Miami University
Notre Dame
No. 19 RedHawks Complete Sweep of No. 13 UND
2/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Feb. 18, 2012
Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
OXFORD, Ohio - Behind a pair of first-period goals and two goals from freshman forward Cody Murphy, the No. 19 Miami University hockey team downed No. 13 Notre Dame, 4-1, Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena, completing the weekend sweep. The RedHawks (19-13-2, 13-11-2-1 CCHA) beat the Irish (16-15-3, 11-12-3-0 CCHA) on Friday, 3-0, and are now riding a season-long four-game winning streak. The sweep was Miami's fifth of the year, including fourth in league play and third at home.
For the second straight night, senior goalie Connor Knapp was stellar in net, stopping 28 of the 29 shots Notre Dame fired on goal. Miami put 26 shots on target while Irish netminder Mike Johnson finished with 22 saves, suffering the loss for the second straight night. The `Hawks were strong on the penalty kill as well, going 7-for-8 a man down with the lone UND goal coming 5-on-3. Miami also scored two power play goals of its own on six chances, tying a season high for scores with a man advantage.
Miami came out on fire. Just 1:23 into the game, freshman forward Tyler Biggs rang a shot hard off the pipe. Then 5:12 into the contest, the RedHawks found the back of the net off the stick of junior forward Reilly Smith. While on the power play, freshman forward Jimmy Mullin passed to Biggs in the circle to Johnson's right. Biggs quickly crossed the puck to Smith in the opposite circle, where he one-timed the puck in the goal for his CCHA-leading 23rd goal of the year.
With 3:12 left in the opening period, Miami doubled its advantage when senior forward Trent Vogelhuber tallied his third goal of the year unassisted. Vogelhuber blocked a shot by David Gerths at the blue line, then skated the other way with it as Gerths stumbled, creating on odd-man rush for the `Hawks. Vogelhuber kept it the whole way however and went top shelf over Johnson's left shoulder from the circle to Johnson's left for a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the second period the Irish had their best chance so far in the game to get on the board as UND had a 2-on-1 break but Knapp denied Mike Voran from close range to keep Miami on top by two. Knapp then followed it up with several more strong saves after Notre Dame earned a power play minutes later.
With four seconds left in the second period and the Irish still on the power play, senior defenseman Will Weber was sent to the box for roughing creating a 5-on-3 power play for over a minute to start the third stanza. As the first penalty was winding down, UND's Billy Maday was able to flip a rebound over Knapp's right leg pad with lots of traffic in the crease as Knapp had already denied Notre Dame on its first few attempts. T.J. Tynan sent in the original shot and David Gerths had a first hack at the rebound that Knapp stopped but Maday was able to punch it in to make it a 2-1 game just 58 ticks into the final frame.
Miami responded however, as the Irish were then whistled for three straight penalties in a span of 2:03. On the two-man advantage, the RedHawks worked the puck around the zone. Senior forward Alden Hirschfeld dished the puck out to senior defenseman Cameron Schilling at the blue line. He banked a pass along the wall to Murphy, who snapped a hard wrister than beat Johnson near post for his first career goal, giving Miami a 3-1 lead with 15:32 remaining in the game.
"It means a lot (to me). I mean, me personally, it was a rough first half (of the season)," Murphy said of his first goal. "Just from the trainer, Jason, who helped me out, to my family support, it just meant the world to me, and I definitely will never forget it."
The `Hawks added to their lead with 6:28 left in the final frame when Murphy struck again. Senior forward Matt Tomassoni picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and passed to Murphy at the top of the circle to Johnson's right. He ripped a shot that hit off of UND defenseman Robbie Russo's left shoulder in front of the goal and into the net for a 4-1 advantage and his second goal of the night, which gave him his first multi-point game as well.
"It was a huge, huge goal," head coach Enrico Blasi said of Murphy's first goal. "When it came it was a 2-1 game just to make it 3-1, then the fourth goal to make it 4-1. When you get goals from secondary guys, and we're certainly starting to get that, that's huge for our team going forward."
With the victory, the `Hawks assured themselves of at least home ice during the first round of the CCHA playoffs (March 2-4) and control their own destiny to clinch a first-round bye, as Miami ends the weekend by itself in fifth place in the league.
The RedHawks round out their five-game home stand Friday when they host No. 17 Ohio State at 6:05 p.m. in the final home game of the regular season, which will also be Senior Night. Please note the early start time due to the game being televised on the CBS Sports Network. Miami then concludes the regular season Saturday at Ohio State with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m. at Value City Arena.
--MURedHawks.com--
