Miami Postgame Notes vs. Notre Dame
2/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Feb. 18, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012
Oxford, Ohio - Steve Cady Arena
Miami Hockey Postgame Notes
Miami won its season-best fourth straight game with the 4-1 victory over Notre Dame. By also winning, 3-0, Friday, Miami earned its fifth sweep of the season. The RedHawks have now recorded three of those sweeps at home and four have occurred in the CCHA (Alaska, Michigan State and Western Michigan).
Freshman forward Cody Murphy scored his first career goal at 4:28 of the third period on the power play. He added his second goal with 6:28 to play in the game for the first multi-goal and multi-point game of his career.
With Murphy's goals, Miami's freshmen have scored a goal in 22 of 34 games this year. RedHawk rookies have tallied 38 of Miami's 95 goals this season, good for 40.0 percent. The freshmen have also accounted for 36.1 percent of the team's points with 91 of the 252 points on the season after tallying four of the 10 points Saturday night.
Junior forward Reilly Smith scored just 5:12 into Saturday's game, giving him 23 goals on the year, which leads the CCHA and ranks second nationally. He now has 32 points as well, which is third in the CCHA. He also scored on Friday, giving him two tallies on the weekend, the fourth time this year he has scored at least a goal in both games of a weekend (at Colgate Oct. 14-15, vs. Providence and Denver Nov. 25-26, and vs. Western Michigan Jan. 20-21). He is also now riding a four-game point streak.
Smith's goal in the first period marked the 22nd time in 34 games this year the RedHawks have scored first. Miami is now 16-5-1 when grabbing the lead first.
Freshman forward Tyler Biggs assisted on Miami's first goal, giving him three points on the weekend while also stretching his point streak to four games. He had a goal and an assist Friday.
Senior forward Trent Vogelhuber scored the game-winning goal late in the first period, marking his first goal since Nov. 26, 2011 at Denver, which was an empty-netter. The goal also gave him 50 points for his career with 20 goals and 30 assists. The goal was his first game-winner this year and third of his career.
Miami recorded two power play goals Saturday for the fifth time this year, matching its season high. The last time the RedHawks had two power play goals was Jan. 28 against Northern Michigan.
Senior goaltender Connor Knapp earned his 10th win in his last 13 starts Saturday, allowing just one goal. He has now allowed one goal or fewer in 10 of the 18 games he's played in this year and nine of his last 11 games. Knapp is second in the nation in goals-against average with a 1.65 GAA and is third nationally in save percentage at .934, both of which lead the CCHA.
With the win, Miami improved to 38-16-10 all-time against Notre Dame and is now 10-1-2 in its last 13 meetings with the Irish. The `Hawks are also 10-1-1 against UND in Oxford in the last 12 matchups between the squads on Miami's ice.
The RedHawks improved to 11-9-1 against ranked teams this year after the sweep of No. 13 Notre Dame, including five wins over top-10 teams.
--MURedHawks.com--
