It’s finally October. After a long offseason, Year 3 of the Anthony Noreen era begins Friday night (Oct. 2) on the road at Northern Michigan, two old CCHA foes.

The Wildcats finished 3-29-2 last season, a record similar to Miami’s in 2024-25 in Noreen’s first season. It will be a tough environment at the Berry Events Center, where Friday’s puck drop is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET and Saturday’s for 6:07 p.m. ET. The arena holds 3,800 fans and is one of the more unique road environments in college hockey.

“Our guys (freshmen) are going to find out pretty quick, that haven’t played a D1 college hockey game, why we practice and workout the way we do,” said head coach Anthony Noreen. The RedHawks have been practicing with intensity and preparing since late August. Now, they finally get the chance to compete against someone other than themselves.

Related: https://thereportoh.com/miami-hockey-insider-redhawks-primed-for-jump-in-noreens-third-season/

These players have been chomping at the bit to get the season underway.

For the Wildcats, Auyeung-Ashton is one of, if not the best, goaltenders in the CCHA entering this season. Despite Northern Michigan’s struggles last year, he posted impressive numbers.

In 18 games, he allowed 42 goals, recorded a 2.67 goals-against average, posted a .930 save percentage, and registered one shutout.

For more on the Wildcats, check out the work of Evan Gerry and his “Yooper Scoop” coverage of the NMU program. link: https://www.chasingmacnaughton.com/author/egerry_thg/

“With the transfer portal entries of Jakub Altrichter and Tobias Pitka, junior defenseman Joe Schiller became the Wildcats’ top returning point scorer with his 10 points last season. Right behind Schiller are sophomore forward Peter Cisar with nine points and sophomore forwards Mikey Burchill and Mathew Ward, who each had eight points this past season. The forward corps will look very different from last season, with only half of last year’s forwards returning to the Wildcat lineup; however, the new additions will fill those spots and improve the forward corps compared to the past two seasons,” Evan Berry writes.

Also worth reading is Frank Zawrazky’s recent article for The Hockey News on the state of the Northern Michigan program. It’s excellent pregame reading.

Lineups:

Northern Michigan:

Grayden Slipec – Peter Cisar – Merril Steenari
Matthew Ward – Reilley Kotai – Branden Piku
Nik Gudmundson – Girts Silkans – Aapo Katavisto
Mikey Burchill – Coster Dunn – Medrick Bolduc

Joe Schiller – Noah Houle
Ian Engel – Jason Davenport
Darik Olson – Grayden Daul
Evan Dépatie – extra D

Oliver Auyeung-Ashton (starter)
Max Weilandt (backup)
Jack Fuller

Miami:

Kocha Delic – Austin Baker – Matteo Giampa
Doug Grimes – Ilia Morozov – Ryan Seelinger
Ryan Smith – Matouš Kucharcík – Layne Loomer
John Emmons – Ethan Hay – Bradley Walker

David Helledy – Cal Huston
Shaun McEwen – Michael Phelan
Ryder Thompson – Branko Vukas
Chuck Blanchard – extra forward

Matteo Drobac (starter)
Yegor Yegorov (backup)
Benji Motew

Notes – David Deputy (F) and Timmy Runtso (D) are both out with injuries. Timetable is unknown at this point. Deputy’s injury is upper-body per Jeff Middleton (Oxford Free Press).

Keys for the RedHawks:

Use speed to advantage:

Miami is clearly the faster team on paper. Speedsters such as Kocha Delic, Matteo Giampa, Layne Loomer, and Ryan Seelinger can create problems in transition, especially without Deputy.

Moving pucks quickly out of the defensive zone and generating odd-man rushes will be key to putting goals on the board. Miami should lean into its speed advantage whenever possible.

Dominate Special Teams:

Let’s see if the power play can get off to a strong start after converting on just 12.1% of its opportunities last season.

Miami’s speed should help draw penalties, and I’m particularly interested in seeing how new pieces like David Helledy, Ryan Seelinger, and Layne Loomer fit into the man advantage. Staying out of the box and disciplined is key as well.

I imagine the top power-play unit could look something like this:

Ryan Seelinger (F) – Ilia Morozov (F) – Matteo Giampa (F)

Kocha Delic (F) – Vladislav Lukashevich (D)

Play Physical with Size Advantage:

Noreen likes to roll four lines, establish a heavy forecheck, and wear teams down over the course of a game. That approach should be especially important in an opening-weekend road series.

Friday and Saturday’s games are available to watch on Midco Sports Network and on radio with Greg Waddell on Miami’s website.