The Miami RedHawks took down the Robert Morris Colonials 3-2 in their home opener on Saturday night on Neville Island, PA, thanks to two goals from Ilia Morozov and a Matteo Giampa power-play goal. Giampa and Morozov both finished with two points on the night.
Russian netminder Yegor Yegorov also picked up his first collegiate win in his first competitive game in North America. How about that?
Miami is now 3-1-0 on the season and has a good chance to head into NCHC play with a pretty nice record.
Related: RedHawks Rout Robert Morris 7-1 in Home Opener
It was a choppy game, with water literally pooling on the ice after each intermission. Not ideal, but Robert Morris’ rink was pretty interesting, with a capacity of 1,200 fans. I’d say it was maybe half full on Saturday.
It was the Ilia Morozov show in the first period. He scored the opening goal and then added a power-play goal late in the period to give Miami the lead back.
He’s been on fire to start the season and is playing in every situation: the penalty kill to the power play and faceoffs. He went 16-for-27 at the dot, good for 59%, on Saturday and looks stronger this season. Morozov now has four goals in four games, four of those coming this series. Sadly for RedHawk fans, this is likely his last season in Oxford before going pro.
“As long as I’ve known Ilia, he’s a guy that’s just, every year, he’s taken a tremendous leap from the work that he puts in over the course of the summer,” Noreen said.
The Colonials got one back when an outside shot from Patrick Johnson deflected in front and fluttered past Yegorov. It was a tough bounce for Yegorov, who didn’t have much of a chance to stop it.
Both teams took what felt like a thousand penalties in the second period, combining for six. Miami was the only team to take advantage, though, with Giampa scoring late in the period to make it 3-1. He one-timed a laser from the faceoff circle into the top-left corner, and the Robert Morris fan sitting next to me proceeded to stomp on the bleachers.
Miami’s penalty killing units were huge, especially early in the second period. The RedHawks blocked shots, got their forwards backchecking, and made life difficult for the Colonials. It was a strong defensive effort all around, with Miami recording 10 blocked shots. Robert Morris finished with 46 shots, 22 of which were on goal. Miami, meanwhile, peppered the net with 72 shots and put 38 on goal.
“On the kill, man, when it was time, I thought we did a really good job of being in lanes, and that was time to pressure. I thought we did a good job of pressuring and getting pucks 200 feet down the ice,” Noreen said.
The RedHawks kept rolling their lines, especially in a cleaner third period. It showed just how much depth this team has throughout the lineup.
“We want Miami hockey to be wave after wave where it just looks the same way, no matter who’s going over the boards. Our way, the right way,” Noreen said. “It makes the guy who’s getting a nice, long rest, his job a lot easier to go back out there.”
The power play was buzzing, too. Miami finished 2-for-8 on the night and had plenty of good looks with an aggressive approach of late. I like the set-up they’ve been running, pulling a guy out flow low into the slot for a one-timer.
“On the power play, what we liked about it is we felt we got momentum off it. We felt like there was, you know, you get two, but there were a lot of looks,” Noreen said. “We felt like when you have the other team, when you’re on a power play and you have them on the run, you’re able to feed off that into your next shift when it gets five-on-five. And I thought it led to some really good spurts for us.”
Through four games, the penalty kill is at an 81.3% success rate, while the power play is now clicking at 27.3%. Miami’s earned a whopping 22 power plays through just four games!
Yegorov did not face an overwhelming number of shots on goal, but he made the saves Miami needed. Robert Morris’ first goal came on a difficult deflection, while its final goal, with five seconds remaining in regulation, came during a battle in front of the net. Throughout the game, Miami did a strong job of blocking shots, closing passing lanes, and protecting the middle of the ice and the crease, continuing the locked-in defensive effort it showed Thursday night at Goggin Ice Center.
“To come in here and get the job done in a rink that’s not easy because there’s a lot of different bounces and back walls, and they were throwing pucks at him from different angles, I thought he handled the situation very well,” Noreen said of Yegorov.
Miami will return home next weekend to host the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves for a Friday-Saturday series. The RedHawks will look to carry their momentum into the weekend as they continue building toward NCHC play.
“Bottom line is, we didn’t get a single vote in the polls last week. There’s not a lot of people outside Oxford, Ohio, that have a lot of confidence in our group. We need to have a chip on our shoulder,” Noreen said. “When we’re at our best, it’s us against the world, and we’ve got a massive chip, and we’ve got something to prove.”
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