Saturday Recap - January 30

#1 RedHawks sweep Western Michigan; Buckeyes drop
shootout to #10 Ferris State

Oxford, Ohio (Jan. 30) - The #1 Miami RedHawks finished off a weekend sweep of Western Michigan by defeating the Broncos 2-1 at Steve Cady Arena Saturday night. Bronco senior netminder Riley Gill nearly stole at least a point by stopping 47 Miami shots but a late powerplay goal from junior Andy Miele with just over four minutes remaining in the third period enabled Miami to emerge unscathed.

Sophomore Connor Knapp was relatively untested as the RedHawk defense corps once again bottled up the opposition. Knapp made just 15 saves in registering his fifth win of the season lowering his goals-against average to 1.86.

Miami improves to 18-4-6 overall and 15-4-4-2 CCHA opening a 10-point lead over second place Michigan State in the league standings. In addition, with Robert Morris' win over Bemidji State, Miami has regained the top spot in the Pairwise rankings to themselves but Denver is closing fast in the nice to look at, but essentially meaningless, KRACH computer rankings with their weekend sweep of North Dakota.

In attempting to predict when Miami could possibly seal the CCHA regular season title, the math is a bit "fuzzy," but here's what we know.

Miami cannot technically clinch until at least the Bowling Green series on February 12-13 unless Ferris State is swept this weekend and Michigan State loses one. Here are the games remaining and the maximum possible league points for the current top four.

Miami - 8 games remaining - 75 max points (currently at 51 points)
Ferris State - 8 games remaining - 63 max points
Michigan State - 6 games remaining - 59 max points
Alaska - 6 games remaining - 59 max points

To get to 63 points, and close out everyone else, Miami needs four wins (remember, CCHA regulation wins are worth three points). But, the number assumes that Ferris and MSU win every night. If Miami sweeps Lake Superior State this weekend, Ferris is swept by Northern Michigan and MSU splits, Miami would clinch the regular season title this weekend at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.

Miami is back in action this Friday and Saturday, February 5-6 vs. Lake Superior State in Oxford.

Columbus, Ohio (Jan. 30) - Coming off two consecutive victories over ranked opponents, Ohio State looked to sweep the #10 Ferris State Bulldogs at Value City Arena in a penalty filled affair on Saturday night.

Ohio State trailed 1-0 after one period and 3-2 after two, but got a powerplay goal at 3:55 of the third period from junior Kyle Reed to knot the score. The game would go to overtime and eventually a shootout that the Bulldogs would win earning two league points for their efforts. Ohio State received one point for the shootout loss and took four of a possible six points on the weekend.

Sophomore Zac Dalpe scored his 15th goal of the season. No other Buckeye has more than eight goals this season. Junior Dustin Carlson made 21 saves as the Buckeyes outshot Ferris State 33-24 a night after being outshot 49-30 in earning a 5-3 win. Ohio State's record is now 11-13-2 overall and 9-9-2-1 (T8th CCHA) while Ferris State moves to 17-8-3 and 11-6-3-3 (3rd CCHA)

Next weekend, the Buckeyes travel to Omaha to take on the Mavericks in an important CCHA series matching teams tied for the final first round home-ice playoff spot. Ohio State has two games in-hand over the Mavericks but a first-round bye is still not out of reach given just four points separates 4th from 10th in the tightly packed "middle tier" of the league.

Saturday Night Roundup - Jan 23

Knapp earns third shutout of the season as Miami blanks Alaska 5-0; Buckeyes split with Michigan State

January 23, 2010 - #2 Miami earned five points on their longest road trip of the year defeating the Alaska Nanooks 5-0 in Fairbanks, Alaska last night. Sophomore Connor Knapp stopped all 19 shots in registering his third shutout of the season. It was Knapp's first game action since a 2-1 loss to Robert Morris on January 10 where he made just 13 saves. His goals-against average is now a sparkling 1.95 with a 91.8 save percentage as he improved his record to 4-2-3 on the year.

This weekend saw the reunion of last year's top line of juniors Carter Camper and Tommy Wingels and sophomore Alden Hirschfeld that was so good throughout the NCAA tournament. And, they didn't disappoint managing five points between them for the weekend. It was also nice to see Hirschfeld pick up his game as he seemed much more involved and active than I can remember seeing over the past several weeks. In addition, Trent Vogelhuber seems to have picked up some of that energy as he was also much more visible, working much harder than I have seem him. It's good to have those two sophomores helping contribute to take some of the scoring pressure off senior Jarod Palmer and the juniors (e.g., Camper, Pat Cannone, Andy Miele, Wingels, etc.).

The RedHawks jumped to an early 1-0 lead at 6:42 of the opening period when freshman Reilly Smith redirected a Tommy Wingels shot past Nanook goaltender Scott Greenham. The goal was scored 6x5 during a delayed penalty as Miami was able to control the puck in the offensive zone and find a quality chance. Miami would tally just six minutes later when sophomore Matt Tomassoni found the net off a chance on the right side. Tomassoni took a pass from senior Brandon Smith and wristed a high, hard shot that appeared to hit Greenham's right shoulder and bounce up and over the sophomore. The RedHawks would complete their highest scoring first period of the season when Palmer scored off a feed from Andy Miele that chased Greenham from the net at 14:50 of the first period.

Steve Thompson would enter the game and keep the Nanooks in it, but Miami would finish off the evening on third-period goals from Wingels and Brandon Smith to secure a five-point weekend and an enjoyable flight back to Ohio for the Red and White.

Head coach Enrico Blasi succinctly summarized his thoughts on the 5-0 victory.

"It was a good effort by all of our guys tonight," Head Coach Enrico Blasi said. "Connor played well (in) net and we came in with a determined effort. It was nice to get the win." muredhawks.com

Notes

• Knapp's shutout was the third of the season and his fifth in just 33 career games. He has already surpassed last year's two shutouts which was his first season at Miami.
  
• Wingels' goal was his team-leading 13th of the season. He is just two goals off his career high of 15 that came during his freshman campaign in Oxford.
• Miami's fourth line of Brandon Smith, Justin Vaive and Matt Tomassoni includes a fifth-year senior (Smith), the 6'6" son of an NHL legend (Vaive) and a defenseman (Tomassoni). The line combined for 2-2-4 on the evening.
• Miami (16-4-6, 13-1-4-2 1st CCHA) has opened a seven point lead over second place Michigan State with two games in-hand. The RedHawks ran their league unbeaten streak to 16 games.
• Miami is once again atop the Pairwise and KRACH rankings and are positioning themselves for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament should their good play continue.
• One of the key components of the Pairwise Rankings that effectively determine the 16-team NCAA Tournament, is record against Teams Under Consideration (TUC's). The top 25 teams in the Pairwise are ranked and defined as "under consideration." Miami has played 26 games this season with 18 of them coming against TUC's. They are 12-2-4 in those games having played the 7th most difficult schedule in the nation and have achieved the 2nd best winning percentage in the country. However, only Miami's series with Lake Superior State is against another TUC for the remainder of the regular season meaning it will help Miami's Pairwise if the top teams they have already played, and beaten, such as Ferris State, Michigan, Notre Dame, New Hampshire and St. Cloud State continue to win.
  
• Miami returns home for the next two weekends starting with a two-game series against the CCHA's last place team, Western Michigan January 29-30 followed by what is shaping up to be a big series against fourth place Lake Superior State. The Lakers are having a surprisingly nice season and are in line for a first round bye in the CCHA playoffs.
• After two weeks on the road, Miami will not leave the state of Ohio until at least the CCHA championship weekend in Detroit in late March.
  

OSU 4, #10 MSU 2
A night after the Buckeyes outshot the 10th-ranked Spartans 33-28 but lost 5-2, Ohio State worked the Spartans to the tune of a 47-19 shots on goal disparity earning a split in the weekend series from Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich. Junior Patrick Schafer scored from the side of the net to break a 2-2 tie at 18:53 of the third period to lift the Buckeyes to their 10th win on the season.

Junior Dustin Carlson was back in net for Ohio State, but he was rarely tested making just 17 saves.

With the win, Ohio State improves to 10-13-1 overall and 8-9-1-1 in the CCHA. The Buckeyes await a visit to Value City Arena this weekend from third place Ferris State who swept them during a series in Big Rapids earlier this year. And, with 26 points, Ohio State is just one point behind Nebraska-Omaha for the final home ice position for the first round of the CCHA playoffs but has two games in-hand over the Mavericks.

Ohio State has 10 league games remaining, which is plenty of time to make up ground and finish in the top 8 of the standings to earn home ice advantage for the first round of the conference playoffs. However, a difficult schedule awaits with series against Ferris State, at Nebraska-Omaha, fifth place Alaska and a home-and-home with their fiercest rival, Miami, to close the regular season.

Notes

• Ohio State's victory coupled with Miami's win in Fairbanks enabled the RedHawks to open a seven-point spread over the second place Spartans in the CCHA. It's roughly a 2 1/2 game lead since CCHA league wins are worth 3 points each.
  

Other Games of Interest
#8 Ferris State 3, Michigan 2 - Ferris earns the split in the second half of the home-and-home from Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids, Mich.

#3 Wisconsin 4, #1 Denver 3 - The Badgers take 3 of 4 points from the Pioneers in Madison opening the door for #2 Miami to return to the top of the polls this week.

#14 Bemidji State 5, #4 Minnesota-Duluth 4 - The Beavers of the CHA sweep the first place team in the WCHA. The sweep effectively silences the noise-makers from that western conference whom as we know, can do no wrong...for a few minutes at least.

Quick Hits

Well, I missed my first deadline yesterday and was unable to post a preview of the Miami/MSU series from Oxford. So, I'll try to make it up with a mini-recap of last night's game.

• From Oxford, the #1 Miami RedHawks improved to 4-0-1 (1-0 CCHA) with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Michigan State Spartans (3-2, 0-1). Captain Tommy Wingels netted both goals for Miami including the game-winner at 18:02 of the third period.
• Sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard made 24 saves, including one on a penalty shot, to improve to 3-0-1 (technically, he picked up the "and one" when he came into last Saturday's 5-5 tie vs. UNH trailing 5-3.) Reichard's goals against average is a minuscule 1.66 and his save percentage is a robust 92.4. Certainly Cody has not been affected by the BU loss in the national title game, he has been extremely solid.
• The officiating last night was fairly inconsistent and seemed tilted toward MSU. I know Miami is a very big team, but they seem to draw a disproportionate number of penalties for infractions that, at least to the untrained eye, appear to be committed by both teams. Miami was just 1-8 on the powerplay while MSU cashed in on one of seven chances so it was definitely a penalty-filled affair.
• There are many things that I am beginning to like about this team. First and foremost is their strength and will to win. They are finding ways to get it done early, late, no matter. The RedHawks are driven with many different contributors every night.
• Sophomore and reigning CCHA Defensive Player of the Week, Matt Tomassoni, was a healthy scratch last night. Freshman Steve Spinnell took Tomassoni's spot in the lineup.
  
• MSU senior goaltender Bobby Jarosz was solid for the Spartans making 26 saves, but to be honest, Miami hit at least 3 posts so he was definitely helped by the iron.
  
• Unfortunately, I wasn't in Oxford last night so I watched the game on ONN. OSU radio play-by-play man, Neil Sika, who has been the sideline reporter for ONN's Miami hockey coverage was in the booth next to "Diamond" Dave Allen last night. Neil was a big upgrade and I'd love to see him there every week providing analysis, but I assume he has to manage around OSU broadcasts. However, the Buckeyes did play last night so I guess we got Neil because he is no longer in the booth for them or Ohio State didn't take a broadcast team to Sault Ste. Marie which is common for them on long road trips. Regardless, I hope we get more of him.
  
• Another great source for Miami hockey news is the MU Hockey Blog. Alex posted a preview of the series at http://bit.ly/1WMmH6
• Full time coverage can be found at http://muredhawkshockey.blogspot.com
• Overall against MSU, Miami is just 24-66-5 all time, but current Miami seniors are 6-2. And since 2000, the series is nearly even with MSU holding a 14-12 advantage including a victory in the 2006 CCHA Championship Game in Detroit when Jeff Lerg outdueled Jeff Zatkoff in a 2-1 classic.
• Much has been made about MSU's epic collapse last season to an unheard of 11th place finish in the CCHA. This season is about redemption for them. There were multiple disciplinary and injury issues last year, but that was by far the worst season I've ever seen out of a Michigan State team. Remember, they won the national title at the end of the 2007 season. Then finish 11th of 12 league teams just two years removed. Fortunately for head coach Rick Comley (Lake Superior '72), his resume speaks for itself. He's led two different schools to national titles (Northern Michigan in 1991 and MSU in 2007) and has a career record that is mind-boggling. Overall in his coaching career, he is 752-586-100 in 37 seasons.
• The two teams will meet again on Bicentennial Homecoming at Miami. Puck drops at 8:05pm from beautiful Goggin Ice Center and the game will again be televised on ONN throughout the great state of Ohio.
  

In other action, Ohio State entered the 3rd period in Sault Ste. Marie holding a 2-1 lead over Lake Superior State. However, the Buckeyes were unable to hold the lead, which has been a common occurrence so far this year, and fell 3-2 to the Lakers as junior forward Rick Schofield scored the game-winning goal with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

• Ohio State is now 1-4 on the season (0-1 CCHA) while the Lakers continued their strong start moving to 4-1 (1-0).
• The Buckeyes and Lakers meet again tonight from the Soo at 7:05pm.

Across the nation, there were several good matchups as conference play began in earnest.

• From Minneapolis, Minn., the #4 Denver Pioneers returned to the win column by defeating the #11 Minnesota Golden Gophers 3-0 in WCHA play. As was the case last Friday in Columbus, junior netminder Marc Cheverie made 30 saves en route to his second consecutive shutout. Cheverie has now made 66 consecutive saves over his last two outings and I would expect to see him in the net tonight from Mariucci Arena as well.
• From Anchorage, Alaska, the #2 North Dakota Fighting Sioux engineered a dominating performance by defeating the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves 5-0. Freshman goaltender Aaron Dell made his Sioux debut memorable by making just 16 saves to pick up his first win and shutout and five different skaters potted goals for North Dakota.
• Finally, to round-out CCHA coverage, Ferris State and Western Michigan picked up non-conference wins against Robert Morris and UAH, respectively, while Northern Michigan lost a late lead and settled for a 3-3 tie against last season's Frozen Four surprise, Bemidji State. Notre Dame was unable to build on Tuesday's win against BU and fell at home to BC 3-2. Finally, the Bowling Green Falcons remained winless on the season getting blown out at home by Providence of Hockey East 8-2.