Games 16-17
Friday, Dec. 6 • 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7 • 7:05 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks (4-8-3, 2-3-1-1 NCHC) vs. St. Cloud State Huskies (2-6-4, 0-4-0-0 NCHC)
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: 100.9 FM-WKBV/1450 AM-WMOH (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Miami finishes up the first half of its schedule with a home league series against St. Cloud State. This weekend is the Give Back Series at Goggin Ice Center and Friday's series opener will feature a Teddy Bear Toss during the first intermission. Fans are encouraged to donate toys to Toys for Tots, which will be available for both games. This is also the Pucks and Paws Series.
THE SERIES: The Huskies went 4-0-2 against the RedHawks last season and lead the all-time series 20-17-4.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 42 points through 15 games. Green himself leads the team with 17 points (7g, 10a) while Bachman (6g, 7a) has 13 and Gilling (3g, 9a) 12.

• Ryan Larkin has started 108 of a possible 126 games in net since his freshman season. His 2,842 career saves rank third in school history. He needs 15 saves to pass Mark Michaud for second all time and is 134 saves away from claiming the all-time school record.

• Miami's defensemen have combined for 36 points (10g, 26a), a total that is tied for eighth most in the country.

• Gordie Green is four points away from becoming the 53rd Miami player to record 100 career points.

• Miami's power play is 8-for-23 (34.8 percent) in the past seven games. Prior to that, MU had scored on the power play in three of eight games, going 3-for-31 (9.7 percent) on the man advantage.

• The RedHawks have been outshot in nine-straight games and have only outshot their opponents three times this season.

LAST WEEKEND
Following a pair of solid NCHC weekends, Miami stumbled out of conference in dropping two road tilts at UConn. The RedHawks answered an early 5-on-3 goal by the Huskies to build a 3-1 lead in Friday's opener, but were outscored 5-1 and outshot 32-13 in the final 40 minutes to fall by a 6-4 score. Gordie Green, Derek Daschke, Chase Pletzke and Casey Gilling all recorded multi-point efforts in the setback. In the finale, John Sladic's first of two goals staked the Red & White to a 1-0 lead in the first. After entering the third trailing 2-1, Monte Graham evened things up at the 3:10 mark. However, the Huskies regained the lead less than a minute later as it scored two goals in under two minutes to go up 4-2. While Sladic's second goal closed the gap with 6:45 left, MU was unable to muster a tying goal to suffer its second sweep of the year.

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 ST. CLOUD STATE: The Huskies have lost their first four NCHC tilts. Their six losses on the year matches their 2018-19 total when they were the top overall seed entering the NCAA Tournament. Sam Hentges leads SCSU with 18 points (6g, 12a) while Easton Brodzinski (12 points) and Jack Ahcan (10 points) have also hit double digit points. David Hrenak has started every game in goal and holds a 3.14 goals against average and an .881 save percentage. 

OFFENSIVE BLUE LINE: Miami's defense core has provided help on the scoresheet all season long. All nine of the team's blue liners on the roster have at least one point this year and collectively the unit has posted 36 points on 10 goals and 26 assists. That point total is tied for the eighth most in the nation.

GETTING THE PUCK: An area that is still a work in progress for Miami is its puck management. The RedHawks have been outshot in each of their last nine contests and have only outshot their opponents three times all season. In the last nine games, MU has been outshot 300-203, an average of 33.3 shots against against just 22.4 shots for.

GROWING UP FAST: Miami's freshman class has been developing at a quick rate. All five of the team's freshman skaters have seen the ice for at least eight games with one playing in all 15 contests. That group broke out in a tie with New Hampshire on Oct. 12, combining for six points on three goals and three assists. In a Nov. 23 win at Omaha, the newcomers combined for five points on two goals and three assists while freshman Ben Kraws stopped 32 of 33 saves in a 4-1 victory. Overall this season, MU's freshmen have totaled 31 points (t-11th nationally) on 13 goals and 18 assists as all five have recorded at least two points thus far.  Ryan Savage and John Sladic are tied for the freshman scoring lead with eight points apiece.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's experienced trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling have been carrying the mail for the RedHawks through the first 15 games. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (7g, 10a), Karch Bachman (6g, 7a) and Casey Gilling (3g,98a) have totaled 42 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 nine of the team's 22 multi-point games this year.

SAVAGE SCORING: The start of conference play has been bringing out the best of freshman forward Ryan Savage. The son of former Miami standout and 11-year NHL veteran Brian Savage, Ryan earned NCHC Rookie of the Month honors in November. The center recorded seven points that month on two goals and five assists, posting multi-point games at North Dakota on Nov. 9 and at Omaha on Nov. 23. His seven points in November were the most among all NCHC players.

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 38 goals in the past 13 games and 14 different players have found the net in that span. Overall, 15 players have scored goals for the Red & White, led by Gordie Green's seven.

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. Daschke has four goals and eight assists in his past 13 outings and his 12 points (t-13th among NCAA defensemen) this year leads the Miami defense.

POWERING THROUGH: After a slow start to the season, Miami's power play has perked up of late. The RedHawks put together a streak of six-straight games with at least one power play goal from Nov. 9-29 which was ended with last Saturday's 0-for-1 mark. Even so, over the past seven games, MU has scored on 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) power plays to bump its season percentage to 20.4.

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 109 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 91 points on 40 goals and 51 assists. He is also coming off a career-best six-game point streak (Nov. 9-29) and needs four points to become the 53rd member of Miami's 100-point club.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 108 of the RedHawks' 126 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 37 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 2,842 career saves rank third in school history, 15 shy of passing Marc Michaud for second. He needs 134 more 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. 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 12 points (3g, 9a) in 15 games while Knies has six (2g, 4a).

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. This year, Bachman leads the Red & White with 67 shots and he has 13 points on six goals and seven assists.

COMING THIS WINTER: While it will take time to pay off, 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.