OXFORD, Ohio – Goals by
Ryan Siroky and
Christian Mohs 18 seconds apart snapped a scoreless game midway through the third period as the No. 16 Miami hockey team topped Guelph in exhibition play on Sunday.
MU's result comes after a 29-day break from competition with its previous competition being its second-straight tie against No. 1 St. Cloud State on Dec. 1.
The first period saw the RedHawks outshoot the Gryphons 9-4.
Scott Corbett's first bid early on came from point blank range while
Zach LaValle and
Brian Hawkinson also got good looks from the middle. Andrew Masters was up to the task in net, however, and stopped each attempt as the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.
Miami generated more quality chances and had a couple of power plays in the second period, but Masters was equal to the task each time out.
Gordie Green got a breakaway early in the frame that Masters stuck with and he made other point blank stops on
Carter Johnson,
Karch Bachman and
Phil Knies as the game remained scoreless through two periods of play.
Guelph continued to keep it scoreless past the midway point of the third period before Miami's power play finally connected. Bachman wired a shot through traffic from the left point that Masters got a pad on, but Siroky corralled the rebound and slid it in underneath the Gryphons' goaltender with 9:38 to go.
Alec Mahalak also drew an assist on the play.
Mohs made it 2-0 just 18 seconds later as a neutral zone turnover ended with
Ben Lown feeding him with a cross ice pass and he went forehand to backhand for the tally
After killing off another Miami power play, Guelph cut the deficit in half when Mark Raycroft wired a shot home from the high slot with 3:21 left. The Gryphons got an opportunity on a power play in the final minute. MU's penalty kill forced a turnover in the middle and
Derek Daschke appeared to have a tap in empty net goal, but was hauled down before he could catch up to the puck so the officials awarded the goal to seal the result for the Red & White.
Miami outshot Guelph by a 33-18 margin and went 1-for-5 on the power play while killing off both Gryphon man advantages.
Ryan Larkin stopped all nine shots he faced while
Jordan Uhelski made nine saves on 10 shots in the final 27:39 of action. Masters made 30 saves on 32 shots at the other end to keep the game close.
The RedHawks return to the ice on Friday when they open up a weekend series at Providence. Opening faceoff is at 7 p.m.
