CHICAGO, Ill. – A three-goal second period staked the No. 8 Miami hockey team to a big lead after 40 minutes, which was enough to hold off a late Western Michigan surge for a 4-3 win in the Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field on Saturday.
The RedHawks (16-9-1, 9-6-1-1) earned three big conference points with the win over the Broncos (11-11-4, 4-8-4-3), launching them into third place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Western Michigan gained an early edge on shots in the first period, going up 3-2. However, the Broncos didn’t record a shot for the final 10 minutes of the period. Miami got the first scoring chance of the game about a minute in when a routine dump-in took a weird bounce and Lukas Hafner had to make a great save, keeping the score at 0-0. The Broncos evened up the scoring chances at one apiece but Jay Williams stood tall in his net. The line of Andrew Schmit, Blake Coleman and Cody Murphy created a number of chances, keeping the pressure on in the Broncos’ zone.
Around 11 minutes into the period, Anthony Louis sent an Austin Czarnik pass inches wide of the net, nearly notching the first goal of the game. The RedHawks got on the scoreboard first when Alex Wideman finished off a feed in front of the net from Alex Gacek. The goal was Wideman’s first in 15 games when he tallied two in a 3-0 win over Colorado College. Chris Joyaux also got an assist on the tally.
Blake Coleman took the game’s first penalty, receiving a two-minute minor for interference at 17:41 of the period. The RedHawks killed the penalty. The period ended with shots being 10-3 in favor of the Red & White.
The second period marked a resurgence in shots for the Broncos. WMU outshot Miami 5-1 early on in the frame. The Broncos’ first prime scoring chance of the period came about 2:30 in when a slap shot from the half boards was deflected in front, forcing Williams to make a great right pad save.
Miami got the next great scoring chance when Riley Barber got behind the Bronco defense on a stretch pass from Louis but was stopped by Hafner, keeping the score at 1-0. A few minutes later, Barber got another chance, hopping on a lively rebound off the end boards and slapping it home in front for power play tally. Assists on the goal went to Louie Belpedio and Czarnik.
Two minutes later, Western nearly got on the board with a deflected wrist shot from the half boards but Williams made the save.
A goaltender interference penalty on Frederik Tiffels with 2:51 left in the period sent the RedHawks to their fifth power play of the night. With 41 seconds gone by in the man advantage, Kevin Morris was battling in front of the Bronco net when he tapped home his fourth goal of the season, giving the RedHawks a 3-0 lead. Assists went to Belpedio and Coleman.
It took just 40 seconds for the Red and White extended their lead to four with a gritty goal in front of the Bronco net from Sean Kuraly. The goal gives the junior 13 on the season. The lone assist went to Wideman. In total, Miami got three goals in the frame and ended the second period up 4-0. Shots after two were 26-16 in favor of MU.
The third period saw a total reversal of fortune for the RedHawks. Josh Pitt put the Broncos on the board 8:02 into the frame. Assists on the goal went to Aidan Muir and Mike Mckee. WMU tallied another goal 37 seconds later, with Aidan Muir cutting the lead to 4-2.
The Broncos pulled their goalie with just under two minutes left. It’s a move that proved to be fruitful as they cut the RedHawks’ lead to one with just 45 seconds left. Sheldon Dries tallied the Bronco goal. Western continued to pressure in the closing seconds, but Miami withstood the late surge to finish the year 3-0-1 against the Broncos.
Miami finished with a 41-28 edge in shots for the night, with Wideman (one goal, one assist) and Belpedio (two assists) each posting multi-point performances. Williams moved to 14-4 on the year by stopping 25 of 28 shots. Hafner was pulled by Western Michigan after allowing four goals on 26 shots in the first 40 minutes while Frank Slubowski kept the Broncos close by stopping all 15 shots he faced in the third.
The RedHawks return to action on Feb. 13 when they head to Colorado College.
