The RedHawks continue to sweep up teams from Michigan.
Nine different RedHawks registered points during each game of last weekend's two-game series to earn Miami University (10-3-3 overall, 10-2-2-1 CCHA) its third road sweep of the season over the Broncos of Western Michigan (2-10-4 overall, 1-7-4-1 CCHA). Miami now owns a six-game win streak with consecutive sweeps over Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and WMU.
"(Miami's) number one positioning in league play is obviously justified," Bronco head coach Jim Culhane said. "They have a lot of depth, a lot of team speed and they're big too. They're pretty legit."
The Red and White lit the lamp first Saturday with a four-on-four goal by senior assistant captain Kevin Roeder at 10:57 of the opening frame. The defenseman from Glenview, Ill. seized the puck and fired a pass off to junior Gary Steffes, who swiftly returned the dish. Roeder blasted a shot off that ricocheted off of junior goaltender Riley Gill and just managed to slip over the goal line before bouncing out. The tally was Roeder's first of 2008-09.
The second stanza was riddled with penalties and stunning hits that sent numerous players to the ice. It was only a matter of time before sophomore Max Campbell broke through the melee and put the Broncos on the board late in the period, ending a streak of nearly 88 minutes of perfect goaltending for the rookie net minder.
Sophomore Tommy Wingels dashed Western Michigan's hopes of gaining the upper hand, however, and untied the contest just 46 seconds later, and Miami junior Jarod Palmer beat the WMU defense to pocket for an insurance goal just 45 seconds into the third period.
Several penalties resulting from a skirmish at the end of the second stanza put the 12th ranked RedHawk power play unit into action, and the forward from Fridley, Minn. delivered. Sophomore Pat Cannone fed the puck to freshman Chris Wideman, who set things up with a dish to Palmer from the blue line for another RedHawk tally.
Freshman Derek Roehl attempted to rally for the Brown and Gold, beating Reichard stick-side at 2:31 to pull the Broncos within one. Miami sophomore Andy Miele extended Miami's lead to two goals once again, however, at 12:24 in the third, keeping any prospect of victory out of reach of the Broncos and leaving the final score to stand at a 4-2 victory for Blasi's boys.
"We got to start scoring goals," Campbell said. "We're not scoring goals right now."
A career-first hat trick by sophomore Carter Camper and an explosive second period then propelled the 'Hawks onward to clinch the weekend sweep in an uncommon Sunday afternoon game. Miami's No. 1 ranked penalty kill was put on display midway through the first period when Camper and Mercier were consecutively sent to the sin bin for obstruction hooking and contact to the head with a high stick, respectively.
The Red and White's defensive line stayed strong, however, and disrupted the Broncos' attempts to capitalize on the two-man advantage.Rico's RedHawks then showed the Brown and Gold how it was done when they gained a two-man advantage of their own. Western Michigan managed to weather the first penalty, but it was only a matter of time before Cannone found an in and netted his second point of the series at 15:01 of the first.
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Miami's formidable power play unit carried its momentum all the way into the last minute of the frame and struck again with a man-up goal by Camper, taking advantage of the Broncos' conference bottom-ranked penalty kill.
The RedHawks really earned their two first period goals, peppering sophomore WMU goaltender Jerry Kuhn with a season-high-tying 19 shots on goal in the contest's opening frame.
Western Michigan retaliated just 51 seconds after the first intermission to make it a one-point game with a 5-on-3 goal, marking only the fifth power play goal that Miami has allowed in 2008-09.
Miami then went on a three-goal scoring spree that left the Broncos floundering, down 5-1.Western Michigan senior Steve Silver cut the lead to three just over two minutes later, with a wrist shot that freshman goalie Connor Knapp just couldn't get his glove on. Steffes reciprocated with a goal of his own at 19:20, though, pushing the Broncos' deficit back to four and moving Culhane to pull Kuhn in favor of Gill before the buzzer sounded.
"We've gone through a pretty tough stretch of games here against some of the top teams in the country," Western Michigan senior Patrick Galivan said.
The Broncos were not finished yet, though, and battled back in the final stanza of the series, overcoming a man-disadvantage to tally their third shorthanded goal of the season.
Camper put the final nail in the coffin and completed his hat trick at 16:57 of the period, tying a career high with four points and cementing RedHawks' victory at 7-3.The RedHawks will be back at home this coming weekend for their final home series of 2008 against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Dec. 13-14.
The puck is set to drop on at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and at 4:35 p.m. Sunday. The Ohio News Network (ONN) will provide television coverage of game one, and ESPNU will be broadcasting game two. Fans can also listen in to www.redhawkradio.com for WMSR's game coverage.
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