The Miami University hockey team has been at the bottom of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) since I arrived at Miami University in 2022, but the RedHawks' below-average results go back further than that.
Former players, coaches and students consistently talk about the glory days of Miami hockey. The tents outside hours before game time, the packed Goggin Ice Center with thousands of fans screaming obscene chants at the opposing goaltender and the arm-in-arm gathering during the fight song following a win were just a glimpse into the life of a Miami hockey fan in the 2000s.
But those days have not returned to the large, rink-filled building on the south side of campus in a long time.
When Anthony Noreen took over for former head coach Chris Bergeron following the 2023-24 season, there was a sense of hope across different social media platforms and within the Goggin Club Lounge, where his first press conference was held. A fresh, motivated voice who has been successful across the United States Hockey League (USHL) landscape preached and guaranteed a vision that returned the RedHawks to the college hockey promised land.
However, after a season that saw the RedHawks win only three games, the last in October, and zero conference games, many were outraged that the results remained the same.
The team certainly played some frustrating games throughout the season, giving credence to complaints.
Miami lost 5-1 at home to a Robert Morris University team that won only 10 games through 2024-25. Then, the RedHawks lost the second game of that home-and-home series 4-1 with Miami alum and former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the house.
The RedHawks scored only one goal away at the University of Omaha, Nebraska, while allowing 11 before returning home the following weekend and blowing a three-goal lead to the No. 16 University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the third period.
Other performances throughout the season frustrated the RedHawks' faithful, and the Western Michigan University Broncos' sweeping Miami for the second time in 2024-25 (this time at home) to cap off the year felt like par for the course.
However, despite these results, I’m here to preach patience.
Noreen and his staff's goal heading into season one was to change the culture first, and results don’t always show that. However, along with growth on the ice regarding the player’s understanding of Noreen’s desires in his system, the coaches feel confident in the team’s growth in culture thanks to a relentless group of senior players.
“This group of seniors is going to look back on this three, four, five or ten years from now and know they were the start of something,” Noreen said in his final postgame press conference. “The fact that they never quit, we need to keep that. We need to build on that and push that to another level.”
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Of course, that doesn’t mean more work isn’t necessary, but with a small group of returners picked out who learned from those seniors and represented the team culture best over the season’s 34 games (and everything in between), they’ll know exactly how to lead the large group of incoming players.
One of the most essential reasons I preach patience to RedHawks hockey fans is said group of incoming players. Noreen and his staff got “their guys,” including two of the top scorers in the USHL, a consistent point-per-game scorer in the Canadian Hockey League and a top goaltender in the USHL, just to name a few.
While last season’s results were unsatisfactory for everyone in or around the program, the roster will look almost entirely different for the 2025-26 season. Despite Noreen not having any recruits of his own on the roster last season (outside of those he brought in from the transfer portal), the system his team played matched up well with programs across the NCHC. It was just a matter of talent difference and spurts of mistakes.
I don’t want to leave Miami in May of next year without seeing a winning season, but if it means I can come back to see Goggin with even more noise, more people and more rally towels (and maybe even a return to the Frozen Four), I’ll be more than satisfied.
Patience is a virtue, folks, and it’s hard to keep practicing after such a long time without a winning season. But rebuilds take time, and it doesn’t hurt to practice patience for just a little longer to see where Noreen and his staff can lead this program.
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