CCHA tournament semifinals
Who: No. 6 Miami RedHawks (21-9-6) vs. No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-11-5)
When: 4:35 p.m. Friday
Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
Radio: WMOH-AM (1450), WKBV-AM (1490)
TV: Fox Sports Ohio
Saturday's games: Semifinal winners in the championship game; losers in the consolation game; times TBA
OXFORD — Sophomore forward Reilly Smith is the least well-known of Miami University’s triumvirate of high-velocity scorers, which is understandable.
Just look at the company he keeps.
Senior forward Carter Camper ranks third on Miami’s all-time points list and is first among modern-era players with 178.
Senior forward Andy Miele leads the nation in scoring, and his 65 points this season are one short of the RedHawks’ modern-era record of 66 set by Craig Fisher in 1989-90.
Still, when Miami faces off against Notre Dame in Friday’s first semifinal of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, the Fighting Irish know they can ill afford to lose track of Smith.
He is on a scoring spree, which has become standard operating procedure for the left-hander from Mimico, Ontario.
Smith has scored goals in four straight games, totaling nine points during that span. He leads the CCHA and is tied for sixth in the nation with 26 goals.
“I set a lot of individual goals at the start of the year,” he said, “and I’ve exceeded just about every one, but I couldn’t have done it by myself.”
Early in the season, he skated on the same line as Miele and Camper. It’s not often you see three All-CCHA first-team forwards on the ice at the same time.
Now he skates on a line with Miele and Trent Vogelhuber, though Smith and Camper still team up on the power play.
“Andy and Trent are really playing well and getting me the puck,” said Smith, adding that for his part, he tries to “bring a high-energy presence, not to take any shifts off because they’re wasted opportunities.”
Injury update
Miami junior defenseman Matt Tomassoni is “day-to-day,” according to coach Enrico Blasi, with an upper-body injury.
Tomassoni was hurt during last Friday’s 4-1 win over Alaska in the CCHA second round and missed Saturday’s contest. He had played in all of Miami’s first 35 games and has six goals and nine assists.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
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