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Postgame Notes
OXFORD, Ohio – No late night heroics were needed for the No. 11 Miami hockey team to finish off a series sweep of Colorado College on Saturday night.
Three Redhawks recorded multiple points, headlined by a three-point second period by Riley Barber, as they toppled the Tigers 5-1 at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena.
Miami (7-3, 3-1 National Collegiate Hockey) weathered an early storm as Colorado College (2-6, 0-4 NCHC) fired four of the game’s first five shots on goal. Jay Williams turned aside each attempt to keep the contest scoreless in the early going.
With 5:20 gone by, the RedHawks’ blue line took matters into their own hands as Scott Dornbrock weaved through the Tigers’ defense and wristed a shot past Chase Perry for his first-collegiate goal to make it 1-0. Dornbrock’s defense partner Taylor Richart picked up the lone assist after hitting him with a pass in the Miami zone.
A Miami penalty with 8:38 remaining in the first gave CC the night’s first power play. The RedHawk penalty killers were sharp, yielding just one shot on goal during that stretch. With play back to five-on-five, the RedHawks pinned the Tigers in the defensive zone and a loose puck near the crease found Sean Kuraly, who fired one in for his team-high seventh goal of the season with 3:09 left in the frame. Alex Gacek and Anthony Louis assisted on the play that put the Red and White on top 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
The RedHawks went back to the power play 32 seconds into the second period and generated one strong chance as Louis fired a shot through traffic that Perry fought off. The Tigers killed off the penalty to leave it a two-shot game early in the middle stanza.
CC got a power play of its own at the 3:14 mark, but MU’s penalty killing unit was sharp again in holding the Tigers without a shot during a scoreless two minute. Seventeen seconds after returning to even strength, Barber brought the puck up the ice in transition and wristed a shot through traffic and in for his fourth goal of the season to make it 3-0. Justin Greenberg picked up the assist after picking up a loose puck and starting the rush the other way.
The Tigers’ power play finally got one through when Aaron Harstad’s point shot made it through traffic with 3:37 remaining in the second period, cutting the RedHawks’ lead to 3-1. The RedHawks’ special teams responded in kind as Barber netted his second of the night by cashing on Kuraly’s rebound after Austin Czarnik fed him up ice with 1:57 remaining. After CC got caught with too many men on the ice, a deflected pass found Louie Belpedio at the right circle, where he wristed a shot far post on Perry with 11 seconds left to make it a 5-1 game after 40 minutes of play. Barber and Czarnik picked up assists on the play to cap the scoring of a period that MU outshot CC 24-2.
Miami found itself shorthanded nine seconds into the period and it appeared Jacob Slavin drew Colorado College closer with a wrist shot that found the net with 19:03 left in regulation. After further review, the officials waved the goal off due to goaltender interference. Shots were a much more even 8-7 in favor of Miami with Williams making every save and the MU skaters blocking nine shots to keep the score 5-1.
The RedHawks outshot the Tigers 41-17 on the evening and 82-38 for the series to post their first regular season NCHC series sweep. Miami connected on 2-of-6 power plays while holding Colorado College to 1-for-7 on the evening. Barber (2 goals, 1 assist), Kuraly (1 goal, 1 assist) and Czarnik (2 assists) all had multi-point nights. Williams improved to 7-1 by making 16 saves.
Miami heads out to Grand Forks, North Dakota next weekend for a league series at preseason NCHC favorite North Dakota. Friday’s series opener begins at 8:37 p.m. ET.
