The Miami University men's hockey team went 1-1 this weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich. After losing 4-2 Friday night, the RedHawks rallied in the third period to come from behind Saturday, securing a 4-3 victory.
The RedHawks struck first Friday on the power play just over three minutes into the game, when sophomore forward Jimmy Mullin fed classmate Cody Murphy in the right circle, where he buried his shot past Michigan goaltender Steve Racine for his first goal of the year.
At 4:59 in the first frame, freshman goaltender Ryan McKay was injured while making a save, and classmate Jay Williams was called in. Williams made some key saves on a Michigan 5-on-3 power play to keep the Wolverines off the board early, but the Maize and Blue eventually found the back of the net with 2:33 remaining in the first, capitalizing on its third power play of the period.
After Michigan took the lead early second, Miami battled back with a shorthanded score from sophomore forward Austin Czarnik, who notched the equalizer with 8:02 left in the period for his third goal of the year.
The Wolverines took control in the third, however, scoring two unanswered to close the door on the RedHawks on home ice. They outshot Miami 35-32, while Miami was not able to capitalize on its slew of scoring chances, including a handful of odd-man rushes in the second half of the game.
"We just didn't execute on our chances," Czarnik said. "I feel like we dominated a good part of that game down in their zone, they were just able to bury their chances Friday night."
After going down 2-1 halfway through the second period Saturday, Miami took its cue from Michigan's third period performance the previous night, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to come from behind and tally the win.
Freshman forward Alex Gacek tied the game just two minutes into the third off a faceoff win from classmate Kevin Morris. The RedHawks then scored twice in just 18 seconds, first off of an unassisted strike from sophomore forward Jimmy Mullin, and then with a breakaway goal by senior forward Curtis McKenzie on the power play.
Michigan would not go quietly, however, scoring with 2:05 left in the game to cut Miami's lead to one. Despite their best efforts off an extra attacker opportunity, Michigan could not get the puck past Williams, who totaled a career-high 37 saves on the night.
"Jay did a really good job," senior captain Steven Spinell said. "He came up with a handful of really good saves and the results showed ... you've got to give credit to him."
The coaching staff also took a lot of positives away from the weekend. Though Miami could not keep the loss column empty, the team gained valuable experience.
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"I thought we played as close to 60 minutes as we've played all year," Head Coach Enrico Blasi said of Saturday's performance. "[It was] a great job on the weekend. I thought we got extremely comfortable in a hostile environment, and in a lot of ways we grew up this weekend."
The RedHawks return to action with a two game road series against the Ferris State Bulldogs in Big Rapids, Mich. Friday. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.
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