Games 7-8
Friday, Oct. 26 • 7:35 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 27 • 5:00 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks (4-2) vs. Colgate Raiders (2-1)
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv (stream)
Radio: 1450 AM-WMOH/Tune In Radio (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
The RedHawks host Colgate in their final series of October this weekend.
THE SERIES: The RedHawks are 4-2 all-time against the Raiders. These programs last met to open the 2012-13 season, which Miami swept in Oxford.

PUCK POINTS
• All 10 of Miami's newcomers have played at least one game and MU's nine first-year skaters have combined for 13 of the team's 37 points while graduate transfer goaltender Jordan Uhelski has picked up a win in net.

• Miami has allowed 26 shots or fewer and outshot its opponent in five of its first six games. The RedHawks have also posted two shutouts so far, the first time they have recorded multiple shutouts in a season since the 2015-16 campaign.

• Junior forward Karch Bachman has netted three goals in the RedHawks' first four games with two game-winning goals in that span.

• The RedHawks are off to their first 4-2 start since the 2014-15 campaign. That was also the last year MU won five of its first seven games.

• Gordie Green has notched 52 points (23g, 29a) in his last 62 games dating back to midway through his 2016-17 freshman campaign.

• Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 73 of Miami's 79 games since his freshman season in 2016-17. He has allowed one goal or fewer in three of four starts this year.

• Senior forward Josh Melnick is 17 points shy of becoming Miami's 52nd player to hit 100 career points.

LAST WEEKEND
Miami returned home for the first of back-to-back series at Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena when it took on UMass Lowell. Despite a 36-22 shot advantage in Friday's series opener, the Red & White could not solve River Hawk goaltender Tyler Wall. UML got on the board late in the first on a power play goal and added another goal in the second and a shorthanded tally in the third to blank MU by a 3-0 score. The RedHawks entered the third period trailing 1-0 in Saturday's finale, but finally broke through offensively in the final 20 minutes. Ben Lown's first goal of the season tied the score at 1-1 just 1:05 into the third and Derek Daschke struck on the power play with 11:12 remaining. Ryan Larkin was strong in goal, stopping 25 of 26 shots to help Miami pick up the split with a 2-1 victory.

COACH BLASI
Enrico Blasi (Miami '94) begins his 20th season behind the RedHawk bench. He is a five-time CCHA Coach of the Year and was named National Coach of the Year in 2005-06. He is the RedHawks' all-time winningest coach with a 391-290-72 record at his alma mater, which he has taken to 10 NCAA Tournaments, including two Frozen Four berths, a National Championship game appearance, a trio of CCHA regular-season titles and two conference tournament titles.

ABOUT COLGATE: The Raiders are off to a 2-1 start, but suffered a 6-1 loss to RIT last weekend after beginning the year with a sweep of New Hampshire. Five different skaters have scored Colgate's five goals to this point. Mitch Benson has started in goal for all three contests thus far and holds a 2.63 goals against average with a .905 save percentage.

LIMITING THE OPPOSITION: A catalyst of Miami's 4-2 start to the season has been its defense as it has allowed just two total goals in its four victories. While the goaltending of Jordan Uhelski and Ryan Larkin have been on point, MU's skaters have helped as well by allowing just 21.83 shots on goal per game (fifth in NCAA) and allowing 26 shots on goal or fewer in five of its six outings.

SCORING BY COMMITTEE: Scoring for Miami has been more of a group effort through three weeks. Ten RedHawk skaters have netted at least one goal so far, led by Karch Bachman's three. MU is still trying to get its offense perked up as it averages just 2.33 goals per game and has netted five goals its last four contests.

NEED MORE POWER: One area Miami would like to clean up is its power play. After a 2-for-8 performance on opening night, MU went 20-straight power plays without a goal until Derek Daschke netted the game-winning goal in the third period against UMass Lowell last Saturday. Miami finished ninth nationally by scoring on 23.2 percent of its power plays last year, but is just 3-for-31 with the man advantage thus far.

OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE: Senior defenseman Grant Hutton provided Miami with a boom on defense thanks to his return. A year ago, Hutton led all NCAA defensemen with 13 goals, a total that was one off Miami's overall team lead. All 23 of Hutton's goals have come since his sophomore season and his career total ranks sixth all-time among Miami blue liners. Hutton has three points on a goal and two assists through four games.

CAUSING HAVOC: One player who has shown a knack for creating scoring chances with the potential to lengthen the Miami attack is junior forward Karch Bachman. Despite only scoring nine goals in his first two seasons, the Florida Panthers' 2015 draft pick has finished third in shots on goal each of his first two campaigns with his 97 shots leading all Miami forwards in 2017-18. Through six games, Bachman has scored three goals, including two game-winners, and leads the team with 24 shots on goal.

CHASING 100: Senior forward Josh Melnick comes into the season looking to build off last year's career-best 29 points (10g, 19a) as he nears a milestone. Melnick is 17 points shy of becoming Miami's 52nd member of the 100-point club with his career totals of 29 goals and 54 assists (83 points).

PLAYING IT TIGHT: The RedHawks were quite accustomed to playing tight contests as 21 of their 37 games last year (including ties) were decided by two goals or fewer. When Miami was able to keep contests manageable and low scoring, it had some success as evidenced by its collective 8-8-5 record in those situations. Games that opened up were more problematic as MU was 4-12 in games decided by three or more goals, but so far Miami is already 3-2 in games decided by at least three goals this year and won its only one-goal game last Saturday.

GOING GREEN: Junior forward Gordie Green enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign and hopes to build on that after leading the RedHawks with 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists a year ago. Green's status as a go-to scorer started midway through his freshman campaign as he adjusted to the college level. In his last 62 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 52 points on 23 goals and 29 assists.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his first two seasons in Oxford. Larkin's started 73 of the RedHawks' 79 games since his 2016-17 freshman campaign. The Clarkston, Mich., native debuted with a strong .910 save percentage as a freshman and made 30 or more saves 12 times that year. In his career, Larkin has 19 games where he has recorded at least 30 stops. He already owns two of Miami's top eight seasons in total saves with 905 as a freshman (third) and 863 in 2017-18 (eighth). He is off to a strong start this year, posting two shutouts and holding a 1.00 goals against average and .956 save percentage through four starts. He also earned NCHC Goaltender of the Week honors following his opening weekend 11-save shutout performance against Alabama Huntsville.

WE'RE STILL HERE: While much was made of Miami graduating defenseman Louie Belpedio and an early departure of Kiefer Sherwood to the prefessional ranks, the RedHawks bring a good amount of last season's production back to the ice this year. Seven of Miami's top nine scorers are on this year's roster, including top scorer Gordie Green and his 33 points. In fact, all four Miami players who netted at least 10 goals are back for another season. That also doesn't account for Ryan Larkin's 36 startsmanning the crease again this year.

NEW FACES: The RedHawks have a lot of fresh blood breaking into the roster entering 2018-19. Ten of Miami's 27 players were not on campus a year ago. That group includes a member of the USA National Team Development Program in Ottawa draft pick Jonathan Gruden, six players who played in the USHL last season, two graduate transfers, one NAHL player and one OJHL player. All 10 of the RedHawks' newcomers have suited up in at least one of Miami's first six games, with six putting up at least one point and four (Brian Hawkinson, River Rymsha, Derek Daschke and Gruden) recording at least two points thus far.

CHANGE OF VENUE: Among the newcomers to Miami this year are a pair of fifth-year transfers in defenseman River Rymsha (Dartmouth) and goaltender Jordan Uhelski (Alabama Huntsville). The duo are believed to be only the second and third postgraduate transfers in Miami hockey's history as they add another layer of experience to the roster. Uhelski was Alabama Huntsville's starting goaltender the past two years, logging 52 starts since 2016-17. Rymsha played a career-high 28 games at Dartmouth last year and logged 69 games of in four years with the Big Green. The two have already acclimated themselves to Miami, with Uhelski holding a 2.04 goals against average in two starts and Rymsha earning NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors after posting three points (1g, 2a) in the opening-weekend sweep of the Chargers.

A LOOK INSIDE THE BROTHERHOOD: A partnership with the NCHC and Miami hockey's equipment provider, STX, has led to the creation of The Season (Miami Hockey). This six-episode documentary series promises to take fans inside the RedHawks' preparation for the 2018-19 season. The first episode aired on Oct. 4 and fans can check out the episodes throughout the season on TheSeason2018.com.