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OXFORD, Ohio – A year ago, Blake Coleman’s finishing kick led the Miami hockey team within a period of a conference title. The senior forward showed his playoff form with a career-high four points to lead the No. 5 RedHawks to a 5-3 win over Western Michigan in game one of their best-of-three National Collegiate Hockey Conference Playoff Series.
Coleman netted two goals and dished out a pair of assists to give Miami (22-12-1) its second consecutive win and move it within one victory of a spot in next weekend’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
The Broncos (13-17-5) established some early puck possession, taking the first four shots over the opening five and a half minutes. Miami didn’t get its first shot until nearly 10 minutes into the night, but made its first attempt count as Coleman ripped a one-timer from the low slot past Lukas Hafner at the 9:42 mark to put the RedHawks up 1-0. That tally was set up by a deft centering feed from below the goal line by Riley Barber after he took Ben Paulides’ pass and lugged the puck up ice.
Western Michigan went on the first power play of the evening roughly a minute later, but Miami was strong in its positioning and did not yield a single shot on goal during a scoreless two minutes. The Broncos nearly evened the score when Willem Nong-Lambert pick pocketed a RedHawk defenseman near the crease, but his shot whistled wide of the net to keep MU on top.
Colton Hargrove eventually evened the score when he wristed a shot by Ryan McKay with 1:17 to go in the opening frame following a neutral zone faceoff win by Sheldon Dries. That goal capped a first period that saw WMU attempt 26 shots (10 on goal) to MU’s 10 (five on goal) as both teams skated to the dressing room tied 1-1.
Miami got its first power play of the evening 31 seconds into the middle period. The man advantage had a great look when a pass bounced to Barber atop the crease, but Hafner made a point blank save and Western Michigan was able to kill off the remainder of the minor penalty to leave the contest tied.
A Western Michigan boarding penalty put Miami back on the power play at the six minute mark, but the Broncos were the ones that went ahead 11 seconds later as Sheldon Dries forced a turnover and slipped a shot through McKay from a slot to give them their first lead of the night at 2-1.
The RedHawks’ third power play was the charm as they took advantage of an offensive zone Bronco penalty. Louie Belpedio settled the puck down at the point after Coleman won a faceoff. The freshman then walked the puck into the slot for a shot that was blocked, but came right back to him for another attempt that slipped through traffic and in. That tally left the score all square at two apiece with 7:53 to go in the frame. Both teams directed eight shots on net in the frame and ended up locked in a 2-2 tie after two periods.
WMU regained the lead 1:44 into the third as a point shot was stopped by McKay before Kyle Nowak jammed the puck in near the crease. While the play was whistled dead initially, a lengthy video review awarded the Broncos with the go ahead goal.
Miami was awarded a power play roughly a minute after the Western Michigan tally, but was unable to create much of an attack during scoreless two minutes of play. Another WMU penalty at the 5:07 mark afforded another MU opportunity with the man advantage. The Red and White took advantage as Kevin Morris followed up Coleman’s blocked shot and slid it into the opening in the net to even the score at 3-3 with 13:06 to go in regulation.
Action opened up for the rest of the period as both teams combined to get 28 shots to the net (16-12 Broncos). The game remained tied going into the latter half of the frame until Coleman finished off a beautiful give-and-go with Barber while in midair to put the Red and White back ahead 4-3 with 7:12 to remaining. Chris Joyaux also picked up an assist on the go-ahead tally.
Western Michigan turned up the pressure in the closing minutes, but McKay was equal to the task on the two shots he faced during that surge. The Broncos had puck possession in the RedHawks’ zone with an extra attacker on the ice, but a centering pass was corralled by Alex Gacek, who spun and fired the puck from deep in his zone into the open net to secure the win with 42 seconds remaining.
The Broncos outshot the RedHawks 34-25 on the evening, marking the second-straight game Miami has won while being outshot. After yielding a short-handed goal in the second period, the MU power play finished the night 2-for-5 and the Red and White killed off the Broncos’ lone power play in the first period. Coleman’s four-point night puts him at 99 career points. He was one of three RedHawks with multiple points as Belpedio (1 goal, 1 assist) and Barber (2 assists) notched two apiece. McKay stopped 31 of 34 shots to improve to 5-0-1 in his last six starts while Hafner stopped 20 of the 24 shots Miami sent his way.
Miami will try to punch its ticket to next weekend’s Frozen Faceoff when it faces Western Michigan for game two of its best-of-three series. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m.
