No Speed Limit for Miami's Deputy

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OXFORD, Ohio— Some of Miami Hockey's biggest wins of the 2025-26 season have had an obvious common denominator.

That overarching theme?

Critical goals from David Deputy.

The freshman winger from Gurnee, Ill. leads the Red and White with 15 goals this season, all in the past 24 games, and has helped the RedHawks clinch a No. 7 seed in the upcoming Frozen Faceoff.

Miami enters the postseason at 18-14-2 (a 15-win improvement over a year ago to mark one of the biggest regular-season turnarounds in the past half-century of college hockey) and Deputy's production has been a key reason why.

The RedHawks' first conference sweep since February 2022 (a pair of home wins over Omaha this January)? Deputy had a hat trick in the series finale to spark Miami to a 6-2 triumph. It was the first three-goal performance by a RedHawk at home in more than three years.

A thrilling come-from-behind overtime win over defending national champion Western Michigan in front of a capacity crowd last month? It was Deputy who produced two goals, including the game-winner on a 2-on-1 break, to send the 3,642 fans in attendance at Steve "Coach" Cady Arena into a frenzy and give Miami its first win over a top-five team since 2022.

"Big-time players make big-time plays in big moments," head coach Anthony Noreen said that night.

David Deputy game-winning goal vs. Western Michigan

David Deputy game-winning goal vs. Western Michigan

"That's why I came here," Deputy said. "We wanted to build it into something that was like that [environment]. I've never played in front of a crowd like that…and to be able to help this program get back to where it is, it's truly so special."

Deputy has continued to produce week-in and week-out for the RedHawks, ranking third in the conference in goals during NCHC play and becoming the first Miami skater since 2017-18 to put up 15 goals in a season. Most recently, Deputy picked up an assist on Ilia Morozov's short-handed game-winning goal last Saturday in the regular-season finale that ultimately earned Miami a playoff trip to Denver.

Four Rookie of the Week honors this season.

Three game-winning goals.

Two short-handed tallies.

And a ~~partridge in a pear tree~~ Rookie of the Month award in January.

"You're getting to see more and more what he's capable of and why we were so excited," Noreen said. "Man, you talk about a kid that loves this place and has a ton of pride in every shift…he didn't have it easy in the early going, getting hurt right before camp and [then] hurt on opening night…so he was still getting up to speed. Now you're starting to see…that's a difference-maker."

Deputy grew up in the Chicago area dreaming of following in the footsteps of former RedHawks and Illinois natives like Chris Michael and Anthony Louis. Michael is "one of my mentors and really good friends," Deputy said. "He was a big part of this program back in the day. And when he told me all the stories and stuff and what it was like here, it was always my dream school…

David Deputy

"I obviously played against [Noreen] when I was in Omaha and he was in Tri-City, so when he got the job here and called me, it was a no-brainer."

Deputy went on to finish his USHL career with Muskegon, leading the league in playoff goals scored en route to a 2025 Clark Cup title. He's looking forward to hopefully winning even more hardware with the Red and White over the next few seasons, something the RedHawks got a taste of by capturing the Belpot Trophy last November at the Friendship Four in Belfast.

"I think the [turnaround of this year's team] is probably the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my hockey career, and I won a championship last year!," Deputy smiled. "It's been so special to see the alumni and the school and the students get back behind the hockey program, and to do it with the group of guys that we have and our class coming in as freshmen and transfers getting so close so quick, it's been one of the greatest times of my life.

"In no way are we satisfied with where we're at, but it's definitely been fun to see the start and get the ball rolling on this thing again."

It only takes a few minutes of watching Deputy play to see one of the greatest weapons in his game —dazzling, all-out, blazing speed— but the rookie forward has been working hard to continue to develop his all-around skills since coming to Oxford. In his three-goal outing against the Mavericks in January, not only did Deputy seemingly get behind the Omaha defenders at will, but he also scored a pair of 'grimy' goals in close, re-directing shots through traffic while posted up in front of the visitors' goaltender.

David Deputy

"Speed is obviously a huge part of my game – if I can use that anywhere on the ice, I try to. I'm not the biggest guy, so I have to be faster than everyone else," Deputy said. "But it's been a big thing for me trying to round out my game…if I can figure out more ways to affect the game than just one, that's what I want to do.

"The coaching staff has been great about helping me find ways to do that. Obviously, the goals have come and I've scored a lot, but that's not with everything before that: My habits and my details that they've been on me about."

"Troy [associate head coach Troy Thibodeau] has done such a good job with him of taking his game to another level," Noreen said. "'Deps' is having success right now, but if you talk to that kid, there is zero satisfaction…he really wants to get better and wants to push.

"When you have that mindset and you go out and put it in place – every rep he takes is at game speed and game intensity, and he's trying to take advantage of getting better. That's another thing that stacks up, and I could say the same thing about 20-some other guys in our program."

Miami's resurgence this winter has been a collective effort; Deputy is one of 10 players with between 17 and 25 points this season, with eight of those being first-year RedHawks. While outside expectations might have been low coming into 2025-26 with so many new players (Miami brought back 32 total points from last year's roster, less than half the returning production of any other team in the country), Noreen's group jumped out to a six-game winning streak to begin the year and hasn't looked back. Now, as the calendar turns to March, Deputy and the rest of the RedHawks are hoping to cap off the program's first winning season since 2014-15 with a deep postseason run. Miami Hockey goal celebration

"When it comes to March, you've just got to get hot," Deputy said. "We're just trying to play hockey as long as we can and earn a couple more days together every time we play.

"At this point of the year, that's what it is: You have to win to earn more days together, and we're just trying to do that every day."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Miami Hockey opens the NCHC Frozen Faceoff with a best-of-three quarterfinal series at second-seeded Denver beginning Friday, March 6 at 9 p.m. ET. For more postseason information, check out NCHC Championship Central here.

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David Deputy

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