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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In what may be an exciting prelude to their outdoor game in Chicago next weekend, the No. 8/9 Miami hockey team and Western Michigan played a back-and-forth 3-3 tie on Saturday night.
The RedHawks (15-9-1, 8-6-1-1 National Collegiate Hockey) earned two points in the result by topping the Broncos (11-10-4, 4-7-4-3 NCHC) 2-1 in a four-round shootout.
The Broncos had the game’s first good chance to get on the board when a failed outlet pass was held in at the blue line and sent to Justin Kovacs all alone near the crease. Ryan McKay picked up his teammates and held his ground to make the save.
An early Miami penalty gave Western Michigan the first power play of the night at the 1:47 mark, but MU stayed disciplined in its positioning and killed off WMU’s lethal man advantage. A RedHawk power play at the 5:49 mark was also killed off, despite a good chance for Anthony Louis on a breakaway that Lukas Hafner stopped.
A 4-on-4 situation midway through the opening frame became a 4-on-3 power play for the Red and White at the 9:46 mark. Despite the rink opening up, MU was unable to generate a shot on goal in another scoreless man advantage.
The RedHawks outshot the Broncos 13-7 in the opening 20 minutes of play as they constantly sent pucks and players to the net to create havoc. Another good opportunity arose for MU in the waning minutes when Louis fed Riley Barber in the slot during a 3-on-2 rush, but Hafner gloved the shot to leave the contest scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
Blake Coleman did a nice job reading and intercepting a D-to-D pass in the opening seconds of the second period, but Hafner reacted quickly to turn the chance away. The Red and White got another power play 2:40 into the middle frame and Sean Kuraly had a good look at the door step early on, but Hafner made two more saves to keep the contest scoreless as the RedHawks dropped to 0-for-3 on the power play.
Matthew Caito put Miami on the board just after the midway point in the period when he finished a transition chance with a backhand through traffic. Anthony Louis and Austin Czarnik set up Caito’s second goal of the season on a play that was started by a strong hard around by McKay behind his own net.
The Red and White held a 21-11 edge in shots entering the late stages of the period, but the Broncos closed the middle stanza with a flurry. A barrage of shots created traffic near the crease and Frederik Tiffels ended up tapping in the puck to tie the score at 1-1 with three minutes left in the frame. WMU grabbed the lead 29 seconds later when Mike McKee tapped in a back door pass to send the RedHawks to the dressing room facing a 2-1 deficit.
A heavy wrist shot by Barber beat Hafner in the first minute of the third, but clanged off the goal post to leave WMU still one front by a goal early. Two minutes later, Caito’s slap shot from the right point slipped through traffic past Hafner, but hit the post again to keep it a 2-1 contest. Miami fired the first nine shots of the period to no avail. Strong skating by Alex Gacek gave the RedHawks a power play at the 7:40 mark, but only a wide angle shot made its way to Hafner during a spoiled man advantage.
With Miami still pressing for offense, Tiffels picked off a pass at the WMU blue line and skated in on a breakaway, but McKay stuck with him and stopped the chance to keep MU within one shot.
A boarding penalty on Western Michigan with 6:06 left gave Miami the opportunity it needed to find the net. A nice pass by Czarnik got Barber into the offensive zone with speed and the junior swung the puck to Louis at the left circle, whose wrist shot beat Hafner far side for his fifth goal of the season, tying it up at 2-2 with 5:49 remaining.
Much like the Broncos in the second period, the RedHawks utilized their quick attack by striking again 20 seconds later when Sean Kuraly jammed home a rebound to give them a 3-2 lead with 5:29 to go. Gacek earned a primary assist by throwing the initial shot to the net while Alex Wideman also drew an assist on Kuraly’s 12th goal of the year.
Miami was caught with too many men on the ice with 3:27 remaining, but it managed to battle through the penalty kill when Tiffels was called for slashing with 54 seconds left on the man advantage. The RedHawks nearly put the contest away when Czarnik picked off an outlet pass in the neutral zone in the final minute after Hafner left the net for an extra skater, but the shot from beyond the red line went inches wide of the cage for an icing infraction with just over 40 seconds remaining.
A few opportunities saw MU skaters near loose pucks with a chance to clear, but the puck bounced away off their sticks. The puck eventually went across the slot to Colton Hargrove at the right circle for a one-timer that tied the score with 13.9 seconds left, forcing overtime in a 3-3 tie. The Broncos fired the only two shots on goal during the overtime, but McKay was equal to the task both times as Miami went to its first shootout of the season after a scoreless five minutes.
McKay opened up the shootout splendidly by sticking with Hargrove for a save while Louis got Hafner moving and slipped a shot five hole to put the Red and White up 1-0 after the first round. McKay once again left no room for Tiffels on the next attempt, stuffing him as he tried to jam one in on his right. Hafner stayed with Barber as he went forehand to backhand, getting a piece of his rising shot to keep the Broncos alive. Nolan LaPorte took advantage by sliding one just inside the post to even the score and Hafner stopped Czarnik on his attempt to send the shootout to a fourth round. Undeterred, McKay turned aside Kovacs and Cody Murphy fooled Hafner with a deke before roofing a backhand to give the Red and White the extra point in the NCHC standings.
The RedHawks outshot the Broncos 42-27 overall, including 19-8 in the third period alone. Hafner stopped 39 shots for WMU while McKay made 24 stops for MU. Miami went 1-for-6 on the power play and killed off all three Western Michigan power plays. Louis and Czarnik both chipped in two points with Louis finishing with a goal and an assist while Czarnik dished out two helpers.
Both teams meet again next Saturday in Soldier Field for the Hockey City Classic. The puck drops in Chicago at 4 p.m. ET.
