RedHawks Host USANTDP in Friday Exhibition

Friday, November 1

Oxford, Ohio

7:05 p.m. ET

Miami University

USANTDP (Exhibition)

Tickets

Photo by: Ricardo Trevino

RedHawks Host USANTDP in Friday Exhibition

10/30/2019 9:48:00 AM | Hockey

Game Notes NCHC.tv Live Stats Buy Tickets

Miami brings the USANTDP to Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

Exhibition
Friday, Nov. 1 • 7:05 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks vs. US National Team Development Program
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Miami takes on the USA National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team in exhibition play on Friday.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's line of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 23 points through seven games. Green himself leads the team with nine points (4g, 5a) while Bachman (4g, 3a) and Gilling (1g, 6a) have seven apiece.

• Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 103 of Miami's 118 games since his freshman season in 2016-17. He is 159 saves away from moving into second on the school's career list and needs 278 to become the all-time record holder in that category.

• Senior forward Gordie Green has begun the season with nine points in seven games and he's 12 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 defense core with six points on a goal and five assists.

• Eleven different players have scored MU's 14 goals over the past five games.

• Miami has killed off 14 of 15 penalties over the past four games (93.3 percent) after allowing seven goals in 18 power plays (61.1 percent) in the first three contests.

• The RedHawks got their first three goals of the season from defensemen last weekend and that unit has chipped in 16 points (t-fourth nationally) on three goals and 13 assists thus far.

LAST WEEKEND
Miami finished up the month of October by posting a series win in its first road series of the year at Colgate. The RedHawks dug themselves out of a 3-1 hole in the third period in Friday's opener thanks to a three-assist night from Gordie Green. Jack Clement, Karch Bachman and Derek Daschke all found the net in an eventual 3-3 tie. The Red & White struck twice in the first period of Saturday's finale and Ryan Larkin backstopped the team with 29 saves to help them to a 2-0 victory over the Raiders. Clement scored for the second-straight game and Monte Graham also netted his first goal of the season in the win.

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 USANTDP: The U-18 squad has won all five of its contests against USHL foes, outscoring them 29-12 in those contests. Friday will be its ninth tilt against an NCAA program at this point and the USANTDP has a 2-6 record in those contests with wins over Holy Cross and Canisius. Three of those losses (Northern Michigan, Providence and Michigan State), however, have been by just one goal. The offense is paced by Thomas Bordeleau's 13 points (8g, 5a) while Luke Tuch also is in double digits with 11 (6g, 5a). The goaltending duties have been split by Drew Commesso (3.00 GAA, .908 SV%) and Noah Grannan (2.71 GAA, .887 SV%).

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 four games with three of them playing in all seven 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 11 points on six goals and five assists as all five have recorded at least one point thus far. Jack Clement (2g, 3a) leads all newcomers with five points.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's top line has been carrying the mail for the RedHawks through the first seven games. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (4g, 5a), Karch Bachman (4g, 3a) and Casey Gilling (1g, 6a) have totaled 23 points. All three of them notched a multi-point game on opening night against Bowling Green, paced by Green's four, and the trio has five of the team's 10 multi-point games this season.

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 14 goals in the past five games and 11 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. After going scoreless in the first two games, Daschke has a goal and five assists in his past five outings and his +7 rating is tied for the team lead.

MAKING SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL: One spot Miami is still looking to shore up is its special teams units, particularly the penalty kill. MU is showing some signs of life on the penalty kill as it has killed off 14-of-15 (93.3 percent) power plays over its last four games after allowing seven power play goals in 18 chances (61.1 percent kill rate) in the first three games of the season. The Red & White are also looking to get the power play going, as they have hit on just 3-of-28 (10.3 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. Green also added a three-assist game on Oct. 25 at Colgate, his seventh career game of three or more points. In his last 101 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 83 points on 37 goals and 46 assists. He needs 12 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 seven games, Miami's sophomore class has 14 points on four 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 103 of the RedHawks' 118 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 278 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 seven points (1g, 6a) in seven games while Knies has three (1g, 2a).

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 seven games this year, Bachman leads the Red & White with 29 shots and he has seven points on four goals and three assists, posting at least one point in six of seven games.

SHOTS 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 four of their last five contests, allowing 26.6 shots per game in that stretch.

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.