Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Finishes Home Slate Against No. 12 North Dakota
2/21/2018 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Series Notes (PDF)
NCHC.tv: Friday | Saturday
Gametracker: |
Live Audio: Friday | Saturday
Games 31-32
Friday, Feb. 23 - 7:35 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24 - 7:05 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) - Oxford, Ohio
Miami RedHawks (10-17-3, 5-13-2-0 NCHC) vs. No. 12/12 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (14-10-8, 8-8-4-2 NCHC)
TV/Stream: NCHC/tv; Fox College Sports/Spectrum (Saturday)
Nick Brunker (pbp); Joe Gieringer (analyst)
Radio: Miami IMG Network/Tune In Radio (Greg Waddell-pbp, Drew Davis-analyst)
MATCHUP
Miami finishes up its home schedule with a series against North Dakota this weekend.
THE SERIES: North Dakota went 1-0-1 in the team's previous series in Grand Forks back in November and holds a 13-5-2 lead in the all-time series.
PUCK POINTS
- Miami is 9-5-2 when scoring three or more goals this season, but 1-12-1 when netting two goals or fewer.
- The RedHawks are 8-7 on Friday nights this season, but have won just twice (2-10-3) on Saturdays with their last Saturday victory coming on Nov. 18.
- Miami's power play is 0-for-14 the past four games, marking only the second time this season it has gone four-straight games without a power play goal this season.
- With 26 points (9g, 17a) in 30 games, Louie Belpedio is tied for eighth nationally among defensemen with 0.87 points per game. His nine goals are also one shy of teammate Grant Hutton's national defense lead.
- Junior blue liner Grant Hutton leads all defensemen in the country with 10 goals and is the first Miami defenseman to score double digit goals in a season since Dan Boyle (14 in 1997-98).
- Ryan Larkin has started 62 of the RedHawks' 66 games in net since the start of last season.
- Gordie Green has notched 44 points (19g, 25a) in his last 49 games dating back to last season.
LAST TIME OUT
Miami made a trip to Minnesota Duluth over the weekend, but could not get back on the winning side of things. The Bulldogs scored twice in a two-minute span midway through the first period and held the RedHawks to just 16 shots on goal to prevail 4-0 in Friday's series opener. Saturday saw Miami come out with more energy, but still trailing 1-0 after the first period. Despite a near 25-minute span that saw MU outshoot UMD 20-2, it was unable to find the back of the net as the Bulldogs eventually added an insurance goal and posted another shutout, this one by a 3-0 score as the RedHawks got blanked for the third-straight time and dropped their fifth-consecutive contest.
COACH BLASI
Enrico Blasi (Miami '94) is in his 19th 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 stands 385-285-70 at his alma mater, where he has led Miami 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 (2011 CCHA & 2015 NCHC). Blasi is the the winningest coach in school history.
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Hawks (14-10-8, 8-8-4-2 NCHC) are coming off a weekend split on the road at Omaha, prevailing 3-0 on Saturday after a 6-3 setback on Friday. UND has struggled a bit in the 2018 calendar year, going 4-5-3 and 4-6-4 since Dec. 8. Junior defenseman Christian Wolanin leads North Dakota with 26 points (9g, 17a) while Shane Gersich (11-13-24), Nick Jones (9-12-21) and Colton Poolman (7-13-20) have all notched at least 20 points this year. Both Cam Johnson (2.08 GAA/.909 SV%) and Peter Thome (2.31 GAA/.910 SV%) have seen action in goal, with Johnson getting a bit more with 21 starts in the crease. Johnson himself is coming off a 26 save shutout against Omaha on Saturday.
COMPARING THE GOOD AND BAD: A 4-3 win over defending national champion Denver on Jan. 5 had spirits high for Miami as it moved to 9-8-2 and cracked the top 15 of the PairWise, but it has struggled to get that momentum back since.
| 1st 19 Games | Last 11 Games | |
| Record | 9-8-2 | 1-9-1 |
| G/Gm | 3.00 | 2.36 |
| GA/Gm | 2.79 | 4.55 |
| PP% | 26.8% | 20.4% |
| PK% | 83.7% | 73.3% |
| Shot Diff./Gm | +0.89 | -0.36 |
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (the bad kind): One of Miami's struggles this season has been an inability to finish its weekend series on a high note. While the RedHawks are a respectable 8-7 in Friday night series openers, the next night has been a different story as they are 2-10-3 on Saturdays this year. Miami's last Saturday victory came on Nov. 18, when it posted a 3-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth. Since then, MU is 5-4 on Friday and 0-7-2 on Saturday.
RARE MISFIRES: Three weeks ago, Miami boasted the nation's top power play unit and entered its Feb. 9-10 series against St. Cloud State having netted at least one goal with the man advantage in six-straight games. The past four games have seen MU go 0-for-14 on the power play and this streak is the first time it went consecutive games without scoring a power play goal since going four-straight without a power play tally from Nov. 3-11.
TOUGH SLEDDING FROM HERE: Playing in the NCHC, high caliber competition is expected every weekend and the RedHawks' final four games are no exception. Looking at the PairWise entering this week, Miami's last two series come against teams above the NCAA Tournament cut line in North Dakota (No. 13) and Denver (No. 5). To this point, 20 of Miami's 30 games have come against teams that are listed 15th or higher in the PairWise and MU has gone 5-14-1 against those teams. In fact, the RedHawks' only games against teams sitting lower than 25th in the PairWise was their Oct. 27-28 home series against UConn (No. 28).
HARD SINCE THE HOLIDAYS: While Miami sat in the middle of the pack in terms of goals allowed the first half of the season, the trends have not been where it would like since December. Through the first two months, MU was the toughest team to generate shots against in the country, but it has struggled to control the puck consistently since.
| Oct.-Nov. | Dec.-Present | |
| Record | 6-6-2 | 4-11-1 |
| SOG/Game | 29.21 (35th) | 25.06 (55th) |
| SOG Allowed/Game | 23.57 (1st) | 29.19 (26th) |
| Net SOG/Game | +5.64 (9th) | -4.12 (44th) |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.79 (t-26th) | 4.00 (57th) |
BLUE LINE WITH A PUNCH: Miami has relied on its blue line to contribute offensively this season and they have come through to this point. The RedHawks' defensemen have chipped in 21 goals this season, a total that's tied for eighth most nationally. The RedHawks' have also gotten 69 points and 2.30 points per game (20th nationally) from the blue line.
CAPTAIN'S CONTRIBUTIONS: Senior defenseman Louie Belpedio has been contributing at the offensive end of the ice on a consistent basis this season. After going scoreless in the opening series against Providence, the Skokie, Ill., native has recorded at least one point in 16 of 28 games and is second on the team with a career-high 26 points (9g, 17a). His 0.87 points per game is tied for eighth best among all NCAA blue liners and his nine goals are one shy of Grant Hutton for the most in the country among defensemen.
HUTTON FOR GOALS: Grant Hutton has turned his breakout sophomore campaign into even bigger gains as a junior. After finishing with just five assists in his 2015-16 freshman season, he poured in a defense-leading nine goals and 18 points last season and leads the MU blue line 10 goals and is second with 20 points this season. Hutton has six multi-point games, eclipsing his 2016-17 total and his 10 goals are the most among NCAA defensemen. The junior is the first Miami blue liner since Dan Boyle (14 in 1997-98) to score at least 10 goals in a season.
GOING GREEN: Sophomore forward Gordie Green has kept his midseason improvement from last year going into this season. The Ann Arbor, Mich., native leads Miami with 28 points (12g, 16a), which surpasses his freshman total of 21 last year. The sophomore posted a five-game point streak that ran from Oct. 20 through Nov. 3, during which he recorded four multi-point games. In his last 49 games dating back to last season, Green has 44 points on 19 goals and 25 assists.
STARTS AT YOUR OWN END: Miami has been at its best when its played a stellar defensive game. When the RedHawks made eight-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2006-13, their worst rank in scoring defense was 17th as they finished in the top 10 in defense seven times with six top-five performances, including two seasons as the nation's top defensive team. While joining the highly competitive NCHC has put the RedHawks up against more high-octane offenses, the fact remains that they have been at their best when keeping the puck out of their net consistently.
Season: Scoring Defense Rank (Figure; Record)
2005-06: 2nd (2.03; 26-9-4)
2006-07: 17th (2.55; 24-14-4)
2007-08: 1st (1.86; 33-8-1)
2008-09: 8th (2.17; 23-13-5)
2009-10: 1st (1.95; 29-8-7)
2010-11: 4th (2.18; 23-10-6)
2011-12: 3rd (2.10; 24-15-2)
2012-13: 2nd (1.74; 25-12-5)
2013-14: 41st (3.03; 15-20-3)
2014-15: 31st (2.50; 25-14-1)
2015-16: 29th (2.69; 15-18-3)
2016-17: t-41st (3.14; 9-20-7)
2017-18: 53rd (3.43; 10-17-3)
