Miami Postgame Notes vs. Michigan State
3/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
March 9, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Friday, March 9, 2012
Oxford, Ohio - Steve Cady Arena
Miami Hockey Postgame Notes
Freshman forward Jimmy Mullin scored just 12 seconds into Friday's game, tying the school record for fastest goal to start a game. He matched Tim Huettl's goal vs. Michigan-Dearborn on Jan. 3, 1986, which was also scored 12 seconds into the game. Miami's fastest goal of the year prior to Friday was also scored by Mullin just 43 seconds into the game at Ohio State Feb. 25.
Senior goaltender Connor Knapp earned his fifth shutout of the season, which marks a career high, and school-record 13th of his career Friday by making 27 saves. He surpassed David Burleigh ('03) and classmate Cody Reichard, who both have 12 career shutouts. Knapp and Reichard have combined for seven shutouts this season, which leads all CCHA teams, while Miami ranks second nationally, giving up just 2.00 goals per game. Knapp's 1.45 GAA is first in the country (and would be a Miami single-season record) while his .942 save percentage is second (and would also be a school record).
Knapp recorded his third shutout in five games while his five shutouts tie for third in the country. He has surrendered one or fewer goals in 13 of his 21 games this year and 12 of his last 14. Knapp has a 0.88 goals against average and .964 save percentage in his last 14 games (13 starts) since the start of 2012 with five shutouts and a record of 11-2-0.
Miami's win Friday extended its winning streak to a season-long seven games dating back to Feb. 10 vs. Alabama-Huntsville. The RedHawks won seven games from Feb. 12-March 19 last year as well. Miami has also now won six straight CCHA Tournament games dating back to the 2010 third-place game.
Miami beat Michigan State in the postseason for the first time Friday after falling the teams' previous nine postseason meetings, all in CCHA Tournament play. The RedHawks have outscored the Spartans 12-1 in three games this season after sweeping MSU in East Lansing Jan. 6-7.
Junior forward Reilly Smith extended his point streak to seven games, tying a career long, as he had a pair of assists on the night. The seven-game point streak is the longest by a RedHawk this year.
Freshman Jimmy Mullin totaled a career-high four points in Friday's game with two goals and two assists. His four points match the most by a RedHawk this season, as Smith had four points against Colgate on Oct. 14, 2011 and Ohio State on Feb. 25, 2012. The two assists tied a career high for Mullin while the two goals marked his second career multi-goal game. He now has 10 points in his last four games and nine in his last three while the four-game point streak ties a career long.
Freshman forward Blake Coleman scored in the second period to extend his goal streak to a career-long three games. The three-game point streak ties a career long as well.
Miami tallied four goals in the second period to tie a season high for goals in a period. The RedHawks previously accomplished it against Northern Michigan in the third period on Jan. 28, 2012. The team's six goals in Friday's game matched a season high as well, also set against NMU on Jan. 28 and Nov. 25 in a 6-2 win over Providence. The six-goal win was Miami's largest this year along with the 6-0 win over NMU.
Three different freshmen scored goals for Miami Friday as Mullin, Coleman and Tyler Biggs all lit the lamp, marking the third time this season and second game in a row that has occurred, as three freshmen also scored Feb. 25 at Ohio State and Dec. 9 against OSU. At least one rookie has scored a goal in 25 of 37 games this year. Miami's freshmen accounted for nine of the teams 16 points Friday as Mullin tallied four, Austin Czarnik and Coleman added two apiece and Biggs had one. The rookies scored four of Miami's six goals Friday and have now accounted for 47 of the team's 109 goals this season, good for 43.1 percent, and 112 of 290 points for 38.6 percent.
With Mullin's goal just 12 seconds into the game, Miami improved to 19-5-1 when scoring first this year, as the `Hawks have scored first in 25 of 37 games. The RedHawks have scored first in five straight games now.
The senior class of Will Weber, Cameron Schilling, Chris Wideman, Patrick Tiesling, Trent Vogelhuber, Alden Hirschfeld, Matt Tomassoni, Cody Reichard, Connor Knapp, and Ben Saksa won their 97th game as members of the Red and White Friday to pull within one win of the 2007-08 class in fourth-place all-time at Miami.
--MURedHawks.com--
