Today’s game
What: NCAA hockey tournament, Midwest Regional final
Who: No. 1 seed Miami (28-7-7) vs. No. 3 seed Michigan (26-17-1)
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (10,500), Fort Wayne, Ind.
TV: ESPNU
Radio: WMOH-AM (1450), WKBV-AM (1490)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Nobody will rank it as the Miami University hockey team’s finest hour. Coach Rico Blasi isn’t complaining.
“The guys know what they want and now we’re in a position to get it,” Blasi said Saturday, March 27, after the top-ranked RedHawks held off the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
The RedHawks (28-7-7) hope to get what they want — a return trip to the Frozen Four — when they return to Allen County War Memorial Coliseum tonight to face the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan, which defeated Miami 5-2 last weekend in the semifinals of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, beat Bemidji State 5-1 in Saturday’s second contest in Fort Wayne.
Freshman Curtis McKenzie scored Miami’s first goal and assisted sophomore defenseman Cameron Schilling on the second, but those were the only points the RedHawks could muster despite peppering UAH goalie Cameron Talbot with 38 shots.
Many of those shots and both goals came on Miami’s nine power-play opportunities.
“They’re good defensively and blocked a lot of shots,” McKenzie said. “We didn’t have the success we’d like to have 5-on-5.”
“Nine power plays wasn’t what we drew up,” UAH coach Danton Cole said. “(The RedHawks) are a dangerous team and they keep coming at you.”
“That’s the way we play,” Blasi said. “We’re a puck-possession team, and when we’re on, that’s what we do to teams (wear them down).”
Still, the lack of goals almost came back to haunt Miami when Brennan Barker scored with 38.3 seconds remaining and the RedHawk had to withstand a final flurry from the Chargers as Talbot was pulled from goal.
Miami’s defense allowed only 17 shots on goal.
That was just fine with sophomore goalkeeper Cody Reichard, who had allowed a total of 10 goals over his two previous starts and then did not play in the RedHawks’ 2-1 victory over Ferris State in the third-place game in the CCHA playoffs.
Reichard, the CCHA Player of the Year who set the league single-season record with a 1.22 goals-against average in conference-only games, came within 20 seconds of notching his sixth shutout of the season.
“We knew Cody would come back and play well,” Blasi said, “and he did.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
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