Miami’s hockey team celebrates Friday night after beating Bowling Green State University 3-2 and becoming CCHA regular season champions. The ’Hawks won Saturday’s contest 10-2. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Last Friday, for the first time since 2005-06 and the third time in program history, the No. 1 Miami University hockey team (19-1-4-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), 22-4-6 overall) claimed the coveted CCHA regular season championship with a tight 3-2 victory over Bowling Green State University (BGSU) (3-17-4-3 CCHA, 4-22-4 overall).
One night later, the RedHawks made it clear they were not intending to stop at just one title this season, sending a message to the college hockey world with a frenetic, brutal 10-2 trouncing of the Falcons that featured scoring by all four Miami lines, three different BGSU goaltenders, crowded penalty boxes and the dismissal of Miami Head Coach Enrico Blasi from his own bench.
In total, 14 RedHawks put their names on the score sheet, including senior Jarod Palmer, who had a hand in all three of the Brotherhood's goals in the series opener, one of which was the game winner. Junior Andy Miele also played an instrumental role in the sweep with six assists to his name, and freshman Reilly Smith and senior Brandon Smith netted two goals apiece in Saturday night's victory.
The Orange and Brown saw two seniors step up to the plate on Friday as goals from linemates James Perkin and Kai Kantola gave the Red and White a run for its money. During the series finale, rookies Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Ian Ruel found the net for BGSU, but nothing could stop the RedHawks as they rolled to their second 10 goal victory in as many Saturday night games.
The Brotherhood faced an emotionally difficult week following the sudden, tragic loss of senior team manager Brendan Burke on Feb. 5. Four days after his death the RedHawks traveled to Burke's hometown of Canton, Mass. to attend Burke's funeral. The team donned jerseys bearing black, clover-shaped patches embroidered with the initials "BB" for the funeral and exited St. John Evangelist Church weeping after the service.
Nonetheless, there was hockey to be played once the weekend arrived, and the RedHawks channeled their emotions into an indomitable offensive showing throughout the series.
"It was hard fought tonight," Blasi said. "I'm just proud of the guys — it was a tough battle. We wanted to accomplish this right from the get go. It feels real good right now … the regular season championship's hard because you have to play well over the course of three or four months."
Miami wasted no time in setting the tempo of Friday night's contest and netted its first goal of the game just 3:59 into the first frame. Miele had the puck along the boards but was outnumbered and passed it to sophomore Will Weber at the blue line. Weber took a shot and Palmer redirected it behind Hammond to give the Red and White a 1-0 lead.
After being held off the scoreboard for the entirety of the opening stanza, the Falcons responded with a goal just 16 seconds into the second period on a rebound. Cody Reichard made the initial save but Perkin picked up the loose puck and aimed high. The net minder rolled over just in time to see Perkin's shot find the back of the net.
After BGSU opened the middle frame with a goal, Miami capped it off, regaining the lead with 58 seconds remaining in the second period. The RedHawks held the man-advantage and, as the power play wound down, sophomore Chris Wideman drilled a rocket from the point and lit the lamp with the Brotherhood's second tally of the night.
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At 6:02 of the third period, the Orange and Brown staged a comeback and came from behind to knot the action for the second time Friday night. Kantola's shot beat Reichard on his glove side to make it 2-2.
"(BGSU) skated well, they were a very determined group, there's a lot of skill on that team — I liked the way they played," Blasi said. "Dennis (Williams) has done a great job in making sure his team continues to work hard, so that's a credit to them."
The tempo of the game increased after the Falcons' tying goal in the final frame, with both teams posting solid scoring opportunities.
Finally, with 3:23 left in regulation, the Red and White retook the lead for good on Palmer's second goal of the night. Palmer sent a shot in and saw it deflected high into the air, but the puck came straight down behind a sprawling Hammond and slid over the line to close out scoring for the night 3-2.
The championship trophy was presented to the ecstatic Brotherhood in the locker room as the team celebrated achieving its monumental first goal of the season.
"(Winning the regular season championship is) so emotional, it's so exciting, it's hard to put into words," Palmer said.
The series opener featured extremely close back and forth play. Saturday's contest was a different story as the Red and White routed BGSU 10-2.
After going one for five on the power play during Friday night's game, the RedHawks wasted no time in the series finale, tallying their first goal of the night just 2:54 into the contest on their first man advantage. Freshman Curtis McKenzie fed the puck to junior Pat Cannone who was waiting in the crease, knocking it home to give the Red and White their seventh straight 1-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later, the RedHawks doubled their total. Miele dished ahead to Reilly Smith as he exited the penalty box, and Smith streaked up ice on a breakaway and snuck a shot under Hammond's pads. After struggling to score in the opening period during the first half of the season, Miami has now outscored its opponents 13-0 in the first frame during the last seven games.
The Falcons stormed in with a power play barrage of their own late in the period, but sophomore net minder Connor Knapp stood tall, denying rebound after rebound to prevent BGSU from halving the RedHawks' 2-0 lead.
Miami continued to dominate in the second frame and extended its lead to three at 5:24 when junior Carter Camper shot from the point and McKenzie redirected it out front.
Forty six seconds later, Palmer put the biscuit in the basket. His goal put the Red and White up 4-0 and spelled the end of the game for freshman goalie Andrew Hammond, as Nick Eno was subbed in.
BGSU's patience and efforts finally paid off when the Falcons broke through with a goal of their own at 11:35 on the power play while junior captain Tommy Wingels and sophomore Alden Hirschfeld sat in the box. Amidst a melee in front of the net, Samuels-Thomas managed to chip the puck in over a sprawling Knapp to make it 4-1.
At 4:10, Brandon Smith picked the puck up between the circles and fired his fourth goal of the season over Eno's shoulder shorthanded to give the Red and White a cushy four-goal lead.
Miami followed one shorthanded lamplighter with another with just 1:01 remaining before the second intermission. Working on a delayed penalty, Miele and Palmer played keep away with the puck, skating circles around the Falcons deep in BGSU's zone. Palmer, then Miele, put some nice spin moves on the puck, but it was Wideman who finally put it away from between the circles, giving Miami its fifth shorthanded goal of the season.
Then, with 37 seconds remaining on the clock, things got ugly.
It started when BGSU freshman Max Grover skated in on a rush and collided with Knapp. In a flash, Miami players collided with the Falcons, fists at the ready to defend their teammate. Sticks, gloves, helmets and even jerseys littered the ice in the biggest college hockey brawl to erupt in recent memory. As Hirschfeld and Grover were being escorted to the sin bin, Hirschfeld broke free of referee Kevin Hall and knocked Grover to the ice, garnering one of three ejections that would result from the scrum. In the end, the clash resulted in 67 total penalty minutes and a seven-minute power play for the 'Hawks.
"We're going to take care of our goalies," Brandon Smith said. "We're not trying to be cheap, but if they're going to take a shot at our goalie, we're going to send a message."
By the time the final buzzer sounded, the two teams had combined for 166 penalty minutes — 79 for the visiting RedHawks and 87 for the Orange and Brown.
Working on a man advantage that would last for roughly one third of the final period, freshman Joe Hartman netted Miami's second power play goal of the evening at 1:13 of the third with a wrister from the top of the right circle.
"(BGSU) just seemed to take penalty after penalty and it really killed them — they never got a chance to get in the groove," Reilly Smith said.
After Ruel was whistled for charging at 8:57 and freshman Devin Mantha was assessed a coincidental penalty, Blasi had some choice words for both BGSU Head Coach Dennis Williams and Hall and was ejected from the game. Blasi exited the ice with a bow in Hall's direction and a wave to the crowd.
Blasi's dismissal didn't faze the RedHawks, and Brandon Smith kept the action rolling with another power play goal at 11:15, making it 8-1. Wideman drilled a screamer of a slapshot from the point, but Smith got a piece of it just before it zipped past Eno.
Sophomore Trent Vogelhuber netted Miami's ninth at 14:40 with Miele and sophomore Cameron Schilling assisting.
Ruel winged a power play goal from the point at 17:48 to give BGSU its second tally of the night and marginally narrow an impossible gap.
Finally, with just over a minute on the clock, Reilly Smith made it ten for the Brotherhood for the second straight Saturday night. With the win, Miami extended its CCHA unbeaten streak to 22 games.
"I think when we're on our game and we're executing, we're capable of (scoring 10 goals), but we're also capable of winning close games," Blasi said.
Next weekend, the RedHawks will return to Steve Cady Arena for a series v. University of Nebraska at Omaha. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Friday night and 7:05 p.m. Saturday night. The Ohio News Network will provide television coverage, and fans can also tune into WMSR's live broadcast at http://www.redhawkradio.com.
"We're going to be in these games the rest of the way," Blasi said. "Everybody's going to play well. We're going to have teams that want to win and need to win and we're just going to have to play it out and whether we win 1-0, 3-2 or whatever, it really doesn't matter."
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