NCHC Playoffs (Best-of-3)
Friday, March 15 • 8:07 p.m.
Saturday, March 16 • 7:07 p.m.
Sunday, March 17 • 7:07 p.m.
Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,159) • St. Cloud, Minn.

Miami RedHawks (11-21-4, 5-17-2-1 NCHC) vs. No. 1/1 St. Cloud State Huskies (27-4-3, 19-2-3-2 NCHC)
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: 1490 AM-WKBV/Tune In Radio (Greg Waddell-pbp)

MATCHUP
Miami's postseason slate begins at top-ranked St. Cloud State for the second-straight season this weekend.
THE SERIES: St. Cloud State went 2-0-2 against Miami in the regular season and leads the all-time series 18-17-4.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's freshman class has combined for 71 points (17g, 54a), 13th most in the country.

• Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 96 of Miami's 109 games since his freshman season in 2016-17.

• Senior forward Josh Melnick is tied for 45th in program history with 107 career points. He is one away from Craig Fisher for 44th and two behind Brian Savage for 43rd.

• Freshman defenseman Derek Daschke (21 points in 34 games) is MU's first defenseman with 20 points in a season since Matthew Caito had 21 in 2012-13.

• All 29 of senior blue liner Grant Hutton's career goals have come since his sophomore year and his goal total is the third most all-time among Miami defensemen.

• Miami has allowed 30 or more shots on goal in 23 of its last 27 games, something that only happened twice in its first nine games.

• The RedHawks have been outscored 11-3 in the third period in their last five games (all losses).

• Miami has been tied or within a goal at some point in the third period in 16 of its last 22 games.

LAST TIME OUT
Miami's senior weekend did not go according to plan as it suffered a pair of losses to rival Western Michigan to close the regular season. The RedHawks trailed 2-1 after two periods despite a 20-14 shot advantage on Friday, but the Broncos erupted for three goals while outshooting the Red & White 10-3 in the final 20 minutes to secure a 5-1 win in the series opener. Saturday saw Western Michigan net the first five goals of the game with Wade Allison eventually posting a hat trick as the Broncos picked up the series sweep with a 6-1 win at Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena. Phil Knies tallied Miami's lone goal on Friday and assisted on Ben Lown's score on Saturday.

COACH BLASI
Enrico Blasi (Miami '94) is in his 20th 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 is the RedHawks' all-time winningest coach with a 398-309-76 record at his alma mater, which he has taken 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.

ABOUT ST. CLOUD STATE: As the top-ranked team in the country, St. Cloud State won the NCHC regular season title by 19 points with a 27-4-3 record (19-2-3-2 NCHC). SCSU ranks in the top-10 nationally in scoring (2nd; 4.03 goals/game), defense (10th; 2.15 goals against/game), power play (8th; 24.8%) and penalty kill (6th; 86.5%). Six St. Cloud State skaters registered at least 30 points this season with three more clearing 20 points. Patrick Newell's 19 goals and 40 points pace the team while Robby Jackson (15 goals), Blake Lizotte (13 goals), Easton Brodzinski (12 goals), and Kevin Fitzgerald (10 goals) have each scored double digits. Blue liners Jimmy Schuldt (9-22-31), Jack Ahcan (4-26-30) and Nick Perbix (5-15-20) all chipped in at least 20 points. David Hrenak got the bulk of the minutes in net and finished the year with a 2.18 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

QUITE A DEBUT: Freshman defenseman Derek Daschke has been enjoying quite the debut season for the Red & White. His 21 points (6g, 15a) lead all Miami blue liners while ranking third on the team overall. Daschke is the first MU freshman defenseman to record at least 20 points in a season since Matthew Caito notched 21 in 42 games during the 2012-13 season.

STRUGGLE KILLING TIME: One aspect that has been hit hard for Miami during its second-half slump has been the penalty kill. Through 13 games, the RedHawks ranked 15th nationally with an 84.6 percent kill rate, but they have allowed at least one power play goal in 19 of 23 games since then, killing off just 67.2 percent of opponent's power plays which is the worst in the country in that span.

GOING GREEN: Junior forward Gordie Green enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign and hopes to build on that after leading the RedHawks with 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists a year ago. Green's status as a go-to scorer started midway through his freshman campaign as he adjusted to the college level. In his last 92 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 74 points on 33 goals and 41 assists and his 25 points (11g, 14a) this year are second on the team.

WELCOME RETURN: Senior forward Josh Melnick returned to the lineup on Feb. 1 after missing six games due to injury. He made his presence felt immediately by assisting on MU's lone tally at St. Cloud State on Feb. 1 to extend his career-best point streak to eight games at the time. His return was a sorely needed boost to the lineup given how MU performed without him.

	With Melnick	Without Melnick
Record	11-15-4	0-6
G/Gm	2.5	1.3
GA/Gm	2.9	3.8
SOG/Gm	27.2	24.2
SOGA/Gm	31.2	34.2
PP%	17.9% (21/108)	5.3% (1/19)

STRUGGLES AGAINST THE TOP: As usual, the meat of the NCHC schedule has done no favors to Miami as it has played 16 of its last 20 games against teams in the top 14 of the Pair Wise and it enters a best-of-three playoff series at No. 1 St. Cloud State. The Red & White are 1-13-3 against teams in the PairWise top 15 this year (3-15-3 vs. the top 20).

SHOTS GETTING FIRED: More rubber has been getting to the Miami net since the first month of the calendar switched to November. MU has been outshot in 24 of its last 27 games, giving up at least 30 shots on goal 23 times after outshooting its foes in eight of its first nine outings when it was ninth nationally in shots on goal allowed per game (23.33).

STUCK ON NINE: For whatever reason, Miami has found itself struggling once it's hit nine wins the last few seasons, something that has continued since the RedHawks moved to 9-5 with a Nov. 17 win at Colorado College.

	Record at 9th W	Record after	Final Record
2016-17	9-11-6	0-9-1	9-20-7
2017-18	9-8-2	3-12-3	12-20-5
2018-19	9-5	2-16-4	N/A

FRESH FACES LEADING THE WAY: With eight freshmen on the roster, the opportunity was going to be there for new players to make an impact and that's what has happened. The RedHawks' freshman class has combined for 71 points (17g, 54a), which is tied for 13th most nationally. Derek Daschke paces the newcomers with 21 points.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 94 of the RedHawks' 107 games since his 2016-17 freshman campaign. The Clarkston, Mich., native debuted with a strong .910 save percentage as a freshman and made 30 or more saves 12 times that year. In his career, Larkin has 31 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 2,489 career saves rank third in school history.

HUTTON FOR GOALS: Senior defenseman Grant Hutton provided Miami with a boom on defense thanks to his return. A year ago, Hutton led all NCAA defensemen with 13 goals, a total that was one off Miami's overall team lead. All 29 of Hutton's goals have come since his sophomore season and his career total is third all-time among Miami blue liners. Hutton has 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists this season.

CAUSING HAVOC: One player who has shown a knack for creating scoring chances with the potential to lengthen the Miami attack is junior forward Karch Bachman. Despite only scoring nine goals in his first two seasons, the Florida Panthers' 2015 draft pick has finished third in shots on goal in each of his first two campaigns and his 97 shots led all Miami forwards in 2017-18. Bachman has eight goals, including three game-winners, this season and leads the team lead with 116 shots on goal.

CHANGE OF VENUE: Among the newcomers to Miami this year are a pair of fifth-year transfers in defenseman River Rymsha (Dartmouth) and goaltender Jordan Uhelski (Alabama Huntsville). The duo are believed to be only the second and third postgraduate transfers in Miami hockey's history as they add another layer of experience to the roster. Uhelski was Alabama Huntsville's starting goaltender his last two years, logging 52 combined starts in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Rymsha played a career-high 28 games at Dartmouth last year and logged 69 games in four years with the Big Green. Uhelski holds a 2.96 goals against average and .901 save percentage in 13 games and Rymsha has seven points (3g, 4a) in 34 games.

A LOOK INSIDE THE BROTHERHOOD: A partnership with the NCHC and Miami hockey's equipment provider, STX, has led to the creation of The Season (Miami Hockey). This six-episode documentary series promises to take fans inside the RedHawks' preparation for the 2018-19 season. The first episode aired on Oct. 4 and fans can check out all six episodes on TheSeason2018.com.