Balanced RedHawks Impress in Exhibition Win

Saturday, October 1

Oxford, Ohio

8:05 PM

Miami University

Waterloo (Exhibition)

Balanced RedHawks Impress in Exhibition Win

10/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Hockey

Oct. 2, 2016

Box Score | PDF Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - A balanced showing saw the Miami hockey team flash strong depth in an 8-1 exhibition victory over Waterloo at Steve `Coach' Cady Arena on Saturday night.

Seven different skaters recorded multiple points with two RedHawks netting a pair of goals in the victory.

"Our boys did a nice job handling themselves tonight," head coach Enrico Blasi said. "We started to get our legs underneath us as the game went on and put the puck into areas where our speed and work ethic took over. With a young team, you need to gain experience and the only way to do that is to play games. You could feel the energy in the building, you had an opponent in the building and those are good things when you are trying to gain experience."

Things started off a bit chippy in the first period as the teams traded minor penalties 12 seconds apart roughly three minutes in. The Red and White doubled the Warriors up in shots (12-6) in the opening 20 minutes of play, but the contest remained scoreless into the late stages of the first period.

A slew of penalties changed all that as UW took a five-minute major penalty when the teams were playing four aside at the 13:07 mark. That open ice led to a skillful display of MU's 4-on-3 power play and with 6:18 left in the frame, Kiefer Sherwood feathered the puck from the left circle towards the front of the net. Expecting a redirect, the puck kicked off the inside of Waterloo goaltender Chris Hurry's left pad and in to put Miami on top 1-0 after 20 minutes. Anthony Louis and Josh Melnick each drew assists on the score.

After killing off the remaining 30 seconds of a carryover penalty, Karch Bachman's dogged effort spurred the RedHawks to a huge second period. The freshman came off the bench following the kill with the puck slung by Louie Belpedio from behind his goal down the ice. Already behind the Warrior defense, Bachman got to the puck behind the net and brought it up front for an attempt wraparound. After a couple of whacks, the puck eventually found the twine 50 seconds into the frame to make it 2-0.

A miscue behind the UW net was gathered in the corner by Zach LaValle, who deftly centered the puck to freshman Alex Alger. With Hurry scrambling to get back in net, Alger one-timed the shot from the slot and in with 14:56 remaining in the middle stanza to make it 3-0.

The RedHawks went on the power play a minute and a half later, but it was the Warriors that would get on the board as a turnover at the offensive blue line created a breakaway for Phillip Fife, who scored on the backhand at the 7:29 mark to cut the Red and White lead to 3-1.

That was as close as things got the rest of the night. Excellent hustle by the combination of LaValle and Ryan Siroky paid off as LaValle redirected a Scott Dornbrock shot wide, but he then gathered the loose puck beneath the goal line before throwing it towards the net. On a second effort, Siroky slipped the puck in from the door mouth at the left side to up the lead back to three. Miami was then able to convert on the power play as Anthony Louis got fed inside the right circle with some space to skate. The senior moved closer to the net before burying a wrist shot to make it a 5-1 game on helpers from Melnick and Carson Meyer with 5:23 left in the frame, a score that held after 40 minutes.

The RedHawks came out with an offensive onslaught in the opening minutes of the third as Alger beat Hurry with a wrist shot in transition for his second of the night to up the lead to 6-1 just 2:14 in. Nearly three minutes later, Josh Melnick got a stick on Sherwood's pass to the top of the crease to bury the RedHawks' third power play goal of the night and make it a 7-1 contest. Bachman then capped the scoring at the 6:07 mark with his second tally of the night as Dornbrock got a step on the UW defense entering the zone before backhanding a bouncing puck to Bachman at the goal mouth, where he stuck with it to knock it in. Dornbrock and Sherwood each drew their second assists of the night on the play as the RedHawks closed out the win from there.

On the night, Miami outshot Waterloo by a 32-19 margin. MU's special teams came up big with a 3-for-7 effort on the power play while killing off all seven UW man advantages. Melnick led the way with four points (1g, 3a) while Louis (1g, 2a) and Sherwood (1g, 2a) chipped in three points apiece and Alger (2g), Bachman (2g), Dornbrock (2a) and LaValle (2a) all had two points. Ryan Larkin stopped nine of 10 shots over the first two periods of action before giving way to fellow freshman Chase Munroe, who turned away all nine shots he faced.

Miami opens its season on Oct. 7 when it travels to Providence. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. ET.