The Miami University hockey team entered its third series of the season against the Robert Morris University Colonials, looking to further its winning momentum.
After a sweep against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, the excitement was tangible at Goggin Ice Center, and the crowd of more than 2,500 was eager to see the RedHawks in their first game of the home-and-home series.
However, the results of the weekend were the opposite of ideal.
In game one of the two-game set, the RedHawks had to battle extreme adversity from the beginning.
They started slow, and it cost them early. An odd goal that bounced off a skate in front gave the Colonials a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the first period. Robert Morris scored 11 minutes later on a two-on-one rush to go up 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
First-year forward Trent Wilson tallied both goals.
The Colonials added a third goal less than a minute into the second period. They pushed forward with their 3-0 lead, striking twice more in the middle frame. Senior defenseman Trevor LeDonne finished the day with two of the Colonials’ five points, with the final coming from sophomore forward Walter Zacher.
The RedHawks’ first and only goal came from junior forward William Hallén, who snuck one past first-year goaltender Croix Kochendorfer for his second goal of the year.
Miami had some chances to close the gap. Toward the end of the first, graduate student forward Christophe Fillion had a chance to score off a full-ice slapshot from senior defenseman Connor Hutchison, but he missed the net after Kochendorfer’s stick came out of his hand and in the line of fire.
Graduate student forwards Ryan Sullivan and Colby Ambrosio also had chances to score, with Sullivan hitting a post and Ambrosio missing a penalty shot (Miami’s first since December 2020).
“Hockey is a humbling game,” head coach Anthony Noreen said. “I think the reason you’ve got to stay even keel is because nights like that happen. We could either make that a total loss, or we could learn from it. We need to find some ways to be better than that because it was nowhere near good enough.”
First-year netminder Ethan Dahlmeier stepped in to relieve sophomore Bruno Bruveris in the second period. Dahlmeier stopped eight shots, most of which were from high-danger areas.
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After their 5-1 loss, the RedHawks traveled to Moon Township, Pennsylvania, to play at Robert Morris on Oct. 19.
With “Big Ben” Roethlisberger and Brett Keisel in the rink for a ceremonial puck drop, it was no wonder the home squad came out firing less than a minute into the game.
Thirty-two seconds into the first, the Colonials took the lead with a Zacher backdoor goal. The rest of the period was quiet, but it set the tone for what was to be a close game until the end.
The RedHawks had a chance to tie the game midway through the second on a Hallén breakaway, but Kochendorfer blocked it, allowing Robert Morris to come the other way on an odd-man rush. Zacher put a rebound home for his second of the game, giving the Colonials a 2-0 lead.
Miami cut the deficit to one thanks to a power-play goal from Sullivan in the slot. A rebound from first-year defenseman Michael Quinn gave Sullivan the perfect chance to convert, giving the RedHawks some momentum.
Despite this, the Red and White did not convert to tie the game before time ran out. The Colonials added two more on empty netters, one from sophomore defenseman Michael Craig – the first of his college career – and the other from Zacher for a hat-trick and his fourth goal on the weekend.
The RedHawks have two more weekends of out-of-conference play at home. Noreen and his staff know this is the team’s first taste of true, standings-relevant adversity, and they’re keeping their eyes on the present.
“This is a time where it’s very easy to be fragile and pull apart,” Noreen said. “We need to pull together. We’ve got to block out any outside noise or anything that might be trying to pull us apart and stick together.”
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