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TROY, N.Y. – After setting up his teammates at a level above every skater in the country, Austin Czarnik netted his first goal of the season as part of the No. 6 Miami hockey team’s 3-0 win at Rensselaer on Saturday night.
With the win, the RedHawks move to 14-6 on the season and end their holiday road trip on a three-game winning streak.
“I thought we played well tonight,” Miami head coach Enrico Blasi said. “This was a very good team effort, our guys did a nice job playing a solid game. We executed when we had to and played good team defense. Any road sweep you can get is huge.”
The RedHawks fired the first three shots of the evening and had two quality chances in the first few minutes of play. Blake Coleman weaved his way into the high slot for a wrist shot that Jason Kasdorf kicked aside on his first shift while Andrew Schmit got a slap shot off in the slot shortly thereafter which was blocked aside by Kasdorf.
About five minutes in, Kasdorf made his best save to that point when Coleman fed Cody Murphy in the middle for a quick wrist shot that the Engineers’ (6-15-1) goaltender got in front of. Miami finally solved Kasdorf at the 11:36 mark when Anthony Louis circled the net and centered the puck to Cody Murphy, who blasted a one-timer into the net for his seventh goal of the season to put the Red and White on top 1-0. Blake Coleman also earned an assist on the goal by sliding the puck to Louis up the wall.
After dominating the first 11 minutes of play with an 8-3 edge in shots at the point of Murphy’s goal, the RedHawks had to withstand a surge from the Engineers for the rest of the period. RPI got a power play at the 14:09 mark, but Jay Williams stopped all five Engineer attempts to keep them off the board for that two-minute stretch. Williams was tested numerous times down the stretch in the first as RPI outshot MU 9-1 over the final 8:36 of the opening frame. Despite the Engineers owning a 12-9 advantage in shots, Williams stopped every attempt that came his way as the RedHawks took the 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.
Miami was forced to kill off a 1:58 carryover penalty at the beginning of the second period. After doing a good job limiting RPI’s opportunities, an Engineer penalty at the 1:15 mark brought the teams to 4-on-4 and the RedHawks had a power play that followed. Despite some good looks from the point with traffic in front, the Miami man advantage ultimately could not convert. Another power play at the 4:08 mark created more quality chances, but Kasdorf stood tall to keep it a one-goal game.
The RedHawks erupted for two goals seven seconds apart seven and a half minutes into the period. Czarnik finished on a breakaway after Riley Barber fed him in for his first goal since March 21, 2014, a span of 20 games without a goal despite his nation-leading 21 assists. Scott Dornbrock also assisted on the play by starting that transition rush. Just after the ensuing face-off, Murphy stripped a defenseman of the puck in the neutral zone and flung a wrist shot from the left half wall that squeezed through Kasdorf’s legs to make it a 3-0 contest. The RedHawks attempted 13 of the first 15 shots of the second period and skated into the locker room with a 23-18 edge in shots and a three-goal lead.
“You knew it was a matter of time for Austin to get one,” Blasi said. “That was a nice play between him and Barber and now we have everyone rolling. Hopefully we can continue that into league play.”
Czarnik nearly scored his second of the night early in the third when his wrist shot beat Kasdorf stick side, but rang off the post. The Engineers took a penalty 45 seconds into the frame and the RedHawks generated some strong chances, including a Murphy hat trick bid midway through the man advantage that Kasdorf stopped.
The power play did not find the net despite the chances, but controlled play throughout the frame. MU enjoyed a 13-4 shot advantage in the final frame and managed to lock things down in its own end to give Williams his second-straight shutout.
Miami outshot RPI 36-22 overall, including a 27-10 margin over the final two periods of play. The RedHawks went 0-for-6 on the power play, but killed off all three Engineer man advantages. Williams made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the year and sixth of his career. Kasdorf stopped 33 of 36 shots at the other end.
This weekend’s series marked the final non-conference series for the RedHawks, who resume National Collegiate Hockey Conference play at St. Cloud State on Jan. 9.
