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Despite loss of seniors, Miami hockey in good shape
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
OXFORD — When Ryan Jones, Nathan Davis, Charlie Effinger, Mitch Ganzak, Nino Musitelli, Brad Robbins and Charley Fetzer finished their first season of Miami University hockey in 2005, few people outside Oxford were paying close attention.
They were not, for instance, pointing at this group and suggesting that it was a juggernaut in the making, the core of a team that would spend parts of two of the next three seasons ranked No. 1 in the nation, soon-to-be national title contenders.
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Why should they? At first glance there was nothing remarkable about this group or their rookie results.
The RedHawks had gotten off to a good start that year, winning their first four. After that Miami went 11-18-5, including a pair of losses at Michigan State in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.
But head coach Enrico Blasi asked the players to keep the faith. They did.
"That's part of it," Blasi said Wednesday. "People have really embraced our program, and the last three years they've been able to take the program to a new level.
"The kids we bring in continue to buy into our philosophy," he said. "They follow the program and not get too involved in the large picture, to take it one day at a time. Our guys did a great job doing that, making sure they focused on what they do best and then getting better."
The result: three of the more brilliant seasons in school history, in any sport, rivaled perhaps only by the three consecutive Tangerine Bowl years (1973-75) of the football program.
"The stats speak for themselves," Blasi said. "The senior class has been to the national tournament three times, they won a CCHA regular-season championship, they've been to the finals of the CCHA playoffs twice, they've been to the (NCAA) regional finals twice."
Miami has averaged almost 28 victories over the last three seasons, a staggering number which also reflects a blockbuster junior class of Jeff Zatkoff, Justin Mercier, Alec Martinez, Brian Kaufman, Raymond Eichenlaub and Kevin Roeder.
Despite a shattering overtime loss to Boston College in which the RedHawks came within a whisker of earning their first trip to the Frozen Four, despite the loss of the seven sensational seniors, and despite the potential loss of other players who are being beckoned to from the pros, Blasi sees a future in which he and the three Ps — program, players, philosophy — stay the course.
"If everybody returns," Blasi said, "I think we can have a team that can compete for a championship again. I can tell you, the groundwork has been laid and our expectations are high."
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
