There was a buzz in the air last weekend as the Miami University hockey team began its first home National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) series.
After Miami’s promising series against the No. 12 St. Cloud State University Huskies, the Red and White welcomed the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) Bulldogs to Oxford.
However, two outpourings of offense from the visitors flipped the weekend on its head for the home squad.
Both games were full of fast-paced, back-and-forth hockey. The two NCHC foes had their fair share of opportunities to score, but in the first contest, only the Bulldogs converted.
The UMD fourth line scored the first goal of the weekend with less than five minutes remaining in the first period on a rebound that kicked to the side of the net off first-year RedHawks netminder Ethan Dahlmeir.
Then, just under three minutes later, the Bulldogs scored again on a broken play that saw graduate student forward Christophe Fillion fall to the ground after a hit to the head. A puck fired from the boards hit a skate and bounced over Dahlmeir's shoulder into the net.
The RedHawks had a chance to equalize after a five-minute major was assessed to sophomore Anthony Menghini for kneeing Max Dukovac. The play resulted in the RedHawks junior forward to miss the rest of the weekend. However, the man advantage did not strike.
Instead, the Bulldogs added to their lead in the second with a goal from senior captain and the team’s leading point scorer, Dominic James.
Miami had a fair share of chances in the third period, but the Bulldogs’ first-year netminder and Chicago Blackhawks draft pick, Adam Gajan, continued to stand tall.
In the final five minutes of the third period, the Bulldogs sealed the deal thanks to a snipe from Menghini in the left faceoff circle and another play from the combination of James, first-year forward Jason Shaugabay and junior defenseman Aiden Dubinsky, who put home a rebound.
With the result, Miami was shut out for the first time since Nov. 4, 2023, a streak of 40 games.
On Saturday, the RedHawks controlled the pace of the game from the outset. They began with a flurry of chances, but the first goal came off the stick of junior defenseman Zane Demsey at the blue line for his first point of the season.
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Miami added another goal six and a half minutes later thanks to newly-named alternate captain Blake Mesenburg after driving the net and a couple of creative plays from graduate student and senior forwards Colby Ambrosio and Matt Choupani.
However, the entire fabric of the game changed in favor of the Bulldogs for the remaining minutes.
UMD scored three goals in under two minutes of game time to take the lead before the first frame ended. Shaugabay, first-year defenseman Ty Hanson and Menghini posted the tallies, taking the air out of Steve “Coach” Cady Arena.
Menghini, senior forward Carter Loney and first-year forward Blake Bechen increased the UMD lead from 3-2 to 6-2 in the second, forcing the withdrawal of Miami sophomore goaltender Bruno Bruveris.
Brett Miller, the graduate student transfer from RPI, stepped in and made 11 saves on 12 shots, the only goal he allowed coming in the third period off the stick of Bechen.
Through 40 minutes of play, the RedHawks had only eight shots to UMD’s 28. However, despite their 12-4 shot lead through the third period, including a chance to cut the deficit on a five-minute power play, the RedHawks fell 7-2, and the Bulldogs completed the sweep.
“Usually, when you lose a game by those scores, there are long periods of time when you’re in your own zone defending,” head coach Anthony Noreen said. “They’re a good team. They’re opportunistic. They got a chance in the slot; they put it in the back of the net. It seemed like pretty much every time we’d get a chance, they’d make a save, they’d come down the other way and bury it.”
After an adversity-filled Friday night for the RedHawks, it looked like Saturday could turn the tides for the Red and White regarding NCHC play. But if there’s any result representative of just how strong the teams in the conference are, that was a wake-up call.
Miami hockey’s next series is on the road against the University of Omaha-Nebraska on Nov. 22 and 23.
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