DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — The Miami University hockey team won the hard way Friday night, March 14.

The RedHawks kicked off Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament play with a 4-1 triumph over Bowling Green at Steve Cady Arena, taking a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three quarterfinal series.

That's the short version of a victory that was anything but ordinary.

MU (30-6-1) fell behind 1-0 early in the second period, tied the score 16 seconds later, then lost two players to game-misconduct penalties.

In between those two ejections was a Nathan Davis breakaway goal that pushed the RedHawks ahead for good.

"Obviously, we had to go through a lot of adversity and some undisciplined penalties," Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. "I thought our guys did a pretty good job of weathering the storm. It got emotional, and I thought the crowd was great."

Freshman Pat Cannone scored twice in the first multigoal effort of his career, while Tommy Wingels notched a late tally and Jeff Zatkoff totaled 27 saves in goal.

The teams will square off again today at 7:05 p.m., with the RedHawks looking to clinch a trip to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the CCHA Final Four.

"We were a little rusty the first 10 minutes, but nothing too bad," Zatkoff said. "They came out hard. (But) we found our game 10 minutes in, then took control from there."

Zatkoff got beat on a rebound by the Falcons' John Mazzei at the 3:35 mark of the second stanza, but the hosts weren't behind for long.

Sixteen seconds later, Cannone slapped the puck past BGSU goalie Jimmy Spratt.

Cannone said it wasn't exactly a desperate situation at that point. "I just wanted to help us get rolling," he added.

With 6:45 remaining in the period, Ryan Jones — the RedHawks' senior captain — was hit with a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind. It was a game-misconduct violation, and Jones was done for the night.

The same thing happened to Miami freshman Justin Vaive with 1:26 showing in the stanza. By that time, though, the RedHawks had taken the lead on Davis' goal with 5:16 on the clock.

"That's what you look for," Davis said of the one-on-one matchup against Spratt. "As you start to feel it happen, your heart starts beating faster and your eyes get wide. It's fun."

MU killed off both major penalties, and Blasi said that was a big-time accomplishment.

Asked if he agreed with the two game-misconduct calls, the RedHawks coach said Vaive's hit was "a little violent," and he could see why Jones was penalized as well.

"You don't want to see anybody get hit from behind," Blasi said. "Sometimes guys get a little caught up in the emotions. There was no turning back. We had to kill those penalties."

Cannone and Wingels marked power-play goals in the third period as Spratt finished with 25 saves for Bowling Green (18-20).

"I thought we played a pretty good game five-on-five, but clearly the special-teams battles both ways were won by Miami," Falcons coach Scott Paluch said. "They've got a lot of skilled players."

Alec Martinez had two assists for MU, which became the first CCHA squad to reach the 30-win plateau since Michigan collected 31 victories in 2004-05. Jones, Vincent LoVerde, Mitch Ganzak, Raymond Eichenlaub, Justin Mercier and Carter Camper added one assist apiece.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194

or rcassano@coxohio.com.