Games 6-7
Friday, Oct. 25 • 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 26 • 4:00 p.m.
Class of 1965 Arena (2,222) • Hamilton, N.Y.

Miami RedHawks (1-3-1) at Colgate Raiders (1-3-1)
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Radio: 1490 AM-WKBV (Greg Waddell-pbp)

MATCHUP
Miami heads to Colgate for its first road contests of the season this weekend.
THE SERIES: The RedHawks have won the last four meetings with the Raiders, including sweeping a series in Oxford last October to improve to 6-2 all-time against Colgate.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's line of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 15 points through four games. Green himself leads the team with six points (4g, 2a) while Bachman (3g, 2a) has five.

• Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 102 of Miami's 116 games since his freshman season in 2016-17. He is 188 saves away from moving into second on the school's career list and needs 307 to become the all-time record holder in that category.

• Senior forward Gordie Green has begun the season with six points in five games and he's 15 points away from becoming the 53rd player in program history to post 100 career points.

• After going scoreless the first two games, Derek Daschke leads the team with five assists and his five points leads MU defensemen.

• Eight different players have scored MU's nine goals over the past three games.

• All six of Miami's freshman skaters have recorded at least one point through the season's first five games and as a unit they have combined for nine points on four goals and five assists.

• While not yet finding the scoresheet itself, Miami's defense has contributed 13 of the team's 27 assists this season, led by Derek Daschke's five.

LAST WEEKEND
Miami closed out its season-opening five-game home stand with a split against Ferris State. Friday night saw the Red & White pot three first-period goals to jump ahead 3-0 as Ben Lown, Noah Jordan and Karch Bachman got in on the action. FSU clawed within 3-2 late in the frame before Gordie Green converted on a power play. MU's penalty kill was a perfect 6-for-6 as it held off a late charge to prevail 4-3. The RedHawks were unable to secure the sweep Saturday despite a season-high 34 shots, including 15 in the first period, as the Bulldogs jumped on top 2-1 late in the second period and added an insurance tally on the power play in the third to win 3-1.

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 COLGATE: The Raiders are off to an identical 1-3-1 start to Miami, though they beat and tied then-No. 18 UMass Lowell last weekend. Colgate has consistently outshot its foes, holding a 156-134 edge in that category, but has only found the net six times with nobody scoring more than once individually. Mitch Benson has played every second in net for the Raiders and has been strong thus far to the tune of a 2.18 goals against average with a .917 save percentage.  

GROWING UP FAST: Miami's freshman class has been getting seasoned in the early going. All five of the team's freshman skaters have seen the ice for at least three games with four of them playing in all five contests. That group broke out in a tie with New Hampshire on Oct. 12, combining for six points on three goals and three assists. Overall this season, MU's freshmen have totaled nine points on four goals and five assists as all five have recorded at least one point thus far. Jack Clement (3a) and John Sladic (2g, 1a) lead the newcomers with three points apiece.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's top line has been carrying the mail for the RedHawks through the first five games. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (4g, 2a), Karch Bachman (3g, 2a) and Casey Gilling (1g, 3a) have totaled 15 points. All three of them notched a multi-point game on opening night against Bowling Green, paced by Green's four.

BALANCING IT OUT: Head coach Chris Bergeron mentioned needing to do some scoring by committee this season and that has been bearing out of late. The RedHawks have netted nine goals in the past three games and eight different players have found the net in that span.

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 a team-high five assists and a +4 rating in five games.

MAKING SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL: One spot Miami is still looking to shore up is its special teams units, particularly the penalty kill. MU showed some signs of improvement on that front last weekend, going 7-of-8 on the penalty kill which included a perfect 6-for-6 performance in last Friday's 4-3 win. That effort moved the RedHawks' penalty kill overall total to 18-of-24 (69.2 percent), which is still an improvement from its 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) figure from the first three games of the season. The Red & White have also not gotten their power play going on the whole despite scoring in three of five games, as they have hit on just 3-of-22 (13.6 percent) man advantages.

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 on opening night against Bowling Green. 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 99 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 80 points on 37 goals and 43 assists. He needs 15 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 five games, Miami's sophomore class has 12 points on two goals and 10 assists.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 102 of the RedHawks' 116 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 307 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). So far this season Gilling has four points (1g, 3a) in five games while Knies has two (1g, 1a).

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 five games this year, Bachman leads the Red & White with 25 shots and he has five points on three 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 have allowed fewer than 30 shots in two of their last three contests.

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.