OXFORD — Things may be changing for the better for the Miami University men’s hockey team.

Playing an aggressive brand of hockey that made it look as if they were the nationally ranked team in Steve Cady Arena, the Miami RedHawks (5-6-0, 3-4-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association) claimed a 2-1 victory Friday night over No. 4 Michigan (7-3-1, 3-3-1).

“It’s something that you need to do against a good team like Michigan. Limit their space. I thought we did a good time of limiting their time in space,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “To play with the best of them, you have to make sure they don’t have a lot of room (to score). It was obviously a big win for us, now we have to regroup and get ready to go after them again tomorrow.”

It’s not very often that Miami has been able to outshoot an opponent this season, but that’s what happened Friday against the Wolverines. Miami outshot Michigan 27-20, and the RedHawks appeared to be outhustling the Wolverines, too.

Friday’s win marks the first time Miami has ever beaten Michigan in four straight games.

Prior to Friday’s contest, the RedHawks were 1-4 in games when they outshot its opponents. In the team’s two wins against Alaska last weekend, the RedHawks were outshot in both games.

“I don’t think we’re doing anything differently right now,” said Miami freshman Tyler Biggs, who scored the second goal of the night. “I think we’ve been making strides every game at a time. We’re focusing on the little things, and it’s those strides that are going to take our game to the next level.”

Biggs scored from the right side a little over 10 minutes into the second period for a 2-0 Miami lead. Will Weber and Chris Wideman drew assists.

Another Miami freshman, Jimmy Mullin, scored the game’s first goal in the first period on a scrum in front of Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick. Garrett Kennedy and Joe Hartman assisted.

Michigan made things interesting in the third period when Luke Glendening scored with 12:21 left to play.

“It all came down to preparation,” said Michigan’s Mac Bennett. “We couldn’t get any flow in the first period.”

The Wolverines pulled Hunrick for the final 25 seconds of the game, but Miami was able to keep the puck out of harm’s way for the remaining ticks of the clock.

“It’s a new month and we have a new attitude now,” Mullin said. “We need to do everything possible to win games. Blocking shots, hustling and outshooting them have a lot to do with it. We need to do that in every game, not just a few things at a time.”

The teams wrap up the series at 7:05 tonight.