Meet the Matteos

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland— With less than four minutes to play in the Friendship Four championship game on Saturday, Nov. 29 at SSE Arena, the outcome hung in the balance.

Miami and No. 20 Union were tied at 2-2 in a back-and-forth, tightly-contested game that clearly could go either way. The RedHawks had scored first, only for Union to answer in the middle period. Miami took a second lead near the midway point of the game, but the Garnet Chargers tied it up again when the third period rolled around.

The title game —and the Belpot Trophy— would go to whoever made the most big plays down the stretch.

Enter Matteo.

Well…

Both Matteos.

The RedHawks have two players on their 2025-26 roster who both have that same first name, and that wasn't the only thing the Ontario natives had in common as the game clock ticked down in Belfast. They also stepped up to deliver game-winning and game-clinching plays in a thrilling 3-2 victory as Miami earned its first trophy since the 2015 Frozen Faceoff. Matteo Giampa vs. Union

Matteo Giampa, who had already scored the first goal of the game for the Red and White, came racing down the right side of the rink late in the third period and ripped a shot off Union goaltender Cameron Korpi. Unfortunately for Korpi, the puck then hit a defender in front of him and immediately deflected back into the net to put Miami ahead for good at 3-2.

"On my first one…I was going to go back-post with it, but they took it away, so I just shelved it," Giampa told FLOHockey later. "My second one, just a good bounce again: Shot it on net, and good things happen."

However, the RedHawks still had to hold on for the final three minutes and 38 seconds from there to earn their first victory over a nationally-ranked team in nearly two years. That set up a frenetic finish, most of it with the Union net empty, and Drobac was more than equal to the 5-on-6 challenge against a high-powered team that had scored eight unanswered goals the previous day vs. Sacred Heart.

The sophomore netminder made four of his 29 saves in literally the final minute of the championship game to preserve a gigantic win for the Red and White, including one or two of the highlight-reel, 'how did he keep that out?' variety.

"Obviously, 'Drobs' was tremendous both nights," Miami head coach Anthony Noreen said, referencing Drobac's 23-save shutout the previous day against RIT (a 4-0 win) that set up his title-game heroics.

"On Saturday…man, he made some big saves. He made some massive saves throughout, then it was a triple-chance at the end when he sprawled out. We get two blocks in there as well from guys, but it was him just kind of leaving everything he could out there. Really good performance by him both nights."

Matteo Drobac

Drobac was named Miami's Player of the Game after the semifinal and recognized as the Player of the Tournament after the final horn sounded the next day. "It's a great result," he said in a postgame interview on the Nov. 28 broadcast. "Everyone came in here with a good mindset. Obviously, it's amazing being here in Northern Ireland, but you have to keep the mentality that everyone has to stay ready to play hockey here.

"I think we did a great job at doing that this whole week."

For his efforts, Drobac was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week on Dec. 9, earning that honor for the second time in the young season. He has played every minute in between the pipes during Miami's 10-6 start to the campaign, and currently ranks 27th in the country in win percentage (.625).

The other Matteo (Miami's Player of the Game on Saturday) is high on the national leaderboards as well, putting up goals in five of his last six games to rank 25th in the country in goals per game (0.56). Giampa, a two-time Hobey Baker Award nominee with 65 career points at Canisius before transferring to Miami this spring, now has four game-winning goals on the season, tied for the second-highest total of any player in college hockey.

"Matteo Giampa's a guy that we felt [would capitalize on] the opportunity to come to this league to play in a prime role, to be an upperclassman on a team that doesn't have many," Noreen said. "To be able to showcase what he could do at this level – it's events like that where you get a chance to do that.

"So excited for him that he was able to show off his game and show up really when it mattered for us – big-time."

The Friendship Four title gave Miami a winning record in the month of November for the first time since 2014, made the RedHawks the second NCHC team to reach the 10-win mark and helped Miami stay perfect in non-conference games (8-0 overall). Miami also cracked the USCHO poll last week for the first time since 2019; the RedHawks are currently receiving votes in the latest rankings heading into this weekend's home series against No. 19 Colorado College. Miami Hockey Friendship Four champions

The climb continues as the RedHawks battle their way through a grueling schedule in the nation's most difficult conference (four NCHC teams are among the top seven in the country) and look to grab some all-important points in the league standings over the next three months. But when the gloves and helmets went flying in Northern Ireland and the Belpot bell began to ring, the outside world got a tiny glimpse at all the work Noreen's program has put in over the past year and a half…and how it's beginning to pay off.

"It means so much," Giampa said on the broadcast. "We have a new group here, and we're really hungry to get a win and win something special…

"We're really happy that we got it done."

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