Games 4-5
Friday, Oct. 18 • 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 19 • 8:00 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks (0-2-1) vs. Ferris State Bulldogs (1-0)
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: 1490 AM-WKBV (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Miami wraps up its season-opening five-game home stand by facing former CCHA foe Ferris State on Family Weekend. The team will be wearing special jerseys for Cancer Awareness Week that will also be available for auction during the series.
THE SERIES: The RedHawks lead the all-time series 45-43-16 and this will be the program's first meeting since the 2012-13 season when both were in the CCHA. FSU is making its first trip to Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena since the 2009-10 campaign.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's line of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 12 of the team's 29 points through three games. Green himself leads the team with five points (3g, 2a).

• Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 100 of Miami's 114 games since his freshman season in 2016-17. He is 241 saves away from moving into second on the school's career list and needs 360 to become the all-time record holder in that category.

• Senior forward Gordie Green has begun the season with five points in three games and he is now 16 points away from becoming the 53rd player in program history to post 100 career points.

• The RedHawks' freshman class is coming off a six-point performance (3g, 3a) in last Saturday's tie with New Hampshire. Both Jack Clement (2a) and John Sladic (2g) recorded their first career multi-point nights in the effort.

• While not yet finding the scoresheet itself, Miami's defense has contributed 10 of the team's 19 assists this season, led by Jack Clement's three.

• MU has fallen behind by three or more goals at some point in each of its first three games.

• The RedHawks have allowed at least two power play goals in all three contests.

LAST WEEKEND
Miami's weekend opened up on a rough note in its series against New Hampshire as it fell behind 3-0 in the first period and never recovered in an eventual 6-2 loss. Phil Knies and Gordie Green both scored for the Red & White, but they never got closer than two goals after falling into the big hole. MU once again fell behind 3-0 on Saturday, but the freshman class helped stage a comeback as Chase Pletzke started things and John Sladic netted the final two of four-straight Miami goals that put it up 4-3 in the third period before the game ultimately ended in a 4-4 tie. Derek Daschke and Jack Clement each chipped in two assists in the tie.

COACH BERGERON
Chris Bergeron (Miami '93) returns to his alma mater for his first season as head coach. Before returning to Oxford, Bergeron went 171-154-44 in nine seasons as Bowling Green's head coach, leading the Falcons to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990 in his final season in 2018-19. BGSU posted 20 or more victories in Bergeron's final five seasons at the helm. Prior to going to Bowling Green, Bergeron spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Miami and helped the Red & White go an astounding 226-139-37 during his tenure. The RedHawks qualified for six NCAA Tournaments and reached the Frozen Four in Bergeron's last two seasons as an assistant, including a national runner-up finish in 2009. As a player, Bergeron spent two years as team captain and helped Miami capture its first CCHA title in 1992-93, posting 61 of his 120 career points that season.

ABOUT FERRIS STATE: The Bulldogs played just once last week, topping Colgate 3-1 at home last Thursday. Goaltender Roni Salmenkangas was sharp with 28 stops in the win while three FSU skaters scored goals with Joe Rutkowski posting a goal and an assist. FSU went 10-23-3 during the 2018-19 season and posted a 7-18-3 WCHA record to miss the conference tournament. In the win over Colgate, Ferris State killed off six penalties and struck on one of its two man advantages. Junior Coale Norris is the Bulldogs' top returning scorer and he notched 20 points (7g, 13a) a year ago.

GROWING UP FAST: Last Saturday's tilt at New Hampshire saw all six of Miami's freshmen in the lineup as Ben Kraws made his first career-start in net to join the five first-year skaters. The newcomers were a key part of the RedHawks' comeback as freshmen scored three of their four goals and combined for six points while Kraws made 21 saves to secure a tie. Four of Miami's five freshmen notched at least a point with both John Sladic (2g) and Jack Clement (2a) posting their first career multi-point games.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's top line has been carrying the mail for the RedHawks through the first three games. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (3g, 2a), Karch Bachman (2g, 2a) and Casey Gilling (1g, 2a) have totaled 12 of MU's 29 points. All three of them notched a multi-point game on opening night against Bowling Green, paced by Green's four.

QUITE A DEBUT: Sophomore defenseman Derek Daschke enjoyed quite the debut season on the RedHawks' blue line. His 22 points (6g, 16a) led all Miami defensemen while ranking third on the team overall. Daschke was the first MU freshman blue liner to record at least 20 points in a season since 2012-13 season and his point total was the highest for a Miami freshman defenseman since Chris Wideman had 26 in 2008-09. As a sophomore, Daschke has two assists and a +1 rating in three games.

MAKING SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL: One spot Miami is still looking to shore up is its special teams units, particularly the penalty kill. After ranking 58th out of 60 teams in penalty kill success (74.3 percent) a year ago, MU has killed just 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) penalties and allowed at least two power play goals in all three games. The Red & White have also not gotten their power play going on the whole despite scoring in two of three games, as they have hit on just 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) man advantages. Head coach Chris Bergeron hopes to make that a strength like he did at Bowling Green as the Falcons were second nationally with an 88.5 percent penalty killing percentage in 2018-19.

GOING GREEN: Senior forward Gordie Green is once again back in the mix to help anchor Miami's attack. The RedHawks' leading goal scorer the past two seasons opened the year with a bang, scoring twice and notching four points. The four-point outing was the sixth time in Green's career that he has posted three or more points in a game. In his last 97 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 79 points on 36 goals and 43 assists. He needs 16 points to become the 53rd member of Miami's 100-point club.

NICE DEBUT, WHAT'S NEXT: While Jonathan Gruden signed a pro contract following his lone season in Oxford, seven of Miami's eight freshmen from a year ago look to take strides as sophomores after a strong debut. As freshmen a year ago, this group combined for 75 points on 18 goals and 57 assists, a total that was 16th nationally. Derek Daschke's 22 points paced the group, but sophomores Brian Hawkinson (3-13-16) and Scott Corbett (5-5-10) also notched double digit points in their debut seasons. Through three games, Miami's sophomore class has eight points on a goal and seven assists.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 100 of the RedHawks' 114 games since his 2016-17 freshman campaign. The Clarkston, Mich., native debuted with a strong .910 save percentage as a freshman and despite seeing a lot of pucks come his way a year ago, recorded a respectable .907 save percentage in 2018-19. In his career, Larkin has 34 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). His 2,615 career saves rank third in school history. He needs 360 saves this season to catch David Burleigh's school record of 2,975 saves.

SHAKING SOPHOMORE SLUMPS: If Miami is to put more pucks in the net this year, two players who could go a long way towards helping that are junior forwards Casey Gilling and Phil Knies. As freshmen, the duo helped lengthen MU's attack by combining for 37 points on 20 goals and 17 assists. Gilling contributed nine goals and 19 points while Knies chipped in 11 goals and 18 points in 2017-18. However, both had tougher sledding in their second go round through college as Gilling's production dropped to 12 points (4g, 8a) while Knies dipped to nine (6g, 3a). Gilling was part of a productive line on opening night as he had two assists.

CAUSING HAVOC: Entering his senior season, Karch Bachman has never lacked for generating scoring opportunities in his career. The Florida Panthers' draft choice netted a career-best 10 goals in 2018-19 and his ability to create shots makes further strides in the goal column possible. Bachman led the RedHawks with 120 shots on goal last season after putting 97 shots on net in 2017-18 and he finished third on the team in shots on goal as a freshmen with 72 in 2016-17. In three games, Bachman leads the Red & White with 12 shots and he has four points on two goals and two assists.

SHOTS GETTING FIRED: One spot that Miami hopes to improve on is its shot prevention. Last season, MU allowed 32.21 shots per game, a total that ranked 47th nationally. As the season wore on, the trend got worse with the RedHawks allowing at least 30 shots on goal in 25 of their last 29 games and ranking 56th nationally in shots on goal allowed per game (34.97) in that span. While the RedHawks allowed 76 combined shots in their first two games, they did follow that by holding New Hampshire to 25 in last Saturday's series finale.

COMING THIS WINTER: While it will take awhile to pay dividends, Miami is looking towards sophomore forward Matt Barry for some additional offense this season. As a mid-year transfer during the 2018-19 season, Barry has to wait until the first semester ends to be eligible to play. Barry spent the first half of 2018-19 with Holy Cross and tied for the team lead with 11 points at the time of his departure. In his final USHL season in 2017-18, Barry notched 54 points in 57 games to help Youngstown reach the Clark Cup finals and he put up 59 points in 59 NAHL games with Bismarck the year before that.