Game 21-22
Friday, Jan. 17 • 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 18 • 7:05 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks (6-11-3, 3-6-1-1 NCHC) vs. No. 1/2 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (17-2-2, 8-1-1-1 NCHC)
TV/Stream: CBS Sports Network (Friday)/NCHC.tv (Saturday)
Ben Holden-pbp; Dave Starman-analyst; Shireen Saski-rinkside
Radio: 1450 AM-WMOH (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Miami hosts first place North Dakota in its first conference series rematch of the season.
THE SERIES: North Dakota swept the first series between the teams this season by scores of 7-1 and 5-4 to extend its lead in the all-time series to 16-7-3. MU is 2-1-1 in the last four meetings with UND in Oxford.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 59 points. Green himself leads the team with 24 points (t-17th nationally) while Bachman (7g, 12a) has 19 and Gilling (5g, 11a) 16.

• Over the past 11 games, Miami is 13th nationally in scoring offense (3.18 goals per game) and second in power play efficiency (34.4%).

• Gordie Green leads the RedHawks with 24 points this season and is the NCHC's active career leader with 103 points.

• Miami has fired at least 30 shots on goal in five of its last seven games (including four straight) after doing so just twice in the season's first 13 contests.

• Ryan Larkin is second in Miami history with 2,934 career saves. He is 42 saves shy of setting the school's all-time record.

• Miami has been tied or ahead in the third period in eight of its last 11 games, going 4-3-1 in those instances.

• Three of Miami's five freshman skaters have scored double digit points and the RedHawks' freshmen are have netted 19 goals (t-seventh nationally) and 41 points (t-15th).

LAST TIME OUT
Miami built up to a two-game winning streak by opening its weekend with an emphatic 6-1 win at Colorado College last Friday. Six different skaters netted a goal and 12 MU players notched at least a point with Matt Barry (1g, 1a), Chase Pletzke (1g, 1a), Phil Knies (2a) and Ben Lown (2a) all recording multi-point outings. The RedHawks fired a season-high 42 shots while hitting their highest scoring mark of the season. Things went awry early on in Saturday's finale, as MU fell into a 3-0 hole at the first intermission. A late second period tally by John Sladic got the RedHawks on the board and Derek Daschke struck on the power play to bring them within 3-2 early in the third, but they were unable to pull closer despite taking 20 third period shots as they fell 4-2 in the series finale.

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 NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Hawks have rolled through the season to a 17-2-2 start and are leading the NCHC with an 8-1-1-1 conference mark. UND split a home series with Omaha last weekend, dropping the opener by a 6-3 count for its first loss since Oct. 19. The Fighting Hawks are the nation's highest scoring team at 4.19 goals per game while their 1.81 goals allowed per game is the country's fourth-best figure. Jordan Kawaguchi is leading the NCHC and is third nationally with 30 points (10g, 20a) as one of 10 North Dakota skaters with double digit points. Defensively, UND allows the fewest shots on goal per game in the country (20.57) and Adam Scheel has a 1.73 goals against average and .916 save percentage to bolster the defense.

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 16 games. 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. MU's freshmen have scored 19 goals this season (t-seventh nationally) and totaled 41 points (t-15th). Forwards Chase Pletzke (5g, 6a), Ryan Savage (5g, 5a) and John Sladic (5g, 5a) have all scored at least 10 points while defenseman Jack Clement (4g, 4a) has eight. 

MAKING PROGRESS: While Miami struggled in several areas in the early going, it has made huge improvements despite its 6-11-3 overall record. Since opening NCHC play by suffering a sweep at North Dakota, the RedHawks have made some remarkable progress in all areas.

	First Nine Games (rank)	Last 11 Games (rank)
Record	2-5-2	4-6-1
G/Gm.	2.78 (29th)	3.18 (13th)
GA/Gm.	4.22 (58th)	2.91 (t-35th)
Scoring Margin	-1.44 (53rd)	+0.27 (25th)
​PP%	10.8% (50th)	34.4% (2nd)
PK%	73.8% (53rd)	81.4% (30th)

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CHASING SUCCESS: Freshman forward Chase Pletzke has quietly become a focal point of Miami's offense as the season wore on. After being a healthy scratch three times and posting just one goal in the team's first 10 games. Since then, Pletzke has notched 10 of his freshman-leading 11 points, only Gordie Green (13 points) and Karch Bachman (11) have more over Miami's last 10 games.

RESURGENT OFFENSE: Since winning the 2015 Frozen Faceoff and earning a No. 1 seed to the ensuing NCAA Tournament on the strength of the nation's 11th-best offense, goals have been hard to come by for Miami. That has changed in a big way through the first 20 games as MU is looking for its first season in the top half national finish in scoring since 2014-15.

Year	G/Gm (Rank)
2014-15	3.25 (11th)
2015-16	2.39 (t-43rd)
2016-17	2.53 (45th)
2017-18	2.78 (32nd)
2018-19	2.29 (52nd)
2019-20	3.00 (t-21st)

GETTING THE PUCK: An area that is still a work in progress for Miami is its puck management. The RedHawks have been outshot in 13 of their last 14 contests and have only outshot their opponents four times all season. MU has been perking up in generating its own chances, however, as it has recorded at least 30 shots on goal in five of its past seven games, including a season-high 42 at Colorado College on Jan 10.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's experienced trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling have been carrying the mail for the RedHawks all season. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (9g, 15a), Karch Bachman (7g, 12a) and Casey Gilling (5g, 11a) have totaled 59 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 11 of the team's 30 multi-point games this year.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP: 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 six goals and 10 assists in his past 16 outings and his 16 points this year leads the Miami defense and is tied for 16th among all NCAA defensemen.

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, and posted his eighth career game of three or more points when he put up a goal and two assists at Bowling Green on Dec. 30, becoming the 53rd member of Miami's 100-point club in the process. In his last 114 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 98 points on 42 goals and 56 assists.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 111 of the RedHawks' 131 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 39 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 2,934 career saves rank second in school history. He needs 42 more saves this season to pass 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 16 points (5g, 11a) while Knies has eight (2g, 6a).

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 84 shots on goal (t-ninth nationally) and he has a career-best 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists.

MID YEAR BOOST: With the first semester complete, Miami enters the second half able to enjoy the services of sophomore forward Matt Barry. As a mid-year transfer during the 2018-19 season, Barry had to wait until the first semester ended to be eligible to play. He 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. Since debutting on Dec. 30, Barry has posted two points in three games with both of his points coming to key a 6-1 victory at Colorado College on Jan. 10.