Defending its No. 1 ranking, the Miami University hockey team (8-0-0, 6-0-0 CCHA) added the University of Northern Michigan Wildcats (1-7-0, 0-6-0 CCHA) to its sweeping success after dominating a two-game series. This extended the RedHawks' winning streak to eight games-the best start in school history.
Skating to victory Friday night, the RedHawks didn't surprise many when defeating the Wildcats with a 9-2 win. Senior goaltender Charlie Effinger was solid for Miami in net, giving up only two goals on 22 shots, improving his record this season to 2-0.
"The 9-2 score was not very indicative of the way they played; it was just a matter of us being opportunistic when we got our chances," senior captain Ryan Jones said.
Jones did his part in the slaughter of the Wildcats, tallying a career best four goals in Friday's contest.
After the possession of play rallied back and forth between the two teams during the first period, Nino Musitelli opened the scoring for the 'Hawks at the 10-minute mark with a goal on the power play, notching his fourth goal of the season.
The Red and White continued to dominate the ice and the scoreboard and in addition to Jones' four goals, Alexandre Lacombe, Justin Vaive, Brian Kaufman and Jarod Palmer rounded out the remaining goals Friday night.
"I had a couple of re-directions of some good shots from (Charley) Fetzer and (Vincent) LoVerde, and the rebound off another good shot by (Alec) Martinez," Jones said. "Basically I was at the end of some great teams plays."
However, Saturday night saw a different RedHawk team take the ice at the Berry Events Center. After their devastating loss Friday night, the Wildcats found no other alternative but to show up with their A-game.
"We knew that they would come out a lot harder on Saturday night with something to prove," junior goaltender Jeff Zatkoff said. "We just need to make sure we're ready from the start every night because in this league any team can win on any given night."
Confirming they had nothing to lose, Northern came out strong with the help of forward Matt Siddall, who started the scoring by potting a short-handed goal 7:43 into the first period. Just 59 seconds later, forward Nick Sirota scored for NMU, sending the Red and White into the locker room trailing 2-0.
"Northern Michigan came out flying, capitalizing on a couple of our power play mistakes," Jones said. "They are very good team and there are times when they had us on the ropes, but we just had to weather the storm. We did a great job of making sure we stuck together for the full 60 minutes."
In the second period, Miami outshot Northern Michigan 16-4; however, was only able to cut the Wildcat's lead to 2-1 with junior forward Bill Loupee's second goal of the season during the team's sixth power play of the night.
Coming out for the third period, the No. 1 team in the country didn't waste any time tying the game as junior defenseman Alec Martinez found the back of the net with a wrist shot that edged past NMU goaltender Reid Ellingson just 1:16 into the third.
Shortly after, the 'Hawks took their first lead of the game with their third power-play goal scored by Justin Mercier.
"It came down to a 20 minute game," Zatkoff said. "You win the period, you win the game. We were getting the chances and knew eventually the bounces were going to go our way, and they did."
Zatkoff had another solid effort between the pipes for Miami, stopping 19 of 21 shots for his sixth victory of the year.
"You can't say enough about the way that our goalies played both nights; they were a huge part of keeping us in the game," Jones said. "We are very lucky to have two of the best goalies in the nation."
Miami Head Coach Enrico Blasi said that the team's ability to bounce back after a rough start helped the RedHawks stay in the game.
"I think early in the game Saturday they executed a couple of plays and we did not," Blasi said. "We go into every game with the same mind-set: play our game and execute our game plan. We had a feeling they would come out strong. We played 60 minutes and I can tell you the team was positive and our leadership led the way."
The weekend sweep of Northern Michigan will ensure that Miami will keep its No. 1 ranking for a second straight week. This marks the first time that a Miami team will be the top team in the nation for more than a week.
Up next for the RedHawks is no simple task, as the reigning CCHA champions from the University of Notre Dame will invade the Steve Cady Ice Arena Nov. 9-10.
