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OXFORD, Ohio – A second-period scoring outburst lifted the No. 7 Miami hockey team to a 5-2 victory over National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival Western Michigan at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena on Saturday night.
The victory gives the RedHawks (10-4, 6-2 NCHC) their second-straight home sweep against a league foe as they match their conference win total from last season.
Both teams were feeling each other out in the opening minutes with Miami taking three of the first four shots on goal. The Red and White had a quality chance about three minutes in when Alex Wideman threw a puck into traffic near the crease where a couple RedHawks got a stick on the puck, but Lukas Hafner eventually covered it up.
Miami got four power plays in the first period, beginning at the 7:25 mark of the opening frame. The Red and White fired five shots with the man advantage, but could not solve Hafner in a scoreless 20 minutes. MU did own a 14-5 advantage in shots despite neither time finding the net in the first period.
The RedHawks were called for a penalty with seven seconds remaining the first that nullified its fourth power play. After a brief foray of 4-on-4 hockey to start the second, the Broncos got a minute and a half of power play time, but MU managed to once again kill off the man advantage.
Will Kessel tallied the Broncos’ first goal of the weekend when he found the defense backing off during a 3-on-3 rush. His slap shot from the slot beat Jay Williams high and snapped the junior goaltender’s shutout streak at 122:19.
A five minute major penalty and game misconduct on Western’s Mike McKee appeared to energize the Red and White midway through the second period. Anthony Louis blasted a slap shot top shelf through traffic from the high slot to even that score at the 10:22 mark. Matthew Caito and Sean Kuraly drew assists on the power play scoring strike.
Things opened up for the Red and White from there as a territorial advantage finally paid off. A Louis slap shot rose high off the glass and bounced right to Blake Coleman, who backhanded the puck into the open net to give MU its first lead of the night with 4:09 to go in the middle frame. That barrage continued as Sean Kuraly scored on a wraparound at 17:34 and Cody Murphy beat Hafner with a wrist shot eight seconds later to give the RedHawks a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. Caito assisted on Kuraly’s score while Coleman and Chris Joyaux dished out helpers on Murphy’s first goal of the year.
The third period was marred by physical play and trips by both teams to the penalty box. Miami and Western Michigan combined for six minor penalties in total. A power play goal by Frederik Tiffels spoiled the RedHawk penalty kill’s perfect evening with 1:10 remaining to cut the MU lead to 4-2. That tally led to the Broncos pulling Hafner for an extra skater, but it was the RedHawks who took advantage as Riley Barber potted an empty net goal with 10 seconds to go to salt away the contest and cap the scoring. Czarnik and Coleman earned the assists on the play.
Miami outshot Western Michigan 32-25 for the evening and went 1-for-8 on the power play while killing off four of WMU’s five power plays. Williams made 23 saves to improve to 10-1 this season. The RedHawks got multi-point nights from Coleman (1 goal, 2 assists), Kuraly (1 goal, 1 assist), Murphy (1 goal, 1 assist), Louis (1 goal, 1 assist), Czarnik (2 assists) and Caito (2 assists).
The RedHawks are off until Dec. 5 when they open a two-game series against Nebraska Omaha.
