The Miami RedHawks took down the visiting St. Thomas Tommies, led by none other than former Miami head coach Rico Blasi, in what was a hard-fought, defensive battle.
The RedHawks held the Tommies to just 16 shots on goal, well below their usual output for a team that has been generating considerably more offense this season. The RedHawks blocked 10 total shots, three of those by Ryder Thompson.
It was not an impressive crowd for the return of Rico, to say the least. I understand it’s Halloween weekend, but general admission wasn’t even sold out. To me, that’s quite disappointing, especially to open NCHC play and, better yet, for the return of your former 20-year head coach, who took the program to elite heights, including two Frozen Fours and an NCAA runner-up finish. The announced attendance was just 2,044, good for 67% full.
“Should the job that Rico did here be celebrated and honored? Absolutely. But I’m sure he’s saying the same thing. It’s about the guys on the ice, and I thought both teams obviously got up and honored him as they should. I thought it was a good, clean, hard-fought hockey game after that,” head coach Anthony Noreen said.
Timmy Runtso opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the first period, firing a one-timer slap shot that deflected off a St. Thomas defender’s leg and fluttered over William Ingemann.
Tommies captain Chase Cheslock answered later in the first period on a five-on-three power play after two undisciplined penalties from Kocha Delic and Bradley Walker.
“Discipline is of the utmost importance. We take two uncharacteristic penalties, and we have to learn from that. That can’t happen. You put a team on a 5-on-3 in this league for a minute, and it goes in the back of your net. That’s just the way it goes,” Noreen said.
The RedHawks finished with five penalties on the night, matching St. Thomas, who also had five.
The second period saw momentum shift back and forth, but neither team could capitalize. Matteo Drobac made an unbelievable glove save late in the period to keep the game tied.
“Obviously, he made one really big one, and then we get a massive chance on one end, and they come down and get a massive chance on the other. In a game where there weren’t a lot of massive chances, that was huge,” Noreen said.
“As a goaltender, with save percentage and metrics, you’ve got to meet the guy across from you. You’ve got to beat the guy that you’re going against. Sometimes in a game like that, where it’s a low-shot-volume game and a low-chance game, those aren’t the easiest games for goaltenders. Sometimes you’re going along, and it might be four minutes of game time, or it might be 15, 20 or 30 minutes of real time before you see one,” Noreen said.
After peppering Ingemann with shots throughout the third period, the RedHawks finally broke through. St. Thomas’ top-line forward Nathan Pilling took a five-minute major penalty for boarding Matouš Kucharčík. Late in that power play, Kucharčík fired a shot on net before Doug Grimes cleaned up the rebound to give Miami the lead. It was a “grimey” goal.
“It was just Dougie in and around the net. You come to our practice every day, you see that he’s there. He’s there at the end of every practice, tipping pucks. There are certain guys in this game that love being in that area, in those moments, in between the goalie and the defenseman, taking a stick and taking a cross-check. Dougie thrives in that,” Noreen said.
Grimes echoed that sentiment.
“I was gifted with a bigger build, so I just try to use my size and use my strength. It’s something I’ve tried to fall back on throughout my career, and I’m definitely focusing on it here after a stretch at the beginning where I haven’t produced maybe as much,” Grimes said. “Just being able to use my body and use my size to box out guys in front and fall back on my habits.”
“I thought the third period was by far our best period. I thought there were a lot of repeatable qualities, habits, situational awareness, structure and togetherness that we need to lean on and lean into,” Noreen said.
The power play finished 1-for-4 on the night. While it looked good during the final five-minute major, the RedHawks struggled with zone entries throughout their other opportunities. The penalty kill was solid once again, finishing 3-for-4.
The now 6-1-0 RedHawks will look to complete the series sweep tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
“We’ve got to trust the plan, and we’ve got to go out and execute Saturday night at home against what I think we all know is probably going to turn into a pretty good rivalry, as every series in the NCHC does,” Noreen said.
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