Follow: @MiamiOH_Hockey | @MiamiRedHawks
OXFORD, Ohio – A five-goal second period by Western Michigan dug the No. 5 Miami hockey team into a hole it could not overcome in a 7-5 loss in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Playoffs on Saturday.
The loss snaps the RedHawks’ (22-13-1) brief two-game winning streak and forces a deciding third game in this weekend’s best-of-three series.
Riley Barber put the RedHawks on the board just 2:24 into the evening by skating the puck up the left wing and wristing a shot off the far post and in for his team leading 18th goal of the season. Colin Sullivan began the rush by feeding Barber at Miami’s blue line after taking a handoff from Ryan McKay, both players earned the assists for their first point of the season. For Sullivan, it was his first point as a RedHawk.
Miami was awarded a power play just over five minutes into the contest, giving it an opportunity to extend its early lead. However, MU was only able to muster up one shot through to Lukas Hafner during a scoreless two minute stretch.
The Broncos (14-17-5) had a good look to even the score as a centering feed found the stick of Will Kessel streaking through the slot, but he tipped the attempt wide to leave the RedHawks on top. Another Western Michigan penalty at the 10:56 mark gave Miami another opportunity to extend the lead, but it was WMU that got its offense going as Frederik Tiffels forced a turnover at the blue line and skated in for a breakaway short-handed goal to even the score at 1-1 with 7:49 to go in the frame.
That Miami power play eventually ended on a minor penalty, which forced MU to kill off a WMU penalty. The RedHawks special teams answered the bell in that instance, leaving the score tied in the waning moments of the opening stanza. Miami got another late power play, but fired just one shot on Hafner as the teams skated to the dressing room tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes. The RedHawks outshot the Broncos 15-7 in the opening frame.
Tiffels forced another turnover at the blue line and skated in for another breakaway goal to give WMU a 2-1 lead. Alex Wideman got a breakaway of his own on the ensuing neutral zone faceoff, but Hafner stood his ground to stop the shot. The Broncos scored again 44 seconds after Tiffels’ second tally of the night as Nolan LaPorte finished a backdoor feed after a RedHawk defensive zone turnover.
The RedHawks finally took advantage of a power play when Austin Czarnik blasted a slap shot through traffic with 11:32 left in the second to pull Miami within a goal at 3-2. Cody Murphy and Blake Coleman each drew assists with Coleman’s helper making him the 50th MU player to reach 100 career points.
That momentum was short lived as WMU struck 1:20 later as Colton Hargrove put the puck in during a scramble near the MU net to go up by two at 4-2. Undeterred, Anthony Louis hustled to a Hafner misplay and fed Czarnik atop the crease where he finished his second goal of the evening to pull Miami back to within a shot at 4-3. That goal ended Hafner’s evening as WMU called upon Frank Slubowski to finish the game.
Western Michigan went onto its second power play of the night with 8:04 left in the middle stanza and did not generate much offense for the majority of the man advantage. With the power play winding down, Kyle Novak’s centering feed tipped off a Miami stick and into the net, making it 5-3 Broncos with 5:14 to go until intermission. That tally in turn chased McKay from the crease as Jay Williams stepped between the pipes for the duration of the contest.
The ice opened up in the final two minutes as one minor penalty one each team in a five second span led to 4-on-4 hockey with 1:59 to go in the second. The RedHawks had the first good look as Louis and Matthew Caito skated up ice for a 2-on-1 rush, but Slubowski read the cross ice pass and stopped Caito’s one-timer. The save led to a Bronco 3-on-2, where Chris Dienes beat Williams from the high slot with 44 seconds remaining in the period, sending WMU to the locker room with a 6-3 lead after 40 minutes.
Miami got an early opportunity to draw closer as Slubowski was caught briefly out of the net, but the puck would not settle down for the RedHawk sticks and the Bronco goaltender got back into position to keep it a three-shot game. Miami was forced to kill a penalty shortly after, but was able to do so without incident.
The RedHawks outshot the Broncos 14-7 in the third period, but time was becoming a factor when Williams was pulled for an extra skater with over four minutes remaining. The move paid off when Sean Kuraly wristed a shot through traffic from the point to cut the deficit to 3:38 to go. Kevin Morris and Louis both assisted on the tally. Miami continued to play with an extra skater to push for offense and Coleman converted a centering feed from Czarnik with 23 seconds remaining pull the Red and White to within a goal at 6-5. Kuraly also drew a helper on the play that gave Miami a shot at a comeback. That hope was dashed 11 seconds later when Will Kessel wristed the puck into the empty net to seal the win for WMU.
MU outshot WMU 49-25 for the evening. Both teams struck for a power play goal with the RedHawks going 1-for-5 and the Broncos finishing 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Czarnik led the Red and White with three points on two goals and an assist while Coleman (1g, 1a), Kuraly (1g, 1a) and Louis (2a) all recorded multi-point nights. Neither starting goaltender finished the evening as Slubowski stopped 25 of 27 shots in 28:54 of relief to pick up the win while Hafner was pulled after allowed three goals on 22 shots in 31:03. McKay stopped 11 of 16 shots before giving way to Williams, who turned away seven of eight Bronco shots in the final 25:26.
The RedHawks and Broncos play a winner take all game three on Sunday evening at 7:05 p.m.
