Next games
What: Subway Holiday Classic, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27-28
Where: Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,640), Grand Forks, N.D.
Friday's game: No. 1 Miami RedHawks (9-1-4, 6-1-3 CCHA) vs. No. 6 Bemidji State Bulldogs (10-1-1, 6-0-0 CHA)
Saturday's game: No. 1 Miami RedHawks vs. No. 4 North Dakota Fighting Sioux (7-4-1, 5-4-1 WCHA)
TV: Saturday — FS Atlantic (Time Warner)
OXFORD — More pucks in the net. That’s what the tie-weary Miami University hockey team needs right now, according to junior forward Andy Miele.
“We’re not putting up as many goals as we’d like,” Miele said of the RedHawks, who have gone to overtime six times already this season and skated to three ties in their last four games. “We’ve been working on that in practice and hopefully it’ll pay off this weekend.”
Good luck with that.
Goals are likely to be hard to come by this weekend when the RedHawks put their No. 1 ranking on the line at the Subway Holiday Classic at the University of North Dakota, a four-team showcase which will feature all three of the nation’s top three defenses.
Miami, which has the nation’s second-ranked defense (1.71 goals allowed per contest), takes on sixth-ranked Bemidji State, which leads the nation in defense (1.67), on Friday, Nov. 27, in a rematch of last season’s national semifinal.
Then the RedHawks will play Saturday against fourth-ranked North Dakota, which has the nation’s No. 3 defense (1.75).
“North Dakota plays a physical defensive game,” Miele said, “and Bemidji State is a team that’s always on the go and doesn’t really give you a chance to control the offense.”
The Classic has three of the nation’s top five goaltenders in Miami’s Cody Reichard (second with a 1.45 goals-against average), Bemidji State’s Dan Bakala (fourth at 1.64) and North Dakota’s Brad Eidsness (fifth at 1.69).
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “When we put this (Classic) together a few years ago, little did we know there would be so many ranked teams.
“Hopefully we’ll get a couple good bounces here and there,” Blasi added. “We’ll have to play our best both nights.”
Ohio State also will participate in the Classic, but won’t play Miami.
“It’s very exciting. We’ve been looking forward to this all year,” said Miele, who leads the RedHawks in scoring with five goals and 10 assists for 15 points.
Two of those goals came last Friday in Miami’s 3-0 victory at Western Michigan.
The RedHawks, however, have scored only seven goals in their last four games and have a 1-0-3 record over than span, though Miami has not lost in its last eight contests.
Miele said the team has tried hard to keep its focus and a sharp fighting edge every week.
“We always try to take it one weekend at a time. You look past any team at this level and you’re going to lose,” he said, adding that as the top-ranked team, “you get every team’s best effort every night.”
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