Games 25-26
Friday, Jan. 31 • 8:37 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 1 • 7:07 p.m.
Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,159) • St. Cloud, Minn.

Miami RedHawks (6-14-4, 3-9-2-1 NCHC) at St. Cloud State Huskies (8-12-4, 5-9-0-0 NCHC)
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: 1450 AM-WMOH/101.3 FM-WFMG (Greg Waddell-pbp)

MATCHUP
Miami hits the road for a weekend league series at St. Cloud State this weekend.
THE SERIES: Miami dropped a pair of home games to St. Cloud State at the end of the season's first half as the Huskies now lead the all-time series 22-17-4.
NEXT HOME GAMES: Miami's next home tilts come on Valentine's Day weekend when it hosts a conference series against Western Michigan. Tickets are available for both the Friday and Saturday games now.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 74 points. Green himself leads the team with 27 points (t-14th nationally) while Bachman (8g, 17a) has 25 and Gilling (7g, 15a) 22.

• Over the past 15 games, Miami is 17th nationally in scoring offense (3.07 goals per game) and first in power play efficiency (33.3%).

• Gordie Green leads the RedHawks with 27 points this season and is the NCHC's active career leader with 106 points.

• Miami defensemen are tied for fifth in the country with 16 goals this season, eight of which have come from Derek Daschke (t-third).

• Karch Bachman has posted at least one point in 11 of his last 13 games and his 25 points this season are a new career best.

• Miami has been tied or ahead in the third period in 11 of its last 15 games, going 4-5-2 in those instances.

• Three of Miami's five freshman skaters have scored double digit points and the RedHawks' freshmen have netted 20 goals (t-12th nationally) and 43 points.

LAST TIME OUT
The RedHawks concluded their home stand with a couple tough defeats against fifth-ranked Denver over the weekend. Friday night saw Miami jump out to a 2-0 first period lead for the third-straight game as Carter Johnson and Bray Crowder netted their first goals of the season. DU used power play goals in the first and second to tie things up entering the third and tallied the lone goal of the final period to prevail 3-2 despite 30 Ryan Larkin saves giving him the school's career record. On Saturday, Miami fired 15 first-period shots and a Derek Daschke goal left the score tied midway through the first period before DU scored late to grab a 2-1 lead. Trailing 3-1 late in the second, Monte Graham struck to make it a one-goal game entering the third, but that was as close as MU got in a 5-2 setback.

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 have run hot and cold since second half play began. After splitting a couple games in the Mariucci Classic in late December, St. Cloud State has alternated between getting swept and pulling off a sweep of its own and sits 8-12-4 overal (5-9 in the NCHC). SCSU dropped a pair of 6-2 decisions at Western Michigan last weekend after sweeping Minnesota Duluth at home a week prior. The Huskies' offense is paced by the efforts of Sam Hentges (7g, 15a) up front while Easton Brodzinski and defenseman Jack Ahcan have each chipped in 19 points. David Hrenak continues to see the bulk of the action in goal with a 2.99 goals against average and an .898 save percentage in 22 appearances (18 starts).

IN IT, CAN THEY WIN IT: While the record doesn't necessarily reflect the progress, Miami has put itself in position to record more wins of late. Over the past 15 games, the RedHawks have found themselves either tied or ahead at some point in the third period, but are just 4-5-2 in those instance. MU has also been getting off to better starts since the second half started, going ahead by at least a 2-0 score in five of seven games despite holding a 2-4-1 record since play resumed on Dec. 30.

GROWING UP FAST: Miami's freshman class has developed quickly. 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 20 goals this season (t-12th nationally) and totaled 43 points. Forwards Chase Pletzke (5g, 7a), John Sladic (6g, 5a) and Ryan Savage (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 6-14-4 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 15 Games (rank)
Record	2-5-2	4-9-2
G/Gm.	2.78 (29th)	3.07 (17th)
GA/Gm.	4.22 (58th)	3.27 (48th)
Scoring Margin	-1.44 (53rd)	-0.20 (36th)
PP%	10.8% (50th)	33.3% (1st)
PK%	73.8% (53rd)	76.3% (47th)

 
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 24 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	2.96 (23rd)

 ​​​​​
GETTING THE PUCK: An area that is still a work in progress for Miami is its puck management. The RedHawks have been outshot in 17 of their last 18 contests and have only outshot their opponents four times all season. After firing at least 30 shots on goal in four-straight games from Dec. 7-Jan. 11, Miami has been limited to just 82 shots in the past four games (20.5 per game).

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 (10g, 17a), Karch Bachman (8g, 17a) and Casey Gilling (7g, 15a) have totaled 74 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 15 of the team's 35 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 eight goals and 11 assists in his past 20 outings and his 19 points this year lead the Miami defense. His eight goals are tied for the third most among all NCAA defensemen.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 113 of the RedHawks' 135 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 41 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). On Jan. 24, he broke David Burleigh's school record of 2,975 career saves and now has 2,997 in his Miami career.

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. His 106 career points (t-47th in MU history) lead all active NCHC players.

Miami Rank	Player (Career Points)
40.	Pete Shipman/RobVanderydt (112)
42.	John Malloy (111)
43.	Brian Savage (109)
44.	Craig Fisher (108)
45.	Blake Coleman/Josh Melnick (107)
47.	Randy Robitaille/Greg Dornbach/Gordie Green (106)

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 101 shots on goal (fifth nationally) and he has a career-best 25 points on eight goals and 17 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 four points (1g, 3a) in seven games with one multi-point game.