By Harrison Schwarz, Staff Writer
The Miami University hockey team (12-13-3, 6-10-2 National Collegiate Hockey Conference) is one step closer to entering the Frozen Four playoffs conversation after beating 19th-ranked Bowling Green State University (16-10-6, 12-5-5 Western Collegiate Hockey Conference) 4-1 on Friday. It's the RedHawks' sixth win in their last eight games.
"I think we're together," head coach Rico Blasi said. "I think we're competing hard, being smart with the puck and managing the puck well. We're playing some hard-nosed defense, and we're working hard."
Bowling Green got on the board first. With time winding down in the Falcons' second power play of the first period, junior forward Brent Tate redirected a shot from sophomore defenseman Sean Walker past 'Hawks senior goalie Jay Williams.
MU caught a break 12 minutes into the second period when two Falcon players were called for penalties 15 seconds apart, handing Miami a two-man advantage. Junior forward Anthony Louis one timed a pass from freshman forward Josh Melnick into the Falcons net to tie the game 1-1 with 7:23 on the clock.
Senior forward and team captain Sean Kuraly redirected sophomore defenseman Scott Dornbrook's shot past Bowling Green goaltender Chris Nell at the 4:45 mark, giving MU a 2-1 lead.
The Red and White kept the momentum going in the third period, scoring two goals on 19 shots.
Two minutes into the third period, Miami was given another 5-on-3 after two Falcons received back-to-back penalties. Nell held the fort this time, and Bowling Green killed the penalty.
Freshman forward Kiefer Sherwood gave the RedHawks a 3-1 lead, knocking home a rebound off a Kuraly shot with 6:09 remaining. Freshman forward Jack Roslovic received an assist on the play.
With two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third, the Falcons pulled their goalie to put a sixth skater on the ice. Forty-five seconds later, the 'Hawks put the game away when freshman defenseman Grant Hutton forced a turnover in the neutral zone. He sent a pass out wide to senior defenseman Matthew Caito, who skated to the Falcons' empty net and scored with ease.
"I thought we played hard," Blasi said. "We went down early. We had to kill a few penalties. I thought we stuck together. We kept pushing and that 5-on-3 goal was huge and we kept the momentum from that. I thought we did a good job in the third of keeping everything in front of us and getting pucks to the net."
Miami is back on the road for a two-game series next weekend at Western Michigan University.
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