2008 Woodie Awards
'Hawks crack Buckeyes, gear up for CCHA playoffs
Trish Engelman
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Sports
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The RedHawks swept the season series from OSU, winning all four conference games, as well as the championship game of the Ohio Hockey Classic. The in-state rivalry showed its true colors Friday night as both the Red and White and the Scarlet and Gray battled until the final horn sounded.
"It is always fun because it is a great rivalry," said senior goaltender Charlie Effinger. "It seems that we always get up for each other and it has been a pleasure being part of it for the last four years."
The emotions were riding high in the stands as well as on the bench as the RedHawk nation cheered on Miami's seven graduating seniors who have fought against the Buckeyes a total of 19 times in their college careers.
"I knew that we would come out with a lot of emotion," said head coach Enrico Blasi. "Typically on senior night, they can come out with so much emotion, it's almost too much. But give them credit, they came back and stuck to their game plan."
Sticking to that game plan, the RedHawks netted their first goal three minutes into the game as freshman Andy Miele dumped the puck blindly to sophomore Jarod Palmer, who slipped it past the Ohio State goaltender Joseph Palmer.
"You get lucky every once in a while," Miele said. "You get a couple bounces and if you're lucky, sometimes it goes the right way."
Miele later proved to be just as talented as he is lucky, slamming home Miami's second goal of the evening off a pass from senior alternate captain Nathan Davis. Miele has averaged over a point per game since coming to Miami, scoring 13 points in just 12 games.
The Davis-Miele-Palmer line was "en fuego," as former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick would say, scoring their third goal of the game just six minutes later. Accepting a pass from Miele, Davis faked out the Ohio State defense and banked a shot between the legs of Joseph Palmer to send the Buckeyes into the locker room trailing 3-0.
"It is the right chemistry," Davis said. "The three of us are a good mix. It's our fourth game all playing together and every time we just get that much more comfortable."
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