Feelings of joy short-lived for victorious RedHawks

Miami players learn after game that team’s student manager was killed in auto accident earlier Friday.

Miami hockey student manager dies in crash
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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 9:32 AM Saturday, February 6, 2010

OXFORD — The top-ranked Miami University hockey team won another game Friday night, Feb. 5, but afterward that fact seemed unimportant to a grieving program.

The RedHawks had learned that Miami senior Brendan Burke, 21, a student manager for the team and the son of Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke, had died from injuries suffered in an auto accident in Indiana earlier Friday.

Miami coach Enrico Blasi made a brief statement about the game afterward, announced that no players would be coming to the usual postgame press conference, and then he quietly returned to the locker room.

Miami spokesman Mike Pearson said he was unable to comment on the situation, only that the team had received bad news about a death, but the level of grief on the bottom level of Steve Cady Arena was apparent. There were tears and drawn, shocked faces along the back hallways.

The game itself was noteworthy because Miami sophomore Cody Reichard set the school’s single-season record for shutouts (five) after the RedHawks defeated Lake Superior State 2-0, and because the RedHawks stretched their unbeaten streak in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to 18 games.

“There were times we were not sharp with the puck and were not making good decisions,” Blasi said during his brief postgame appearance. “(The game) was what we expected. Lake Superior State is a really good hockey team.”

Junior Carter Camper scored the first goal with just 9.3 seconds left in the first period on an assist from Tommy Wingels.

Nobody scored again until junior Andy Miele pushed the puck into an open net with two-tenths of a second remaining in the third period. The assist went to Jarod Palmer.

Reichard stopped 33 shots for the RedHawks, who improved to 19-4-6, 16-1-4-2 in the CCHA. He had shared the shutout record with David Burleigh, who had four in 2002-03.

Lake Superior State goalie Brian Mahoney Wilson stopped 30 of 31 shots for the Lakers, who fell to 14-10-5, 9-9-3-2 CCHA.

Former Miami player Dan Boyle, a two-time All-American defenseman (1997 and ’98), was honored during the first intermission when he received his plaque for being inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

Boyle, who plays for the San Jose Sharks and will compete in the 2010 Olympics for Canada, had been unable to attend the Hall of Fame ceremonies due to his NHL commitments.

Boyle, who has 43 points (10 goals and 33 assists) for the Sharks this season, ranks tied for ninth with Ryan Jones on Miami’s all-time scoring list with 147 points.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.