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Special teams could be key for Miami in Frozen Four

Miami University's hockey team celebrates its dramatic 3-2 victory in double-overtime over Michigan Sunday, March 28, in the NCAA Midwest Regional final.

Submitted photo Miami University's hockey team celebrates its dramatic 3-2 victory in double-overtime over Michigan Sunday, March 28, in the NCAA Midwest Regional final.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:03 AM Wednesday, March 31, 2010

OXFORD — College hockey coaches agree that in one-and-done tournaments, the power play and penalty kill are king.

“It’s no secret that in playoffs or one-game situations, (special teams) have to be effective for you,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, one of four head coaches heading to Detroit next week for the NCAA Frozen Four.

If that’s the case, the Miami University hockey team is in a golden place.

The RedHawks rank fourth in the nation in penalty killing, which is higher than the other Frozen Four teams (Wisconsin is 10th, Rochester Institute of Technology is 12th and Boston College is 18th).

And although Miami ranks in the bottom half of the NCAA in power-play efficiency, four of the RedHawks’ five goals scored in last weekend’s Midwest Regional came on the power play.

“It comes down to special teams no matter who you play and everybody knows that,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “If we can chip in a couple 5-on-5 goals, that will be to our advantage.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on (special teams) and it paid off last weekend,” he said. “Our power play was very good, two power-play goals against Alabama-Huntsville and two against Michigan. And I thought our penalty kill was very good.”

The top power-play goal scorer among the four national semifinalists is Wisconsin senior forward Blake Geoffrion, one of 10 Hobey Baker Award finalists. The award is comparable to college football’s Heisman Trophy. He is tied for first in the nation with 11.

More Hobey candidates

Geoffrion isn’t the only Hobey Baker candidate who will play in the Frozen Four. The others are Miami sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard and Wisconsin junior defenseman Brendan Smith, who is the older brother of RedHawks freshman forward Reilly Smith.

“Brendan is an offensive defender,” said Eaves, whose Badgers will play RIT in the first semifinal April 8. “He has instincts you can’t teach. He just senses the right thing to do.

Miami’s line shuffle

Blasi was asked about the new lines Miami used against Michigan last week.

“We’ve done it throughout the course of the year where we’ve switched lines before games and sometimes even in games,” he said.

For instance, Miami’s leading scorer, Jarod Palmer, played with Curtis McKenzie and Carter Camper early in the year, then with Andy Miele and Alden Hirschfeld in December, then with Miele and Reilly Smith in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament second round against Ohio State, and then was back to where he started, with McKenzie and Camper, last week against Michigan.

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