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OXFORD, Ohio – Despite falling into an early deficit, the No. 5 Miami hockey team valiantly battled back against No. 1 North Dakota. The comeback ultimately fell short in a 2-1 setback at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena on Friday night.
North Dakota (25-6-3, 16-5-2 National Collegiate Hockey) clinches the Penrose Cup outright as the 2014-15 NCHC regular season champion while Miami (20-12-1, 13-9-1-1 NCHC) still needs two points to clinch a home playoff series in next week’s NCHC Tournament.
The teams went back and forth trying to establish a physical contest in the opening few shifts. North Dakota drew first blood after an offensive zone faceoff win by Drake Caggiula went to Keaton Thompson, who fired a shot from a sharp angle that snuck in to put UND up 1-0 at the 2:43 mark.
A penalty on North Dakota’s Trevor Olson 4:27 into the period gave Miami a chance to even the score with a man advantage, but it was held to just one shot attempt during a scoreless two minutes. The RedHawks came inches from evening the score midway through the opening frame when Cody Murphy gathered the puck at the left circle and wristed a shot that beat Zane McIntyre, but rang off the post to leave them still trailing by a goal.
The Red and White withstood another power play late in the period and skated to the locker room trailing by just the 1-0 margin after 20 minutes. UND held an 11-5 edge in shots, though a good amount came from the perimeter.
Connor Gaarder added to North Dakota’s lead when he finished a 3-on-2 rush with a wrist shot from the slot just 1:56 into the second period. Miami’s special teams got it back into the game as a power play yielded a rebound goal by Sean Kuraly as he pounced on blocked attempts by Riley Barber and Matthew Caito to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 12:11 to go in the middle stanza.
Kuraly’s goal put a charge into Miami as it relentlessly pressured the North Dakota defense the remainder of the period. The RedHawks got a glorious opportunity to even the score with a little over five minutes to go in the frame as Kuraly got behind the defense for a breakaway that McIntyre turned aside. Taylor Richart followed that up with another point blank shot, but McIntyre would not allow that one past either. Miami outshot North Dakota 22-11 in the middle stanza, but remained down by a goal at 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.
The ice remained tilted in the North Dakota defensive zone during the third period as Miami held a decided 18-5 edge in shots on goal. McIntyre continued to withstand the surge, however, turning aside each opportunity that MU mustered to hold off the comeback bid.
When the dust settled, the RedHawks ended up with a 44-27 edge in shots and went 1-for-2 on the power play while killing off all three North Dakota man advantages. MU outshot UND 39-16 over the final two periods, but McIntyre was the difference as he turned away 43 attempts. Jay Williams stopped 25 shots for Miami.
Miami closes its regular season against North Dakota on Saturday with opening faceoff at 7:05 p.m. The RedHawks will honor seniors Blake Coleman, Austin Czarnik, Anthony Jacaruso, Cody Murphy, Ben Paulides and Alex Wideman prior to the contest.
