Hockey

No. 13 Miami Advances to the NCAA Regional Final

March 27, 2009

  • Final Stats
  • Postgame Press Conference Audio (Miami Coach Rico Blasi)
  • Postgame Press Conference Audio (Miami Players Wingels and Mercier)
  • Postgame Press Conference Audio (Denver Coach George Gwozdecky)
  • Photo Gallery

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - No. 13 Miami (21-12-5) scored twice in both the first and second periods to knock off No. 4 Denver (23-12-5) 4-2 in the semifinal round of the NCAA West Regional Friday night at Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

Miami used a balanced attack getting points from 10 different players, including two assists from Tommy Wingels (Wilmette, Ill.). The RedHawks will take Minnesota-Duluth -- a 5-4 winner over Princeton in overtime -- on Saturday night for a trip to the Frozen Four.

The RedHawks took the lead in the first period on a Justin Mercier (Erie, Pa.) even-strength goal at 7:28 of the first period. Miami was changing lines and Trent Vogelhuber (Dublin, Ohio) left the puck for Mercier, who went down the middle of the ice and fired a hard slapshot into the top of the net. The Red and White extended their lead at 18:04 of the first frame when freshman Alden Hirschfeld (Sylvania, Ohio) made it 2-0. Kevin Roeder (Glenview, Ill.) and Wingels picked up the assists.

Miami extended its lead in the second period when Bill Loupee (Bloomfield, Mich.) slammed home a Carter Camper (Rocky, River, Ohio) rebound at 5:36. Denver battled back in the frame with a power-play goal from Joe Colborne, but the RedHawks beat back the rally attempt with a goal from Andy Miele. The Grosse Point Woods, Mich., native put a shot on net that was saved by Marc Cheverie. The puck went straight up in the air and came to rest right next to the Denver net. Almost every player on the ice lost track of the puck except for Miele. He found the puck, put a great move on Cheverie and beat him with a back-handed shot.

Denver attempted to rally by pulling its goalie at 14:52 of the third period. Following a Miami penalty, the Pioneers had a two-man advantage and Tyler Bozak capitalized, making it a 4-2 game by slamming in a pass from Patrick Wieroioch. However, that was all the scoring that Denver could muster.

Tomorrow's game against the Bulldogs, champions of the WCHA, will start at 9 p.m. EDT. The action game will be televised on ESPNU and ESPNUHD, broadcast on radio by WMOH (1450 AM) and streamed on the internet on www.MURedHawks.com.

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