NCHC Pod Week 3 Matchups
Miami RedHawks (1-5-0) vs.
Colorado College Tigers (1-2-1)
Tuesday, Dec. 15 | 8:35 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 19 | 9:05 p.m.
Baxter Arena (Omaha, Neb.)
All-Time Series vs. CC: 11-11-2 (Lost last meeting, 4-2, on Jan. 11, 2020)
WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @MiamiOH_Hockey
Miami RedHawks (1-5-0) vs.
Denver Pioneers (2-4-0)
Thursday, Dec. 17 | 8:35 p.m.
Baxter Arena (Omaha, Neb.)
All-Time Series vs. Denver: 12-20-3 (Lost last meeting, 5-1, on Dec. 10, 2020)
WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @MiamiOH_Hockey
Miami RedHawks (1-5-0) vs.
North Dakota Fighting Hawks (4-2-1)
Sunday, Dec. 20 | 9:05 p.m.
Baxter Arena (Omaha, Neb.)
All-Time Series vs. Omaha: 7-18-4 (Lost last meeting, 2-0, on Dec. 2, 2020)
WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @MiamiOH_Hockey
OXFORD, Ohio. – The Miami University ice hockey team continues the 2020-21 season this week as the RedHawks take on Colorado College, Denver, and North Dakota in the NCHC Pod, with the first game of the trio scheduled for December 15.
PUCK POINTS:
- Freshman Ludvig Persson recieved his first career win and shutout during the second week of Pod action, stopping 30 shots en route to a 1-0 win over #18/RV Omaha on Saturday night.
- The shutout win over the Mavericks was the second shutout in the Pod so far, and the first time the Mavericks have been held scoreless. Omaha has the top scoring offense in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) after two weeks of action.
- Three freshmen for Miami saw the scoresheet, with Matt Barbolini and Hampus Rydqvist both recording their first career goals, and Robby Drazner collecting an assist. Transfer Jack Olmstead also recorded his first point in a RedHawk sweater, collecting an assist.
- Junior Matt Barry and Barbolini are the top offensive players for the RedHawks after two weeks of play in the shortened 2020-21 season, with both players have three points so far.
- Miami opened up the game scoring in all three of their games during the second week, with two of those goals coming from the stick of sophomore forward Chase Pletzke, who now has the team lead in goals, with two.
ABOUT LAST WEEK FOR MIAMI: Miami continued the season with one of the toughest schedules in the country, which included two nationally-ranked powerhouses. After being falling to by #3/3 Minnesota Duluth during the first week, the RedHawks saw themselves with an opportunity for a rematch. After being the first one to get on the board on Tuesday, the Bulldogs scored two in the last to frames to give them the win. Denver proved to have the offensive tools to give the RedHawks their fifth straight loss during the second game of the week, and the Pioneers scored five unanswered goals to secure it. Miami finally got one in the win column to end the week, defeating the host Omaha in a 1-0 shutout win on Saturday evening.
ABOUT COLORADO COLLEGE: After getting a late start to the NCHC Pod, The Tigers opened up the 2020-21 season picked to finish seventh in the NCHC Preseason Media Poll. CC went 1-2-1 in the first week of action in the NCHC Pod, and saw an upset win over #3 Duluth to close off their first week, routing the Bulldogs to a 4-1 victory, Duluth's first loss. The Bulldogs return Junior forward Grant Cruikshank (11g, 6a, 17p in 2019-20) and Ben Copeland (4-14-18) from 2019-20. After losing goaltender Ryan Ruck to graduation, CC has looked to goaltenders Matt Vernon and Dominic Basse to take up more minutes in net, as the pair has started all four games on the CC schedule so far this year. Being offensively led by three younger players so far in Cruikshank (3g-1a-4p), Josiah Slavin (1g-3a-4p), and Jack Millar (2g-1a-3p), the Tigers also currently have 3 NHL draft picks on their roster, including two for Chicago.
ABOUT DENVER: The Pioneers opened the 2020-21 season picked to finish second in the NCHC Preseason Media Poll. Denver went 0-3-0 in the first week of Pod play, but found themselves rebounding in the second week with a 2-1-0 record in week two, and saw victories over top-ranked North Dakota and Miami. To start the season, Denver's offense is continuing to be highlighted by two rookies, Carter Savoie (6g-2a-8p) and Mike Benning (1g-6a-7p). Denver's star goaltender returns for another season with the top-ranked Pioneers, Magnus Chorna currently has a 2.93 GAA and .896 save percentage in his six starts so far this season. Denver returns only two of their top five scorers from 2019-20, who combined for 153 points on 47 goals and 106 assists. Denver currently has nine NHL draft picks on their star-studded roster.
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Hawks opened the 2020-21 season picked to finish first in the NCHC Preseason Media Poll. After having a perfect week in week one, North Dakota saw their first losses on the season in week two, and went 1-2-1. The top-ranked Hawks saw losses from Denver (2-3 L) and St. Cloud State (3-5 L), before getting the only win of the week over Western Michigan (W 6-3). North Dakota has relied on the play of starting goaltender junior Adam Scheel, as he returns for their junior season and has started five of North Dakota's games so far. Shane Pinto (3g-7a-10p), Jordan Kawaguchi (2g-7a-9p), Grant Mismash (3g-4a-7p), and Matt Kiersted (2g-5a-7p) currently lead UND in offensive categories for 2020-21. Currently the NCHC team with the most draft picks, North Dakota currently has 12 NHL draft picks on their roster, including four for Ottawa alone. Tyler Kleven and Jake Sanderson, two of the Fighting Hawks' top defenseman, are out with Team USA for the World Junior Championships, which required them to dress five defenseman on Sunday against Western Michigan.
QUITE A DEBUT: With six games on the docket so far this season, all seven of the RedHawk rookies saw action in at least one game. Defenseman Hampus Rydqvist and forward Matthew Barbolini both scored their first career goals, Barbolini and Robby Drazner both have assists to their names, and goaltender Ludvig Persson got his first win and first shutout of his career versus Omaha. In his start against Omaha. Barbolini has seen time on the top line for the RedHawks, and and Rydqvist has seen time as a top pairing on defense. With his .946 save percentage and 1.68 GAA, Persson is the top-ranked rookie goaltender in NCAA Division 1 hockey, ranking first among freshmen goaltenders in both statistical categories.
MAKING SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL: One spot Miami looks for a resurgence is in its penalty kill as it ranked 54th out of 60 teams nationally last season with a 75.4 percent kill rate. Even though the RedHawks didn't see success on the PK, Miami did see success with the man advantage on the power play. Miami's power-play conversion rate in 2019-20 of 23.9% was ranked in the top-10 nationally, doing better than nationally-ranked conference foes like Denver and North Dakota.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMPS HERE: Coming off a 14 point season in 2019-20, sophomore forward Chase Pletzke saw a great offensive week in the second week of NCHC Pod action, scoring the game-opening goal in back-to-back games versus Duluth and Denver. With his two goals on the season so far, Pletzke is the only RedHawk with more than one goal on the season, and also activated his first career goal streak.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: After a large senior class graduation and a bunch of other departures, there are many holes in the Miami lineup, and that's where the big freshman class comes in. With three forwards, three defenders, and one goaltender, the freshman class for 2020-21 is one of the most geographically diverse classes in Miami history. The rookie class includes:
- Robby Drazner: Defender/Buffalo Grove, Ill. (Nanaimo Clippers, BCHL)
- Hampus Rydqvist: Defender/Gothenburg, Sweden (Maryland Black Bears, NAHL)
- Michael Holland: Forward/Charlotte, N.C. (Boston Jr. Bruins, NCDC)
- Brian Silver: Forward/Lake Bluff, Ill. (Omaha Lancers, USHL)
- Dylan Moulton: Defender/Nolensville, Tenn. (Green Bay Gamblers, USHL)
- Matthew Barbolini: Forward/Williamsville, N.Y. (Lincoln Stars, USHL)
- Ludvig Persson: Goalie/Hindas, Sweden (Lone Star Brahmas, NAHL)
TOUGH COOKIES TO CRACK: With the NCHC sporting four teams ranked in the USCHO.com poll, and two more recieving votes, the RedHawks figure to once again play one of the most difficult schedules in the country this season. The league is also already home of the past four national champions, which means that its success will come down to how it performs against the top teams in the nation. Last year, the Red & White played 11 games against teams that finished in the top 15 (2-8-1) and 16 against teams that finished in the top 20 (3-11-2). Miami met the #1 and #3 ranked teams in the country in the first week of action. The RedHawks have already seen a victory over a ranked team this season, getting a 1-0 win over #17/RV Omaha on December 12.
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, EVERYBODY: One spot that Miami hopes to improve on is its shot prevention. Last season, Miami allowed 33.47 shots per game, a total that ranked 55th nationally. As the season wore on, the trend got worse with the RedHawks, ranking 56th nationally in shots on goal allowed per game (34.88) in 2020 portion of the regular season schedule.
