part. Our coaching staff also prepared us well for the season.” source: MURedHawks.com
It was the first time in program history that Miami opened a season winning in shutout fashion. Not a bad start for the youngster from Palatine, Ill.
Tonight, the RedHawks look to improve to 2-0 and again host the Colgate Raiders at 7:05pm. Let’s hope Miami IMG and Neulion figure out the interwebs for the betterment of all mankind.
Notes:
Rachel Lewis of Triple Deke Photography has a game photo gallery that can be found HERE.
McKay’s shutout was certainly the first ever for a Miami goaltender in an opener, but I need to do a little more research to determine if it’s the first time a goaltender has made his Miami debut and finished with a shutout.
Blake Coleman now has 14 goals in his first 40 games as a RedHawk.
Junior Bryon Paulazzo’s contribution to the evening is huge. If Miami can get scoring from the California native, that should ease some of the pressure off the sophomores and freshmen.
The RedHawks started nine new-to-the program players including senior transfer Marc Hagel, three freshman defensemen and a freshman goaltender. Wow.
Senior forward Curtis McKenzie was strangely absent from Friday’s lineup.
Blake Coleman named CCHA Rookie of the Week
On Monday, Miami’s Blake Coleman was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week for his efforts in Miami’s home series split with Northern Michigan.
For the weekend, Coleman was 1-2-3 with a blocked shot earning the first weekly award of his career.
Miami freshman have now claimed 1/3 of the league’s rookie awards with Austin Czarnik having earned three and Coleman and Tyler Biggs with one apiece.
Congratulations, Blake!
Hawks take down BGSU 4-0
The Alumni Weekend welcome wasn’t too kind for former Miamians and current BGSU head coach Chris Bergeron and assistant coach Barry Schutte. Miami Freshman Blake Coleman scored twice, and Cody Reichard handily stopped everything thrown at him tonight in Oxford, as your Miami RedHawks put together a complete game in taking down the Bowling Green Falcons 4-0. After a 5-game winless streak, the ‘Hawks are now streaking in the right direction, running it to a 5 game unbeaten streak.
Coleman started the scoring early, burying a pass from Trent Vogelhuber (who had 2 assists of his own on the night) at 15:26 of the first period. Blake seemed to have “the look” tonight, as he had several scoring chances throughout the game, and tallied a team-high 4 shots. Blake looks to be jealous of his fellow freshmen forwards Tyler Biggs and Austin Czarnik – the last to CCHA Rookies of the week, and is taking care of business when he is on the ice.
Tonight’s game was a continuation of the Hawks weekend against Michigan last weekend. There was a plethora of blocked shots, great goaltending, and timely offense – 30 total shots and of course the 4 goals (all even strength), which tied a season high for this young Miami squad. It seems the 3,700-mile trip to Alaska was more than just another away series for the Hawks. Since the trip, the team is playing more complete hockey, and the upperclassmen and underclassmen are really coming together as a team. It seems the trip was well worth it, if not only for the 6 points they took from the Nanooks.
In the second period, Garrett Kennedy showed that he was another of the RedHawks wanting to get in on the fun. Garrett was seen pinching down from the point several times, was taking excellent shots, and looks more and more like a top tier defenseman every time he’s on the ice. Steven Spinell flipped a wrister into the crease area later in the second period, and it was deflected perfectly by Curtis McKenzie to put the Hawks up 3-0. Coleman’s second on the night finished the scoring at 14:33 left in the game, as Trent Vogelhuber threw another in on net
There with Kennedy and Spinnell were the always staunch defensive pairings featuring Cameron Schilling, Will Weber and Chris Wideman, and Senior netminder Cody Reichard. Cody feasted on all 23 shots that the Falcons threw at him, rarely letting up a good scoring chance, and limiting any rushes BG had by swallowing up any rebounds he let loose. Cody has regained the form we’ve come to expect over the last 3 years, and has been fantastic in net since Connor Knapp got sick during the Alaska trip. This was the first shutout for Miami since Reichard blanked Michigan on February 5th, 2011 in Oxford, and leaves him 1 shutout away from the Miami career record of 12, held by David Burleigh.
Another CCHA win puts the ‘Hawks in a tie for 5th in the CCHA with a 4-4-1-1 record, and brings their record to .500 at 6-6-1 overall. Catch the RedHawks in Ohio on the Ohio News Network (ONN) again on Saturday night as they take on the same Bowling Green State Falcons at 7:05 PM from Steve Cady Arena.
Some additional notes on the evening:
- It will be interesting to watch how Blasi plays the rotation going forward with Reichard’s success, having now led Miami in net for each of the last 5 games. Tomorrow presents another opportunity for Miami, and the young BGSU squad may be just the break that Reichard needs, and may also be just the right team to break in Knapps pads after his illness.
- While the Hawks only took 4 penalties for 8 minutes, some inexperience still showed by the Freshmen. Biggs was caught in a scuffle with the Hawks up 3-0 in the third and ended up throwing one last punch to a Falcon’s face, immediately in front of Referee John Philo. The 4 penalty kills stretch Miami’s streak of perfection to 26 penalty kills in a row.
- Curtis McKenzie is bringing the pain. Tonight reminded me of nights past when the likes of Kevin Roeder and big Joe Cooper roamed the new and old Goggin Ice Arenas. Throw in his assist on Kennedy’s goal and then his own twine-tingler in the second period, and you begin to see the all around player that Coach Blasi intended on bringing to Oxford. McKenzie now has 3 goals on the season
- We’re probably going to need an explanation from radio announcer Greg Waddell after Coleman’s second goal. Waddell quipped “Fruity Pebbles for one and all!” just after Blake slammed it home. Perhaps there’s an inside joke there that we aren’t privy to?
- While Miami tallied 30 shots, they also had 23 shots blocked on the night. While this could be seen as a concerning stat, I see it as a promising one, as it means Miami is getting back to playing Rico Blasi, put-the-puck-on-the-net, down and dirty hockey. Along with 53 shots on or around the net comes a few dirty goals, including Coleman’s second which was of that variety.
- A note on the CCHA referees. Perhaps I’m just taking a small sample size, but it seems to me that they are being more lenient than in years past? Perhaps they are just calling less penalties, or really need to improve their medial coverage on eye exams, but tonight’s game had only six penalties. In addition to the lack of arm-raising being done, it seems the leagues head pairing (Brian Aaron and Wilkins) has a thing for calling off big goals. In tonight’s matchup in South Bend, Boston College had a goal waved off with 2 seconds remaining in the second period. This followed their weekend in Oxford, where the same pairing took 2 apparent goals away from Miami on Saturday night’s tie and shootout win for Miami.
INCH Recruiting Rankings: Miami #1
Inside College Hockey has ranked Miami’s 2011 recruiting class #1 in its annual rankings.
The RedHawks feature four of the top 20 forwards (Biggs, Mullin, Coleman, Czarnik) in the nation, and while there are no defensemen or goaltenders listed for Miami, it’s certain this class would have been even higher if He Who Must Not Be Named Connor Murphy had honored his word and actually suited up on the blueline for the Red and White.
Next season, you can expect to see Pat Sieloff’s name listed at defense, and possibly, both Ryan McKay and Jay Williams at the goaltender position as Miami works to replace four-year starters Will Weber, Cameron Schilling, Chris Wideman, Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy watching all the freshmen grow and mature as student-athletes and young men.
2011-2012 Roster Released
On the weekend of the NHL Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Miami Athletic Department has released the 2011-2012 roster. Here’s a quick look at the newest RedHawks and the jersey number they’ll be wearing. Stay tuned for an NHL Draft recap as well!
Austin Czarnik- 7
Alex Wideman- 10
Cody Murphy- 14
Jimmy Mullin- 20
Tyler Biggs- 22
Blake Coleman- 25
Ben Paulides- 28
Connor Murphy- 55 Um, yeah…
Coleman Named USHL Player of the Year
Blake Coleman, set to make his RedHawk debut this Fall, has been named the USHL Player of the Year, as well as Forward of the Year. Having spent the last season and a half with the Indiana Ice, he led the league with a total of 92 points, 38 of those being goals, in 59 regular season games. The release, which can be read in full here also says that Coleman’s plus-52 rating on record since the USHL became a Tier 1 league in 2002.
The Texan Coleman is ranked #198 on the list of North American skaters heading into this year’s NHL draft in June, which most likely translates into a late-round pick, if at all. The incoming crop of freshman looks to be impressive thus far and Coleman’s monster season with the Ice has only helped solidify his case as one of the most promising to wear a RedHawks sweater in recent years.
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