#1 Miami cruises past Lake St. 6-2

photo: Rachel Lewis Photography

October 29, 2010 - Oxford, Ohio

The #1 ranked Miami RedHawks opened an early 5-0 lead en route to a relatively easy 6-2 victory over Lake Superior State at Steve Cady Arena Friday night.

The RedHawks (5-1-1, 3-0 CCHA), who were averaging nearly five goals per game, did not disappoint with the top line of seniors Carter Camper and Andy Miele and sophomore Reilly Smith leading the way with ten points between them. Camper, the nation's leading scorer, notched his eighth goal of the season and 20th point in just his first seven games while Miele recorded his second straight four-plus point night with a line of 1-3-4. The reigning national player of the week took over possession of second place in the national scoring race (4-12-16) behind his linemate. And, the real benefactor of playing with these two veteran seniors has been Reilly Smith who tallied his sixth goal of the season and now has a line of 6-3-9 in six games. In 44 games last season as a freshman, Smith had eight goals and 20 points. The Dallas Stars draft pick is doing his best to pick up the scoring void left by the graduation of Jarod Palmer and the early departure of Tommy Wingels for the pros.

Playing their first game without shutdown junior defenseman Will Weber, the RedHawks limited the Lakers to just 18 shots on goal as junior Cody Reichard improved his perfect season record to 4-0. Reichard took a shutout into the final period, but a series of Miami penalties provided plenty of chances for LSSU who went 1 of 6 on the powerplay.

Frankly, Miami played a very sloppy third period but it's evident early when the legs are going, the RedHawks have greatly improved their speed and puck movement over a year ago. They are playing with unmatched confidence and great skill that will help them against small, speedy teams that have typically given them fits. And, when they finally field a complete, healthy team, they should be a joy to watch this season.

At the start of the final period, and after a lengthy discussion, Miami senior captain Carter Camper was issued a five minute major for kneeing at :44. It was Camper's first career major penalty and led to a Laker goal from Chad Nehring at 2:14.

Sophomore Curtis McKenzie answered quickly for Miami and reestablished the five goal margin at 6:33. For McKenzie, it was his second goal of the season and an absolutely beautiful finish as he accepted a perfect saucer pass from senior Pat Cannone and roofed a backhander over Laker senior goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson.

Miami would take five penalties in the third period and LSSU was able to capitalize late in regulation just after the expiration of another Miami penalty to make it a 6-2 final. The RedHawks must find a way to cut down on penalties which have been a problem over the past several years.

The series with the Lakers concludes tonight at 7pm at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford.

Notes

• Junior assistant captain Alden Hirschfeld returned to the lineup after missing the last five games due to injury. He picked up where he left off by notching what turned out to be the game-winning goal, his fourth of the season. He now has a line of 4-3-7 in just three games this season.
• In the aftermath of junior defenseman Will Weber's neck injury, several Miami players including Carter Camper and Curtis McKenzie wore protective neck guards for perhaps the first time during last night's game. And others, like Andy Miele and Garrett Kennedy, had them on during warm-ups, presumably to try them out.
• Camper's early statistics are eye-popping. He leads the nation in goals (8), assists (12 - tied with Miele) and points (20) after seven games and has a +11 rating.
• The RedHawks have scored at least four goals in all of their victories and have topped six goals four times this season.
• Miami's six goals were scored by six different RedHawks.
• Miami has outscored its opponents 19-3 over the past three games.
  
• The win was Miami’s seventh straight over the Lakers (2-4-1, 0-3 CCHA).

Coverage links

MURedHawks.com

Cincinnati Enquirer

Dayton Daily News

LSSULakers.com

The Week That Was/The Week That Is

photo: Rachel Lewis Photography

Oct. 29, 2010 - Oxford, Ohio

The Week That Was

What a week for the Miami RedHawks.

Coming off two consecutive weekends of non-conference action against top ten opponents, Miami opened the defense of their CCHA championship by sweeping winless Northern Michigan by a combined score of 13-1.

In doing so, junior netminder Cody Reichard registered his first shutout of the season blanking the Wildcats 4-0 on Friday night. The shutout was the eighth of Reichard's career leaving him four behind school leader David Burleigh's twelve. Reichard also improved his season record to 3-0 with a 2.14 goals against average and .910 save percentage.

However, the real stories of the weekend occurred on Saturday when the RedHawks trounced NMU 9-1.

• Sophomore Reilly Smith recorded the first hat trick of his career.
• Seniors Carter Camper and Andy Miele combined for ten points on the evening.
• For his weekend efforts, Miele (2-7-9) was named national player of the week by Inside College Hockey and the CCHA's Offensive Player of the Week. In doing so, Miami has claimed the first three weekly offensive awards from the league (Hirschfeld, Camper).
• Junior Trent Vogelhuber had a nice night scoring his first two goals of the season. The second of which came on a nice wrister to the top shelf.
• Seniors Pat Cannone (101) and Andy Miele (100) became members of Miami's 100-point club.
• Junior goaltender Connor Knapp made 15 saves to earn his first victory of the season evening his record at 1-1-1.

If those accomplishments weren't enough, the weekend sweep also vaulted the RedHawks back atop both major college hockey polls. Miami is once again the #1 team in the nation and has been for 28 of the past 75 weeks. Since the beginning of last season, Miami has been ranked in the nation's top four throughout both campaigns.

Then, there was also a "minor" story involving junior defenseman, Will Weber. Weber was injured near the end of the first period when an inadvertent skate blade from Northern Michigan's senior captain Phil Fox caught him under his cage resulting in a laceration running from beneath his left ear to his chin. The game was stopped with 2:59 remaining in the period to clean blood off the ice from Weber's injury. The teams went to their respective locker rooms and played the remainder of the first period before changing ends to begin the second period.

Weber, who needed 100 stitches and 15 staples to close the wound was seen back at Goggin Ice Center as soon as Tuesday and Justin Vaive provided us with this look at the injury.

From all accounts it appears Weber will make a full recovery and rejoin the RedHawks sometime in the coming weeks or months. If I had to guess, I'd say we'll see Weber back after the holiday break, but perhaps sooner.

The Week That Is

Tonight, the #1 Miami RedHawks (4-1-1, 2-0 CCHA) focus their attention back to the ice and take on the Lake Superior State Lakers in a two-game series at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford.

Last season Miami swept the Lakers in Oxford by scores of 2-0 and 10-4. As you may recall, that series was marred by the untimely death of former student manager Brendan Burke on Friday night. And, on Saturday, the RedHawks played with a major burst of emotion overwhelming the Lakers en route to the lopsided victory.

Miami enters the game with the nation's leading scorer, Carter Camper (7-10-17) propelling an offense that is generating 4.83 goals per game (3rd NCAA) while the Lakers are scoring just 3.17 per night while surrendering 4.17 goals per contest.

Last weekend, the Lakers (2-3-1, 0-2 CCHA) secured their first victories of the season by sweeping Colgate at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. LSSU is led offensively by sophomore forward Domenic Monardo (3-3-6), senior forward Rick Schofield (3-5-8) and sophomore defenseman Zach Trotman (3-3-6). In net, the Lakers will be carried by senior Brian Mahoney-Wilson and freshman Kevin Kapalka.

The Lakers are 0-2 away from the Soo.

RedHawks Knock off St. Cloud 6-3

Camper's two goals lead #4 Miami over #11 St. Cloud State

St. Cloud, Minn. - Senior captain Carter Camper tallied on the powerplay and added a shorthanded goal to lead #4 Miami to a 6-3 victory over #11 St. Cloud State.

After surrendering an early first period goal, Miami would recover on the strength of two powerplay goals by senior Andy Miele and sophomore Curtis McKenzie to lead 2-1 after one period. The RedHawks were able to withstand early energy from the Huskies who were playing their home opener after splitting a pair at the Maverick Stampede last weekend in Omaha, Neb. On Friday the Huskies defeated Frozen Four upstart RIT 3-1, but fell to Clarkson 6-2 in Saturday's finale.

The RedHawks rebounded nicely from a subpar outing last Saturday night against then #10 New Hampshire when they surrendered five second period goals en route to a 6-3 loss at Steve Cady Arena. Though they were outplayed in the first period of tonight's game, they found themselves ahead 2-1 after one period despite a 12-5 SOG disadvantage.

Miami took control of the game in the second period on the strength of Camper's powerplay marker and freshman Bryon Paulazzo's first career goal taking a 4-1 lead into the final period. The RedHawks imposed their will in the second period carrying the play and reversing the SOG deficit by outshooting the Huskies 14-4 in the period.

The Hawks put the game out of reach in the third on goals by Camper and sophomore Reilly Smith, but took five penalties in the frame allowing two Husky powerplay goals during garbage time. Miami needs to clean up their play in order to finish off St. Cloud tomorrow night in the series finale (8pm EST).

Junior netminder Cody Reichard made 21 saves and recorded his second win of the season to run his record to 2-0. For the game, Miami outshot the Huskies 31-24. St. Cloud was 2-7 on the powerplay while Miami converted three of six opportunities with the man advantage.

Notes
- Junior assistant captain Alden Hirschfeld, the reigning CCHA offensive player of the week, did not play this evening and apparently did not make the trip to St. Cloud.
- Camper has five goals already this season in just three games.
- Miami is now 8-1-1 all-time against St. Cloud State.
- The Huskies are coached by former Miami assistant Bob Motzko, a George Gwozdecky disciple. Motzko actually mentored current Miami head coach Enrico Blasi when he was a player for the then Miami Redskins.
- Sophomore defenseman Joe Hartman is making a homecoming this weekend. Hartman is originally from St. Cloud, Minn.
- Curiously, each of Miami's three games has finished with identical 6-3 scores.

This is Our Time!

Miami prepares to take on Boston College at Ford Field

Well, its come down to this.

The Miami RedHawks, last year's national runners-up, ranked #1 for the majority of this season, the runaway winners of the CCHA regular season title, champions of the NCAA Midwest Regional and the NCAA Tournament's top overall seed are back in the Frozen Four. Standing in their way in tomorrow night's national semifinal, however, is a name all too familiar to Miami hockey fans, players and alumni, Boston.

Whether it's followed by "University," as it was in last year's national championship game, or "College," as it was in 2006, 2007 and 2008, it has meant the same thing - loss. In some cases as in 2008 and 2009, it meant heartbreaking loss.

As Miami's program has continued to improve, the past six years have returned remarkable success. Consider:

• Miami has the best winning percentage in college hockey since 2005-06.
• Since 2007-08, Miami has spent more time atop the college hockey polls than any other school.
  

But, they are just 1-4 against Boston College/University during those years with the one victory coming over BU at the now defunct Lefty McFadden Tournament in Dayton back in 2004. And, tomorrow's opponent, Boston College, knocked the RedHawks out of the national tournament three consecutive years.

In 2006, Miami captured just its second ever CCHA regular season title and was ranked number one during the regular season for the first time in school history. However, they would fall in the CCHA Championship game dropping the RedHawks from a #1 to a #2 seed setting up the first of three consecutive meetings with the Eagles. This one coming in the first round. A broken stick and two empty net goals led BC to a 5-0 blanking of Miami. BC earned a trip to the Frozen Four, but lost in the national championship game to Wisconsin.

In 2007, Miami eeked out an at-large berth and #4 seed drawing New Hampshire in the first round. Led by junior captain Ryan Jones and classmate Nathan Davis, the RedHawks upset UNH earning the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. Awaiting in the regional final? BC. Once again, the Eagles shut out the RedHawks breaking open a close game late and winning 4-0. With the victory over Miami, BC earned another trip to the Frozen Four, but fell in the national title game to Michigan State.

In 2008, Miami finished the regular season and CCHA Tournament 32-7-1 garnering a #1 seed in the national tournament. In the first round, Miami found themselves in a dogfight with all-world netminder Andrew Volkening and Air Force. After defeating the Falcons in overtime, they found themselves face to face with nemesis Boston College. Again. This time, Miami would take a 2-0 lead in the second period, but on the strength of three quick, consecutive goals, BC led 3-2 entering the final period. Senior captain Ryan Jones tied the game at three, but a fluke goal during overtime by current BC junior Joe Whitney sent the Eagles to their third consecutive Frozen Four. This time, they would not be denied winning the national title by defeating upstart Notre Dame in the final.

So, seeing Boston College on the docket standing between Miami and a return trip to the national championship game isn't all that surprising. The Eagles started slowly but have gone 17-4-1 over their last 22 games finishing 27-10-3 and are currently riding an 11 game unbeaten streak. But, BC has been incredibly lax defensively surrendering 14 goals over the past three games which will be a killer against a Miami team that is number one in the nation in team defense and ranked in the top 10 offensively. On the flip side, the Eagles can score. They rank second nationally in team offense and have potted 19 goals over those past three games winning each of them including a wild 9-7 win over Yale in the Northeast Region final.

Boston College appears to be a small team, compared to Miami, with one line that encompasses nearly 40% of their scoring. The Eagles are led by the line of Cam Atkinson (27 goals), Brian Gibbons (16) and Joe Whitney (16). However, none of the three are taller than 5'8" and Whitney is just 5'6". What does that mean? It means Miami's big, and mobile, defense should have a field day clearing pucks, punishing BC forwards and should dominate this game. You have to believe the CCHA's Defensive Player of the Year and CBJ draft pick, Will Weber (6'4", 225) is licking his chops considering the size differential. Weber and his defense partner, Joe Hartman (6'4", 200), comprise Miami's top defensive pairing. And, with Vincent LoVerde likely still out of the lineup due to injury, you can expect this pair plus Cameron Schilling (6'2", 185) and Steve Spinell (6'1", 200) to see quite a bit of ice time versus the diminutive, but speedy, Eagles.

In net, Miami and BC have experienced netminders to choose from. BC's John Muse backstopped the Eagles to the national title in 2008, and of course, Miami's Cody Reichard took the RedHawks to within a heartbeat of the title last year while Connor Knapp made 55 saves in the 3-2 double overtime Midwest Regional final victory over Michigan just under two weeks ago. But, I'll take either of the Miami pair over Muse who has been, frankly, awful of late.

After a review of the stats, schedules and rosters, I think Miami will find a way to win this game. BC's defense and goaltending have been abysmal, and you can't count on scoring five goals in a game like this. Defense and goaltending win championships and I think Miami has a distinct advantage in both categories.

Like the Michigan game, Miami must defeat a team that's become their nemesis. If they want to become a truly elite program, these are the teams, in these situations, that the RedHawks must knock off to exorcise their past failures. In a sense it's a revenge game for Miami. Considering BC has beaten them three consecutive times in the tournament, you'd think Miami will be more than up for this game and playing with something to prove. They desperately want to beat a team with the word "Boston" on the front of their sweaters.

Should Miami be fortunate enough to advance, they would play the winner of the RIT/Wisconsin semifinal at 7pm Saturday night on ESPN.

Reset
What: Frozen Four National Semifinals
Who: #4 RIT (28-11-1) v. #1 Wisconsin (27-10-4) - 5pm ESPN2 (Thursday, April 8)
#1 Boston College (27-10-3) v. #1 Miami (29-7-7) - 8:30pm ESPN2 (Thursday, April 8)
Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

National Championship Game
7pm ESPN (Saturday, April 10)

NCAA Tournament Time!

With the work thing getting in my way this week, and quite a bit recently, Alex over at MURedHawks Hockey Blog has the honors this week of writing up the preview of today's game against UAH. Thanks for letting me steal the content, Alex!

Many of you diehard college hockey fans have no doubt heard about the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, but the majority of the publicity that UAH has gotten lately has been less than encouraging. Throughout the program's existence, UAH has been a part of the soon to be defunct College Hockey America (CHA). For now, the Chargers are in essence "homeless," without an official conference to play in next season and an independent schedule in front of them. With Nebraska-Omaha's departure from the CCHA creating an open slot, UAH applied for membership, and received a "thanks but no thanks" reply from the league and commissioner Tom Anastos. Most certainly down, but not out, the Chargers are writing a new chapter in their program's history, winning the final CHA Championship and making the NCAA Tournament as an Automatic Qualifier.

This won't be the first time that the two schools have met. Miami swept the Chargers in the 2003-2004 season at Goggin Ice Arena and Miami holds a 5-1 all-time advantage against UAH. Here's a look at the matchup, scheduled for 4pm ET on ESPNU:

Offense

Up front, UAH has forwards Cody Campbell and Andrew Coburn. Campbell, a sophomore and Coburn, a junior are both 22 point scorers. Campbell has 8-14-22 on the season and Coburn is an assist better than his teammate, notching 7-15-22. Separating these two players gives the Chargers the ability to roll more than one line, as Coburn usually centers a line with Kevin Morrison and Chris Fairbanks. Campbell plays on the right wing with Neil Ruffini in the middle and Sebastien Geoffrion on the left side. The RedHawks will need to keep an eye on these two lines, especially Ruffini's.

Defense

The bread and butter within the Chargers game resides on the blueline and on special teams, particularly with the penalty kill, ranked 4th in the nation. On the blueline, there are a good mix of underclassmen and "veterans"; seniors with NCAA tournament experience.

Goaltending

Unlike the RedHawks, UAH has a definitive number one goaltender in Cameron Talbot. No platoons here. The junior has recorded the decision in every one of the Chargers games this season and has a record of 12-17-3 with a 2.62 GAA and a .924 save percentage (which ties him for 5th in the nation with our own Cody Reichard). Backup 'tender Blake MacNicol has only seen action in two games and has no record.

Keys to Victory

For Miami to advance, staying out of the penalty box and running a physical game are both very important. The RedHawks definitely have the size advantage in this matchup, and will rely on that physicality to carry the tempo.

Prediction: UAH is a great story, but doesn't have the depth that the RedHawks do. Many say this is a "trap game"; a 4-1 matchup, but I think the skill and experience win out. Miami advances, 4-2.


Friday Recap

East Regional
#4 RIT 2, #1 Denver 1 - Yet another #4 seed defeating a #1. Last year, three #4's advanced to the second round including Miami. Obviously the RedHawks will be on full alert today as they take on a #4 seed themselves.

#3 New Hampshire 6, #2 Cornell 2 - Overrated Cornell taken behind the woodshed by UNH. All-world goaltender Ben Scrivens let in several soft goals as the Wildcats rolled.

West Regional
#1 Wisconsin 3, #4 Vermont 2 - Close game, but Wiscy wasn't really threatened.

#2 St. Cloud 4, #3 Northern Michigan 3 (2 OT) - Bummer for the CCHA, but NMU played well. Interestingly, SCSU notches it's first ever NCAA Tournament victory setting up a rematch of last week's WCHA tournament semifinal where the Huskies shutout the Badgers 2-0. This game will be played in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul likely handing the Huskies a sizeable home ice advantage.

Saturday's Schedule

Midwest Regional - Semifinals
#1 Miami v. #4 Alabama-Huntsville - 4pm ESPNU
#2 Bemidji State v. #3 Michigan - 7:30pm FSN North

Northeast Regional - Semifinals
#1 Boston College v. #4 Alaska-Fairbanks - 1:30pm
#2 North Dakota v. #3 Yale - 5pm FSN North

East Regional Final
#3 UNH v. #4 RIT - 6:30pm ESPNU HD

West Regional Final
#1 Wisconsin v. #2 St. Cloud State - 9pm ESPNU HD

Sunday's Schedule
Northeast Regional Final - 5:30pm ESPNU
Midwest Regional Final - 8pm ESPNU

2010 CCHA Championship Weekend - March 19-20

Miami captain Tommy Wingels hopes to continue last night's celebration on the ice in Detroit

Detroit, Mich. (March 19) - The CCHA season has hit its annual end point with the four remaining teams congregating in Detroit for the final weekend of CCHA play. This weekend, three of the top four seeds made it to the Joe for the CCHA Championships including top seeded Miami and #7 seed Michigan who play tonight at 8pm on the Big Ten Network.

#3 Ferris State and #4 Northern Michigan will meet in the first semifinal with the winner advancing to the championship game against either Miami or Michigan.

Miami and Michigan have faced each other twice already this season with Miami sweeping the Wolverines in Ann Arbor 3-1 and 5-1. But, as they say, that was then, this is now.

These Wolverines are 6-2 over their last eight games and just completed a two game sweep of arch rival MSU in East Lansing to earn a berth in the finals weekend. By most accounts, the Wolverines must win the tournament to keep their 19-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances alive. They are playing fast. They are playing smart and strong in front of walk-on goaltender Shawn Hunwick who is 5-1 since taking over for the injured Bryan Hogan. But, Hunwick has yet to face a team as talented as Miami and certainly not under the hot lights of Joe Louis Arena.

Meanwhile, Miami enters tonight's game secure. They are in the NCAA tournament, but they'd like dearly to hold onto either the #1 overall seed, or at worst, #2 by performing well this weekend. Plus, Miami has never captured the Mason Cup, a feat this team wants badly to accomplish.

Miami has talked about three championships all season. They have the first, the CCHA regular season title. The second is two wins away and the third begins next weekend. Can they do it?

Here's what College Hockey News had to say about the weekend. Miami has never fared well against Michigan, nor in Joe Louis Arena. I'm optimistic, but won't be surprised either way.

I'm out. Heading for Detroit.

Go RedHawks!

Zac Dalpe Signs with Carolina

Former OSU forward Zac Dalpe signs 3-year entry level contract

Raleigh, N.C. (March 18) - Well that didn't take long.

Just a day after Ohio State announced that long-time head coach John Markell would not be returning next season, super sophomore Zac Dalpe signed with the Carolina Hurricanes, the team that drafted him 45th overall in the 2008 NHL entry draft.

Dalpe, a finalist for the CCHA's Player of the Year, finished his Ohio State career with 34 goals and 36 assists for 70 points in 76 collegiate games. This year, Dalpe was by far Ohio State's most impressive and consistent player scoring 21-24-45 earning a spot on the CCHA's First Team. He will be assigned to AHL Albany after pocketing a $262,500 signing bonus and anticipated annual paychecks of $550,000 in 2010-11, $600,000 in 2011-12 and $700,000 2012-13 to complete the entry level deal.

In addition to losing Markell and Dalpe, Ohio State also lost junior forward Hunter Bishop, who signed with the Montreal Canadians. Bishop, a native of Fairbanks, Alaska, transferred from North Dakota two years ago and netted 15 goals and 27 points in 33 games this season for the Buckeyes. He will be assigned to AHL Hamilton.

This means the Buckeyes have lost more than 33% of their total goal production with the early departures of Dalpe and Bishop and the graduation of senior Mathieu Picard who netted 5 goals this season.

Got Hardware?

Miami takes home a truckload of hardware from
tonight's CCHA Awards Banquet

Detroit, Mich. (March 18) - The Miami RedHawks, already owners of the 2009-10 CCHA regular season title, took home nearly every individual award at tonight's CCHA awards banquet held at Detroit's Fox Theatre.

Cody Reichard - The sophomore netminder from Celina, Ohio was named the CCHA's Player of the Year besting former Ohio State forward Zac Dalpe and Northern Michigan's Erik Gustafsson. Reichard, who also garnered Goaltender of the Year honors, finished the the regular season as the CCHA leader in goals-against average (1.23), save percentage (.950), and shutouts (5). He also led the nation in overall GAA (1.48) and winning percentage (.841). MURedHawks.com

Tommy Wingels - The junior was named captain of the RedHawks at the beginning of the season and was tonight named the CCHA's Best Defensive Forward. Wingels was +12 in CCHA action consistently seeing time against the opposition's number one line.

Will Weber - Sophomore and CBJ draft pick Weber was honored as the CCHA's Best Defensive Defenseman. Weber is 6'4" and 200 pounds and will be solid contributor for the Blue Jackets. He has a smooth skating stride and is very fast for such a big man. What's more? Weber has a mean streak to go along with that size and is a big hitter.

Enrico Blasi - Miami's head coach was named the CCHA's Coach of the Year for the fourth time in eleven seasons at Miami. Blasi led the RedHawks to their third CCHA regular season title with a remarkable 21-2-5 conference record including a 23-game unbeaten streak in league play.

Congratulations to the RedHawks! Now bring home the Mason Cup!

Coaching Change at Ohio State

Miami fans will have to find another tan man to heckle

Columbus, Ohio (March 16) - After 15 years behind the Buckeye bench, OSU athletic director Gene Smith announced the contract of head hockey coach John Markell, would not be renewed. Markell, a Bowling Green alum, took over for Jerry Welsh in the middle of the 1994-95 season and compiled a respectable 280-267-56 record including the school's only CCHA tournament title in 2004, six NCAA tournament appearances and the school's only trip to the Frozen Four back in 1998. However, after reaching the NCAA tournament last season, the Buckeyes were largely expected to contend for a top four finish in the CCHA. Instead, they finished 9th in the regular season and a disappointing 15-18-6 overall. Instead of a first round bye, the Buckeyes hosted a first round playoff series at the OSU Ice Rink sweeping Notre Dame. The following week, they traveled to regular season champion Miami where they extended the RedHawks to three games but were ultimately eliminated.

Blue Jackets beat writer Michael Arace recently penned a column where he states that Markell was not the problem, but rather, Value City Arena and the OSU administration bear much of the blame for the lack of consistency the program has put forth. While I agree Value City Arena is an absolutely awful venue for nearly anything, it's a pro-style facility that most certainly has all the amenities a professional hockey team might have. And when full, VCA could become a significant recruiting advantage for Ohio State. The problem is that college hockey simply does not play to 17,500 seats every night, anywhere. The top drawing programs like Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota play in buildings that hold 15,237, 11,640 and 10,000 respectively with Wisconsin rarely playing to a full house. Arace is correct in saying that most programs have buildings that range in the 2,500 to 6,000 seat number and a rink of that size on campus at Ohio State could have far-reaching implications for the program. But, I find it highly unlikely that the administration would want to pony up $40-$50 million to build it.

Ultimately, Arace is wrong. It's not the building or the lack of real commitment to hockey at Ohio State that doomed Markell. He was not renewed because his program had stagnated. Even considering he took a program that averaged just 9 wins per season in the decade prior to his arrival on campus to one that won nearly 20 a year during his 15 seasons, he simply could never generate consistent momentum while being tormented by Rico Blasi and Miami down the road.

And while Ohio State has never been #1 in the state of Ohio for men's hockey behind Bowling Green and now Miami, there was the feeling that the momentum Markell had generated a few years ago was squandered. That even with decent recruiting classes, Ohio State was not winning enough to move the needle forward. That long time donors and season ticket holders finally gave up hope and stopped giving their money. In the end, Markell is out because he didn't win consistently enough and was too nice a guy to point out the fact that Ohio State doesn't really care about hockey, regardless of what they might say.

Ultimately, I do feel for Coach Markell and hope he finds another opportunity down the road.

Next Coach?
Adam Wodon of College Hockey News had this to say on possible Markell replacements.

Friday Night Lights - March 12

Red and White Wall - Miami defeats Ohio State (photo: cnati.com)

Oxford, Ohio (March 12) - Led by two goals apiece from Carter Camper and Andy Miele, the top seeded Miami RedHawks overcame a one-goal first period deficit to defeat Ohio State 6-2 in a CCHA second round tournament game at Steve Cady Arena.

Miele would get the RedHawks on the board first before Ohio State's Hunter Bishop would score his fourth and fifth goals in the last two games as the Buckeyes took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room at the end of 20 minutes.

But Camper would tie the game for Miami just 17 seconds into the second period on a one-timer from Miele and get the game-winner on the powerplay a few minutes later firing up the better-than-expected crowd of 3,141 at the Goggin Ice Center (Miami students are still on spring break). The RedHawks would score twice more in the second period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead heading into the final stanza.

On the night, Miele had 2 goals and 2 assists for his third career four point game while linemate Jarod Palmer had a goal and an assist. Junior captain Tommy Wingels chipped in with two assists and added a massive, clean open ice hit on OSU assistant captain Peter Boyd which resulted in a cheap retaliation spearing penalty to Wingels' nether-region. After the intent to injure penalty was assessed, Boyd was escorted to the locker room and the Buckeyes did not muster much of a comeback even when awarded a late third period two-man advantage.

After a slow start, Miami goaltender Cody Reichard made 26 saves and Buckeye netminder Dustin Carlson was pulled for the second consecutive start at Steve Cady Arena.

Game two of the best-of-three second round series is tonight at 7:05pm from Oxford. You can find an additional game recap at MURedHawks.com

Around the CCHA

Michigan 5, MSU 1 - Don't look now, but maybe, just maybe, Michigan is about to turn it on. They overwhelmed their in-state rivals with three first period goals and rolled in front of super-sub Shawn Hunwick who is still manning the crease while Bryan Hogan recovers from a groin injury. I believe the Wolverines will have to win the CCHA Championship in order to make the NCAA Tournament for a 20th consecutive year.

Ferris State 3, UNO 1 - Solid performance from the Bulldogs in shutting down one of the hotter offenses in college hockey.

Northern Michigan 4, Alaska 3 - After jetting to a 4-0 lead, the Wildcats had to hang on to defeat the Nanooks in Marquette, Mich.

Around the Country

Niagara 5, Bemidji State 4 - With the Beavers loss, it means that the four-team CHA will likely get two teams into the NCAA tournament spoiling the hopes of an at-large bubble team from a power conference. Currently, Bemidji is 6th in the Pairwise Rankings. I find it highly unlikely they would slide far enough to miss out on an at-large bid. The Purple Eagles will go for the final CHA Tournament title tonight on home ice vs. Alabama-Huntsville.

Quinnipiac 3, Union 2 - Why include this score, you ask? Because it took 5 OT periods for the Bobcats to pull out the victory in the longest game in NCAA history! The two teams meet again tonight in just a few hours.

CCHA Second Round - Miami v. OSU

Andy Miele and the RedHawks prepare to take on Dustin Carlson,
Chris Reed and the Buckeyes

Oxford, Ohio (March 11) - For the first time since 2004, Miami and Ohio State will face each other in the CCHA playoffs. The RedHawks and Buckeyes will battle in a best-of-three second-round series starting tonight at 7:35pm with game two coming Saturday at 7:05pm, and if necessary, game three at 7:05pm on Sunday evening. Each game will be played at Miami's Steve Cady Arena. With Miami's students returning from spring break, tickets are still available for Friday night, however Saturday is a virtual sell out with possibly a few SRO tickets remaining.

Friday and Saturday will mark the fifth and sixth times the two teams have faced each other this season. The RedHawks lead the season series 3-0-1 with the most recent meeting having occurred at Value City Arena on February 27 when the teams skated to a 0-0 tie. Miami has outscored Ohio State 16-4 this season including two shutouts of the Buckeyes.

While the eighth seeded Buckeyes appear to be heavy underdogs this weekend, history has shown that top-seeded Miami is vulnerable after breaks and bye weeks, including when they have hosted second round series in the past.

For instance in 2006-07, Miami finished third in the CCHA earning a first round playoff bye. The RedHawks completed the year at 24-14-4 and upset #1 seed New Hampshire in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Yet, the RedHawks were swept by Lake Superior in the second round of the CCHA playoffs in Oxford.

Last season, Miami finished 23-14-5, tied for second in the league, and came within a minute of the school's first national title. Yet, after securing a first round CCHA playoff bye, the RedHawks were defeated in three games by Northern Michigan and once again sat on the sidelines instead of playing for the CCHA championship and the Mason Cup.

And, earlier this year, Miami was swept by lowly Robert Morris after a lengthy holiday break.

What's this all mean? It means the RedHawks can be beaten by Ohio State if history is any predictor of future performance. However, that same pattern of struggling in the second round tends to occur every other year. This year? The pattern indicates Miami should win the series and advance to the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich. But, certainly Miami's history is worth noting.

But, unlike past seasons where Miami has played a home series to a partially full building (due to spring break) and less than thrilling opponents like Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State, this season, Miami plays their chief in-state rival and the students will be back to fill up the building on Saturday night. Perhaps Miami has fallen victim to a two-week break followed by an opponent that hasn't always been an emotional motivator. Perhaps Miami simply plays down to competition at times. But, that won't be the case with an key rival coming to Oxford. Miami should be sky high for this series and will gain an additional edge if they can get through Friday's game with a less than full student section.

I think Miami sweeps the series and advances to the Joe.

Notes:

• Miami has dominated the Buckeyes recently going 11-1-2 in the past 14 games.
• Miami leads the all-time series with Ohio State 61-56-12 including 38-21-4 in Oxford.
  
• Miami is 5-2 against Ohio State in CCHA tournament play with the last meeting coming in the CCHA semifinals in Detroit in 2004. That year the Buckeyes won three overtime games in three days to capture their only Mason Cup when the CCHA still utilized the "Super Six" format.
• Miami has won 20 or more games for five consecutive seasons and was 21-2-5 in CCHA play this season alone.
  

Dalpe, Multiple RedHawks Honored
Detroit, Mich. (March 11) - Earlier this week, the CCHA announced its all-league teams and finalists for individual awards. Coming off a dominating regular season, several RedHawks were honored headlined by senior Jarod Palmer and sophomore Cody Reichard joining Ohio State forward Zac Dalpe by being named to the CCHA's first team. Palmer led the RedHawks in goals (16) and points (40) this season while Reichard led the CCHA in nearly every goaltending category as well as being the national leader in goals-against average (1.48), save percentage (93.8) and winning percentage (17-2-3 overall). In addition, junior captain Tommy Wingels and classmate Andy Miele were both named to the league's second team while Carter Camper earned honorable mention. Lastly, freshman defenseman Joe Hartman was named to the CCHA all-rookie team after a year in which he played in 35 of 36 games registering 14 points on six goals including two short-handed. Importantly, Hartman was fourth on the squad in plus-minus with a +20 rating and helped the RedHawks lead the nation in scoring defense at 1.72 goals per game.

Zac Dalpe led Ohio State in goals (20) and points (40) in being named to the CCHA first team and a finalist for Player of the Year. After a stellar freshman year, Dalpe broke out this season and led the Buckeyes from start to finish. He has been the only consistent scoring threat OSU has had this season.

In addition to the team awards, the individual finalists were named.

Cody Reichard was named a finalist for CCHA Player of the Year along with Dalpe and Northern Michigan defenseman Eric Gustafsson.

Tommy Wingels was nominated for Best Defensive Forward and Miami sophomore defenseman Will Weber (CBJ draft pick) was nominated as Best Defensive Defenseman (the league splits this into two honors to give more attention to defenseman who are sometimes overlooked in awards presentations).

Lastly, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi was named a finalist for CCHA Coach of the Year, an honor he has won three times previously.

The CCHA Awards kick off CCHA Championship Weekend on Thursday, March 18. The banquet, an Academy Awards-style event with music videos and video highlights, is held at historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, across from Comerica Park. The banquet begins with a social hour presented by the RBC Financial Group at 6:30 p.m. The Awards Program starts at 7:30 p.m. Banquet tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling the CCHA at (248) 888-0600 or at the door the day of the event. MURedHawks.com

Other Second Round Matchups

Michigan at Michigan State - In a rare second round meeting, the Wolverines will invade their arch-rivals in East Lansing. The good news for the CCHA is that at least one of these teams will advance to the Joe next weekend helping boost attendance. Michigan must likely win the CCHA tournament in order to make the NCAA tournament for the 20th consecutive year. I think the Wolverines advance because they are more talented, but MSU has had Michigan's number recently.

Alaska at Northern Michigan - The Nanooks hit the road again to play an interesting series in Marquette, Mich. NMU has played their best hockey historically during the second half of the season and they are doing it again this year. Walt Kyle almost always has the Wildcats in Detroit and I think that happens again.

Nebraska-Omaha at Ferris State - Dean Blais has the Mavericks flying but they'll be in for a stern test traveling to Big Rapids, Mich. to face the Bulldogs. I think this series goes to three games with Omaha moving on to Detroit.

Friday Night Lights - March 5

Buckeyes win Game 1 over Notre Dame

Columbus, Ohio (March 6) - Led by senior forward Mathieu Picard's two goals, eighth seeded Ohio State defeated nine seed Notre Dame 3-1 in front of 734 strong at the OSU Ice Arena. As is the case annually, the Buckeyes are forced to play a home playoff series at the old barn adjacent to St. John Arena rather than their usual plush home digs at the Schott due to the Ohio High School Wrestling Championships having Value City Arena to themselves. Frankly, I believe the Buckeyes should play all of their games at the old building because unlike Value City, there is actually a college hockey atmosphere there and a real home ice advantage for Ohio State. The two teams play again at 7pm this evening and the game is purportedly sold out meaning 1,500 strong will cram into the facility to see if the Buckeyes can sweep Notre Dame and move onto the second round.

With all of the upper seeded teams winning last night, it sets up the real chance that Ohio State and Miami could meet in Oxford in the second round of the playoffs for the right to advance to the CCHA Championship in Detroit in two weeks. Of course, this assumes that no lower seeded teams win the next two games to shake up the bracket.

Michigan, Alaska and UNO Post Game 1 Victories
In addition to the Buckeyes game one win, all the higher seeded teams notched victories in the first night of CCHA playoff action.

In Ann Arbor, Mich. seventh seeded Michigan behind seldom-used backup netminder Shawn Hunwick, defeated tenth seeded Lake Superior State 5-2. Hunwick was again subbing for injured junior Bryan Hogan and made 21 saves to get the win. Matt Rust, for whom the Blue Jackets traded Mathieu Roy, scored an unassisted goal just 37 seconds into the third period which turned out to be the game-winner. The Wolverines go for the sweep tonight at Yost Ice Arena at 7:35pm.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, the fifth seeded Nanooks blanked twelve seed Western Michigan 4-0 behind 16 saves from Scott Greenham. Should the Broncos be unable to find a way to win tonight, it will be the last game behind the bench for outgoing head coach Jim Culhane. The Nanooks will attempt to sweep the Broncos at 11:05pm EST tonight from Fairbanks.

Lastly, in Omaha, Neb., sixth seeded Nebraska-Omaha used four second period goals to chase Bowling Green starter Andrew Hammond from the net en route to a 6-1 whipping of the Falcons. Senior Jeremie Dupont made 25 saves for the Mavericks as Dean Blais' troops continue to play well down the stretch. UNO goes for the sweep tonight at 8:05pm EST from Qwest Center.

#2 Miami Moves back to #1 in Pairwise Rankings
Denver, Colo. - With #15 Colorado College's 2-1 victory over #1 Denver, Miami flipped a comparison with the Pioneers moving the RedHawks back into the top position in the Pairwise rankings that largely determine the NCAA tournament field. This means Miami would be the #1 overall seed in the tournament if the season ended today. Colorado College and Denver will play again tonight in Colorado Springs. Should the Tigers sweep the Pioneers, it will likely propel Miami back to the top of the national polls as well. Sometimes it pays to have a week off.

Friday Roundup/Weekend Preview - Feb 26 & 27

Last year's Miami seniors went out with a bang

NOTE: OK, so epic fail on my part for not getting this finished yesterday, but here it is today with updated playoff implications.

Oxford, Ohio (Feb. 26) - With 106 wins, a CCHA regular season title, a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and an appearance in the NCAA title game in the bag, LAST season's Miami seniors were the most decorated of any class in school history. However, THIS season's senior class, including Jarod Palmer, Gary Steffes, Brandon Smith and Dane Hetland have an opportunity to surpass those accomplishments. Consider they already have a second CCHA regular season title to their credit, they possess the CCHA's top tournament seeding, another #1 NCAA tournament seed is a possibility as is the opportunity to capture the school's first-ever Mason Cup, awarded to the winner of the CCHA tournament, and perhaps, a second Frozen Four appearance. Additionally, this senior class' win total of 104 makes them the second winningest in school history. And, with (likely) at least five games remaining, they have an opportunity to leave Oxford as the school's most successful class ever. Incidentally, NEXT year's senior class which has driven much of the success of the past two years is already at 80 wins meaning they too will have an opportunity to rewrite the Miami hockey record books and could complete their time at Miami with an unprecedented four players in the career 100-point club.

With the first-round of the CCHA tournament starting next weekend, this is the last weekend of regular season play and, aside from the top spot, the league is tightly packed from second through tenth place. In fact, first-round byes and first-round home ice slots are still up for grabs.

Here's a quick rundown of the weekend's action.

Miami v. Ohio State
Miami's 4-2 loss last Saturday vs. UNO saw the RedHawks 23-game league unbeaten streak end as well as its school record 11 game overall unbeaten streak. With the loss and Denver's sweep of WCHA bottom-feeder Michigan Tech, the pollsters saw fit to move the Pioneers ahead of Miami in all three media polls. While Miami will continue to play for the #1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the Buckeyes are clinging to the final first round home ice playoff spot which they possess by three points over ninth place Lake Superior. Should the Lakers sweep the Wildcats, they could easily pass Ohio State should they struggle this weekend against the RedHawks.

Update: Miami scored SIX second period goals to overwhelm the Buckeyes 6-2 on senior night. Six different RedHawks scored goals including a goal and an assist for senior Jarod Palmer in his final regular season game at Steve Cady Arena. Sophomore Cody Reichard made 33 saves to improve to 17-2-3 on the season. The teams will conclude the regular season tonight at 8pm from Value City Arena where Ohio State will need at least a point to assure themselves of having home ice next weekend when the CCHA playoffs begin. The Buckeyes got a break when Northern Michigan defeated Lake Superior in OT meaning the Lakers are still three points behind Ohio State for the final home ice slot. But, should the Buckeyes lose and the Lakers win tonight, Lake Superior will take the tiebreaker and host Ohio State next weekend.

Ferris State v. Western Michigan
The Bulldogs find themselves in a tie for second place with Michigan State in the league standings and face a difficult challenge in last place Western Michigan. Last week, the Broncos announced that head coach Jim Culhane would not return to the WMU bench next season meaning you can undoubtedly expect them to play hard for Culhane during final weekend as head coach. With a second place finish, Ferris State would have its highest league finish since winning the CCHA regular season title in 2002-03.

Update: Ferris State secured a first round playoff bye with a shootout victory over the Broncos. It was the fourth shootout win for Ferris State this season. The Bulldogs are currently 14th in the Pairwise rankings that largely determine the NCAA tournament field,

Michigan State v. Bowling Green
Like Ferris State, the Spartans have an opportunity to lock up the #2 seed in the CCHA tournament which would enable them to avoid a matchup with Miami until the CCHA Championship game in Detroit. While MSU won't see a big boost in the Pairwise this weekend, their NCAA hopes are hanging by a thread so two wins this weekend are an absolute must.

Update: Michigan State secured a first round bye and moved into sole possession of second place with a 5-2 win over Bowling Green. MSU is currently tied for 11th in the Pairwise rankings.

Northern Michigan v. Lake Superior State
The aforementioned Lakers are hoping they can sneak into eighth place in the league and steal the final first round home ice playoff spot from Ohio State. However, NMU has an opportunity still to claim a first round bye so this series between the two "U-P" rivals takes on additional importance this weekend.

Update: NMU can clinch the fourth and final first round playoff bye with two points tonight against Lake Superior. The Wildcats defeated the Lakers 2-1 in OT last night.

Michigan v. Notre Dame
These two teams played Thursday with Michigan earning a 4-0 win at Yost Ice Arena. Junior goaltender Bryan Hogan left the game with an apparent groin injury early in the first period, but seldom-used junior Shawn Hunwick picked up the slack and carried the Wolverines to the shutout.

Update: After Friday's games, Michigan sits in seventh place in the CCHA just two points behind Northern Michigan for the final first round bye. If Michigan defeats Notre Dame in South Bend tonight and NMU takes one point or less against Lake Superior, Michigan will earn the fourth position.

UNO and Alaska
Both teams will play non-conference series against Bemidji State and Alaska-Anchorage, respectively. UNO can enhance their NCAA tournament resume with a sweep of the Beavers while Alaska can continue to affirm their place in the top 16 of the Pairwise.

Update: Bemidji State defeated UNO 3-1 and Alaska defeated archrival Alaska-Anchorage 7-4 last night. Currently, UNO sits 20th in the Pairwise and out of the NCAA tournament field of 16. Alaska is currently tied for 11th.

Friday Round-up

Justin Vaive and the RedHawks have been punishing teams of late

Oxford, Ohio (Feb. 19) - Junior forward Justin Vaive scored his fourth goal of the season and senior Jarod Palmer, the CCHA's reigning offensive player of the week, continued his hot streak by registering three points as #1 Miami defeated Nebraska-Omaha 6-2 at Steve Cady Arena.

After a shaky first period that saw Miami trade chances with the Mavericks, the RedHawk defense took over the game. Led by sophomores Will Weber and Cameron Schilling, Miami limited UNO to just 10 shots during the final two periods of the game after surrendering an uncharacteristic 11 in the first period. In fact, Miami allowed two first period goals which broke a streak of 13 unanswered first period goals by the RedHawks who had not allowed a goal in the first period of a game since a 1-1 tie at Alaska on January 22.

Dean Blais professes "race horse hockey." And, he had his Mavericks running in the first period. But, Miami made the necessary adjustments and got back to locking down the neutral zone, and frankly, kept UNO out of the Miami zone for much of the second and third periods. The ice definitely seemed tilted after that first period that saw Cody Reichard allow an uncharacteristic goal when UNO sophomore forward Alex Hudson fired a wrister past Reichard on a 1-on-1 rush and Hudson also had the second Maverick goal on a 5x3 power play. After the game, Blais seemed to sum up the night's effort succinctly.

“The better team won,” said UNO coach Dean Blais. “We just got outplayed, and we got what we deserved.” Omaha.com

More to the point, Blais felt his squad ran out of juice as Miami squeezed the Mavs during the last two periods.

“I didn’t think we battled as hard as we have been — it was almost like we ran out of emotion,” Blais said. Omaha.com

For the game, Miami outshot the Mavericks 45-21 as the RedHawks once again got balanced scoring as six Hawks scored goals. Jarod Palmer led the effort with a line of 1-2-3 for the night and now has an eight game scoring streak and leads the team with 15-23-38. The 38 points are a career best for the senior from Fridley, Minn.

With the win, Miami improves to 23-4-6 overall and 20-1-4-2 CCHA. They extended their CCHA unbeaten streak to 23 games and continue to play inspired hockey despite having clinched the regular season title last weekend.

Head coach Enrico Blasi agreed.

"This team is focused on just one day at a time," Blasi said. "You go out there and play hard and you leave it all on the ice. It's going to be really hard if you take some weeks off and try to turn it on again. You gotta keep the pressure on and keep working hard and they're doing that." MURedHawks.com

Tonight, Miami will attempt to sweep the Mavericks and continue trending toward a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Faceoff is 7:05 from Steve Cady Arena and the game can be seen across the great state of Ohio on ONN.

Ohio State gets crucial road win over Western Michigan

Kalamazoo, Mich. (Feb. 19) - A day after learning he would not be returning to the Western Michigan bench next season, head coach Jim Culhane and the Broncos dropped a tough 3-1 decision to the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes.

Though head coach John Markell's future is cloudy at best, he could not allow time to feel sorry for Culhane as the Buckeyes continue to fight for position in the tightly packed CCHA standings. With the win, and a Lake Superior loss, Ohio State moved into sole possession of eighth place and the final home ice spot for the CCHA playoffs with three games to play. The Buckeyes are just a point behind Michigan for seventh place in the league standings as the Wolverines dropped another home game to surging Northern Michigan.

Yet again, super sophomore Zac Dalpe led the Buckeyes with two goals including an empty-netter with 53 seconds left to seal the win. Dalpe leads Ohio State with 18 goals and 34 points this season. He has been the only consistent scoring threat for the Buckeyes as only he and Sergio Somma (10 goals) are in double-digits for Ohio State.

Junior Dustin Carlson made 33 saves to register his third win of the season as the Buckeyes improved to 12-15-4 overall and 10-11-4-2 CCHA.

Ohio State and Western Michigan complete the weekend and season series tonight at 7:35pm from Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo.

Saturday Night Fights - Feb 13

Miami crushes Bowling Green 10-2

Bowling Green, Ohio (Feb. 13) - Two Saturday nights in a row, the Miami RedHawks have participated in a game that featured over 100 combined penalty minutes. And, two Saturday nights in a row, Miami put up 10 goals on an overmatched opponent.

In an ugly game in all senses of the word, the Miami RedHawks completely overwhelmed the smaller, slower and much more poorly attired Bowling Green Falcons 10-2. In doing so, Miami notched yet another series sweep as nine RedHawks had multiple point games including two-goal nights for freshman Reilly Smith and senior Brandon Smith, plus four helpers for junior Andy Miele. Miele's assist on sophomore defenseman Chris Wideman's shorthanded goal in the second period was the second of two spin-o-rama's on the play with senior Jarod Palmer also showing off the nifty feet and hands. Palmer carried the puck into the BG zone to the right of goaltender Nick Eno, spun and left the puck for Miele who spun drawing two defenders to him. Miele dropped the puck to Wideman who walked down the slot and fired a wrister past Eno. At that point, it was 6-1 Miami late in the second period.

While the action had been chippy but controlled to that point, things would get out of hand following Wideman's goal.

When a BG player ran Miami sophomore goaltender Connor Knapp at full speed with 37 seconds remaining in the second period, both teams, including Knapp, would meet behind the Miami net. The ensuing melee saw helmets, sticks, gloves and sweaters litter the ice as two Falcons and Miami's Alden Hirschfeld (from nearby Sylvania, Ohio) were shown the gate. As the officials sorted it out, they ultimately awarded Miami a bizarre 7 minute powerplay that would carry into the final period. The total tally for the incident was a whopping 67 penalty minutes and freshman defender Joe Hartman would notch a powerplay goal early in the third to keep Miami rolling.

As if things weren't bizarre enough, at 8:57 of the third period, following another minor dust-up, head coach Enrico Blasi was shown the gate. Blasi took his time walking along the boards toward the BG student section and band waving to the crowd as he exited. And, with one final parting shot, turned and executed a flawless bow to referees Brian Hall and Dean Sanborn. The Romanian judge awarded him a 9.0. To say the scene was surreal might not describe it enough. As an aside, I do think it was a bit classless of Rico, however, he's sending a message to the league and to his team that he has their back no matter what. As a player, I couldn't ask for more from my head coach.

A kneeing major assessed to BG's Robert Shea at 11:09 was the "perfect" ending to an ugly display by the Falcons in all facets of their game. They are now 4-22-4 on the season.

Next week, the RedHawks play host to Dean Blais and Nebraska-Omaha at Steve Cady Arena. The Mavericks are fresh off a sweep of Michigan and have ascended all the way to fourth in the CCHA with an overall record of 16-12-6.

Notes

• With the victory, Miami improves to 22-4-6 overall and 19-1-4-2 CCHA.
• The RedHawks have an astounding 20 point lead over both Ferris State and Michigan State who are tied for second in the conference. That's like leading the standings by roughly seven games.
  
• Miami now has a season's best seven game winning streak and is unbeaten in 22 consecutive CCHA contests.
• Miami has put up 25 goals over the past two weekends while allowing just eight.

CCHA Regular Season Champions!

Miami seals third CCHA regular season title in school history with
3-2 win over Bowling Green

Bowling Green, Ohio (Feb. 12) - One of the most difficult weeks the Miami Brotherhood has ever endured ended with a silver lining as the RedHawks clinched the third CCHA regular season championship in school history by defeating the Bowling Green Falcons 3-2.

As you know by now, Miami student manager Brendan Burke died suddenly last Friday when his vehicle collided with an oncoming truck on a snowy road in rural Indiana. Burke's story has been well-documented, and on Tuesday, the RedHawks attended his funeral in Massachusetts and have almost certainly been grieving since learning the unfortunate news after last Friday's 2-0 win over Lake Superior.

To suggest the Miami hockey team has been through a tumultuous year on and off the ice would be an understatement. Between the high of earning their first Frozen Four appearance last March to losing a close friend last week, the team has been through the ringer. Consider:

• March 2009 - Miami defeats UMD 2-1 to win the NCAA West Regional and a berth in the Frozen Four
• April 2009 - BU defeats Miami 4-3 in overtime rallying from a two goal deficit with less than a minute to play to steal the national title from the RedHawks
• October 2009 - Miami is predicted to finish as high as third in the CCHA pre-season polls
• January 2010 - Miami drops its first two games after the holiday break to lowly Robert Morris to fall from the top spot in the polls for the first time since October
• February 2010 - Miami has been ranked number one in the polls for 15 of the season's 17 weeks; Brendan Burke dies suddenly; Miami clinches the regular season title

With all that's happened, this group of remarkable young men have managed to maintain their focus, poise and composure, and continue to play outstanding hockey. With tonight's victory, Miami runs its school record league unbeaten streak to an amazing 21 games. They have lost just one conference game this season, in overtime, back on October 24 to Michigan State. The RedHawks are now 21-4-6 overall and 18-1-4-2 in CCHA play. Even more astounding is that Miami has yet one more game in-hand over second place MSU who is off this weekend. The RedHawks have an almost unbelievable 17 point spread over the Spartans and still have five games remaining before a first round bye in the CCHA tournament.

Ultimately, this Miami team will be remembered for a remarkable regular season. But, history will judge them by what they do in March, and hopefully, April. Will their amazing run continue? Or will they falter during the playoffs? With what they have accomplished during the season, there is absolutely no reason why the RedHawks shouldn't win their first ever CCHA Tournament Championship and hoist the Mason Cup at Joe Louis Arena in just over a month. But, to do so, will require this team to dig deep once again and find the strength, courage and resiliency they've shown over the past year.

Weekend Preview - Feb 5 & 6

Miami takes on Lakers while Buckeyes order up UNO

Oxford, Ohio (Feb. 5) - This weekend, #1 Miami (18-4-6, 15-1-4-2 CCHA) hosts the three-time NCAA champions, the Lake Superior State Lakers (14-9-5, 9-8-3-2 CCHA) at Steve Cady Arena. The Lakers of the iconic logo and sweet uniforms have been somewhat of a surprise this year as they enter tonight's game in fifth place in the CCHA, just two points behind fourth place Michigan with one game in hand. The Wolverines leap-frogged the Lakers last night on the strength of a 2-1 road victory over Bowling Green.

Founded in 1946 in Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., Lake Superior State is a small school of just 3,000 students. However, they have found success on the largest stage having won three national titles in 1988, 1992 and 1994 narrowly missing the three-peat when they lost to Paul Kariya and Maine. Only nine other schools have won as many as three national titles, eight of which consist of the largest names in college hockey, and in some cases, all of collegiate sports.

Last season, Miami swept the Lakers in the Soo 2-1 and 4-0 en route to the national title game. And, Miami has won four straight and seven of the last nine but those two Laker wins were huge because they knocked the RedHawks out of the 2007 CCHA tournament sweeping two games in Oxford. Overall, the Lakers own a 54-32-10 advantage in the all-time series which was absolutely dominated by Lake State in the 80s and early 90s when Miami's program was still gathering steam.

Offensively, the Lakers are led by junior forwards Rick Schofield (13-10-23) and Will Acton (7-13-20) who along with senior Zac MacVoy are the only Lakers with at least 20 points. But, like Miami the scoring is spread out with ten Lakers having compiled at least ten points this year.

In net, junior Brian Mahoney-Wilson has logged the vast majority of minutes and features a record of 12-8-5, a 2.63 GAA and 91.5 save percentage. Unlike last season when he and senior Pat Inglis split time, Mahoney-Wilson has been head coach Jim Roque's guy and something he felt was necessary to give the team the best chance to win.

"I think, if anything, it has been more of my fault in not settling on one guy,” Roque said. “It’s always tough when you keep changing stuff. This summer, I said no matter what, I was going to make a decision and stick with it.” INCH

This will be an interesting series. The Lakers are coming off a bye week, one in which they endured more of Jeff Jackson's ranting, and are desperately fighting for a top four league finish and an important first round bye in the CCHA playoffs. On the other hand, Miami is in the midst of an 18-game CCHA unbeaten streak and leads the standings by ten points over second place Michigan State. Will the RedHawks continue to match the intensity of their opponents? Can the Lakers keep up their solid, but surprising play against the nation's number one team? And, Miami has an outside chance of wrapping up the regular season title this weekend should Ferris State be swept by Northern Michigan and if MSU splits its series at Alaska.

Notes:

• Lake State will be without leading scorer Rick Schofield for tonight's game due to incurring a major penalty and game disqualification 11 seconds into the Jan. 23 game against Notre Dame.
• Miami sophomore defenseman Cameron Schilling missed last Saturday's game against Western Michigan. It is unclear if Schilling was injured or scratched and what impact that may have on this weekend's series.
• Faceoff tonight is at 7:35pm; tomorrow at 7:05pm. Both games can be seen around the great state of Ohio on ONN.

Omaha, Neb. (Feb. 5) - The Ohio State Buckeyes (11-13-2, 9-9-2-1 CCHA) will attempt to win a road series at Nebraska-Omaha (13-12-5, 9-11-2-1 CCHA) where they are just 3-8-2 all-time. In doing so, they must battle not only 2010 U.S. World Junior gold medal coach Dean Blais, but what is expected to be a sold-out, all-time record crowd at Omaha's Qwest Center of 15,907.

Ohio State and UNO are tied for eighth place in the CCHA, which just happens to be the final home-ice spot in the first round of the CCHA playoffs as the fifth place through twelfth place teams will do battle in round one. Of course, both squads must be thinking higher in the tightly packed CCHA where just six points (2 wins) separates fourth, and a first-round playoff bye, from tenth place.

To illustrate just how big this series is, the Mavericks have launched a microsite where they are encouraging the Omaha faithful to rally around them and sell-out the Qwest Center tonight for the first time in school history. Check it out - www.selloutohiostate.com - I have to give them props for trying. As Ohio State knows all too well, a big building is difficult to sell out when there are so many other attractions competing for dollars in a mid-sized city on a Friday night.

The Mavericks are led by former CBJ assistant and former North Dakota head coach Dean Blais, who piloted the Fighting Sioux to two national championships. And, Blais just won gold at the U20 World Championships in Saskatoon by taking Team USA to its first gold medal since 2004. Before the season, Blais was tapped by new AD Trev Alberts, yes that Trev Alberts, to turn around the struggling hockey program. Furthermore, Alberts used the WCHA as a negotiating ploy to lure Blais as he then announced the Mavericks would leave the CCHA after this season and move to the WCHA who will also welcome Bemidji State to the league beginning this fall.

On the ice, Omaha is led by forwards Jeric Agosta (13-7-20) and Rich Purslow (11-9-20) and by senior defensman Eddie Del Grosso (4-15-19) who is having a nice final season with the Mavericks.

In net, the Mavs have split time with sophomore John Faulkner (9-8-4, 2.53 GAA, .904) getting the majority of the starts over senior Jeremie Dupont (4-4-1, 2.98 GAA, .886) who has seemingly been at Omaha for the better part of the last decade.

The Mavericks started the year especially strong at 5-1-3 but then lost six of their next eight en route to a wildly inconsistent season. Last weekend, the Mavs split at Notre Dame, but need to find their scoring touch as they have averaged just 2.73 goals per game this year and are allowing roughly the same. Dean Blais' hallmark is "race horse hockey," but that assumes you have the horses to unleash. Perhaps when Blais has time to assemble his own recruiting classes, he'll be able to play his kind of game.

Notes:

• The Buckeyes swept the Mavericks last season in Columbus winning a pair of one-goal games 4-3 and 3-2.
• This weekend's series is the first between the teams since November 28-29, 2008.
• Both games can be heard online at wosu.org/hockey. Face off time is 8:35pm and 8:05pm, Friday and Saturday, respectively.
• Dean Blais replaced long time UNO head coach Mike Kemp who was retained at Omaha as the associate athletic director with primary oversight of hockey, golf, cross country/track and field and soccer.

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.

Friday Night Lights - January 29

Both #1 Miami and Ohio State held serve at home Friday night with the RedHawks knocking off CCHA basement dweller, Western Michigan 4-1. Four different Hawks scored goals for Miami while Cody Reichard delivered another outstanding performance in net making 18 saves as Miami dominated the shots on goal category outshooting Western 43-19. Miami retains its 7 point lead in the CCHA standings as Michigan State defeated Michigan 3-2.

Miami and Western Michigan return to the ice at 5pm this evening. The game will be televised on FSN Detroit as part of it's doubleheader coverage of "Hockey Day in Michigan." Miami head coach Enrico Blasi and the RedHawk program were followed yesterday by an FSN camera crew and they will be featured on "CCHA All-Access" on FSN Detroit immediately following the game. The late game will feature Michigan State and Michigan from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich.





In Columbus, Ohio State defeated it's second straight ranked opponent delivering a 5-3 knock-out to #10 Ferris State who has now lost four of five after tying Miami for first place in the CCHA. Another night, another goal for super sophomore Zac Dalpe who now has 14 on the season. Cal Heeter made 46 saves in net as the Bulldogs outshot the Buckeyes 49-30. The teams meet again this evening at Value City Arena at 7:05pm.