The heart of the Miami University hockey team’s season is about to begin, with National Collegiate Hockey Conference play next weekend.
However, the RedHawks first had to play their final non-conference series of the year against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers.
Both games against the Engineers were back-and-forth affairs. The RedHawks had to use speed to generate chances against an older, bigger RPI squad.
The first game of the series was fast-paced from the start. The first goal came from first-year forward Felix Caron with a one-timer on the power play. Miami head coach Anthony Noreen noted how well the RPI power play moved the puck, and they showcased it on their first goal of the weekend.
However, Miami responded almost immediately after. Graduate student defenseman Hampus Rydqvist scored his first goal of the season on a shot from the blue line.
The RedHawks didn’t stop there. With 58 seconds left in the period, senior forward Matt Choupani took advantage of the chaos in front of the net and poked a puck over the line to give Miami a 2-1 lead.
The Engineers took advantage of many RedHawks mistakes that led to odd-man rushes. They finally found the back of the net after a puck bounced off the skate of junior forward Johnny Waldron, leading to a two-on-one. A shot from first-year forward Jagger Tapper slipped its way through the legs of first-year netminder Ethan Dahlmeir and to the back of the net.
No goals were scored in the third period despite plenty of chances going both ways, and the two squads headed to overtime.
Miami’s Christophe Fillion lost the opening faceoff, and thanks to some crafty moves in the offensive zone, RPI graduate student forward Jakob Lee took advantage of a large rebound and poor defensive coverage to score, giving the Engineers the win.
“I think you can always say you deserve to win, but we kind of gave them more chances than necessary,” Rydqvist said. “I think we played an OK game. We had a lot more dangerous chances than goals. I don’t know, it’s frustrating. I don’t like overtime or shootouts, so it’s a frustrating loss.”
If the first game felt like the RedHawks had more dangerous chances than goals, then the second game was that result multiplied by any single-digit number.
Once again, Caron started the Engineers’ scoring on an odd-man rush, which was started by a deflected pass and graduate student defenseman Dylan Moulton falling into the offensive zone. But after roughhousing in front of the net, the two teams played four-on-four.
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In 53 seconds of offensive zone time, first-year defender Michael Quinn scored his first collegiate goal on a deceptive move and rebound from graduate student forward Colby Ambrosio.
“I’ll be honest, that was one of the first couple of times this year where I had a flashback of what I want and expect our teams to look like,” Noreen said. “That’s what we will look like here, I promise you that.”
The teams entered the final 20 minutes of regulation tied 1-1, but four minutes into the final frame, the Engineers caught the RedHawks puck-watching. Junior defenseman Will Gilson snuck behind the Miami defenders and fired a puck home uncontested from the right faceoff circle.
Despite their 2-1 deficit, the RedHawks turned up the heat. In the final 20 minutes, they had 13 shots on goal and even had some chances that missed the net entirely. They could not score on graduate student goaltender Noah Giesbrecht, who made 30 saves on 31 shots.
“I thought it was probably the best game we’ve played all year,” Noreen said. “If we’re going to look at it from scoring chances [and] puck possession, [we] spent time in the offensive zone. I think every aspect of the game and the things we value and talk about, we were pretty dialed.”
The Red and White had several chances in both of the games against the Engineers, but heading into conference play, the results are the results. Who “deserved” to win doesn’t put points in the standings, and everyone from the players to the coaching staff understands that taking the next step in finishing plays is paramount to success through the rest of the season.
Miami’s next series is away against the St. Cloud State University Huskies on Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9.
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