Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami University
1-2-0
Maine
1-2-0
RedHawks Go Green in Wild Win Over Black Bears
10/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
ORONO, Maine - Gordie Green's big night paced the Miami hockey team as it topped Maine in a wild, 7-5, decision on Friday night.
Green netted two goals and three assists for the RedHawks' (1-2) first five-point night since Austin Czarnik dished out five assists at Bemidji State on Nov. 30, 2013. His effort gave Miami its first win of the year.
"I thought we did a lot of good things tonight," Head Coach Enrico Blasi said. "We played hard and this was a good college game. We took a step forward and now we need to regroup and be ready to go tomorrow."
The RedHawks came out firing, owning a 19-7 shot advantage in the opening 20 minutes. A Black Bear penalty 3:17 in put the Red and White on the man advantage, where they peppered Rob McGovern with several shots. Maine nearly killed it off, but with one second left, Karch Bachman wristed home a centering feed from Green to put Miami on top 1-0.
Bachman wrists one home to put us ahead.#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/CspJBZBwUB
- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 20, 2017
MU wasn't done from there as Josh Melnick found Gordie Green streaking up the right wing with a line to McGovern. The sophomore forward made a shifty move in front and netted his first goal of the season just 19 seconds after the first tally to make it 2-0. Melnick picked up his second assist of the evening on the strike.
Gordie doubles our advantage with this nifty move. pic.twitter.com/9thsMnYujr
- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 20, 2017
Maine had a couple strong chances that Ryan Larkin was equal to the task for on the rush early on. The Black Bears then got a 5-on-3 power play with 3:02 remaining in the frame, but the RedHawks got one more Larkin save to kill off the first penalty before the Black Bears were whistled for a penalty of their own with 1:34 left in the opening stanza. That left Miami with the two-goal lead intact at the break.
After a carryover Miami power play was killed off, Maine took another minor just 45 seconds into the second period. That allowed the Red and White to go back to work in the offensive zone and they connected with just 1:54 gone by as a centering feed to Green was shifted over to Grant Hutton coming into the left circle, where his one-timer found the net for his second goal of the season to up the lead to 3-0.
Make it 2/3 on the power play as @granthutton5 rips in his 2nd goal of the year!
Watch: https://t.co/ZhzlCTuuBK#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/qA3u5DP4lW- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 21, 2017
A Miami penalty with 6:09 gone by gave Maine a chance to get back into the game. While MU was able to deftly kill off the man advantage, a point shot by Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi was redirected in to get Maine on the board at the 8:11 mark of the middle frame. The Black Bears cut the gap to 3-2 just 1:31 later when Mitchell Fossier got a shot through traffic and in with 10:18 left until intermission.
The RedHawks lethal power play gave them some breathing room once again and it was again a blast for Hutton doing the job for the second time when his slap shot from the left point got through to make it a 4-2 contest with 7:27 left until the break on assists from Louie Belpedio and Phil Knies. However, Fossier pulled Maine within 4-3 with 3:41 left in the period.
Another rocket, another goal for @granthutton5
Watch: https://t.co/ZhzlCTuuBK#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/EMpSx6UWWH- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 21, 2017
With intermission approaching, Miami poured in a couple more tallies as Kiefer Sherwood was the recipient of a give-and-go play with Green and scored cutting in on the right side for his first tally of the year, making it 5-3 at the 17:44 mark. A Maine penalty allowed Miami to cap an outstanding evening with the man advantage as Belpedio one-timed a shot from up top to make it 6-3 after 40 minutes. Rourke Russell picked up his first career point with an assist on Sherwood's tally while Scott Dornbrock and Sherwood drew helpers on Belpedio's strike.
Give and go, @KSherwood44 nets his 1st of the year.#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/yNEBRxSRZf
- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 21, 2017
Some power behind this blast by @louiebelpedio.
Watch: https://t.co/ZhzlCTuuBK#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/ahDQ39mXUB- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 21, 2017
Eight seconds after the third period faceoff, a turnover set Gordie Green free to net his second of the night and put Miami ahead 7-3.
Fine start to the 3rd as @gordie_green nets his second.
Watch: https://t.co/ZhzlCTuuBK#RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/WBhKc0YlW0- The Brotherhood® (@MiamiOH_Hockey) October 21, 2017
The Black Bears would not go quietly. A power play goal by Eduards Tralmaks made it 7-4 and Rob Michel cut the gap to 7-5 with 9:57 remaining. Maine fired 12 shots in the final period, and went on two more power plays in the frame, but Miami bore down defensively to secure the victory.
Miami finished up with a 38-25 advantage in shots while going 4-for-5 on the power play and holding Maine to 1-for-6 with the man advantage. Five RedHawks posted multi-point nights, paced by Green's five. Melnick dished out three assists while Hutton (2g), Belpedio (1g, 1a) and Sherwood (1g, 1a) chipped in two apiece. Larkin finished with 20 saves while McGovern stopped 29 of 35 shots before ceding the net to Jeremy Swayman, who stopped two of three Miami bids.
These teams wrap up their weekend series on Saturday with the puck dropping at 7 p.m.
