Jan. 3, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Army's Jay Clark made 56 saves and teammates Cody Omilusik and Eric Sefchik each scored shorthanded goals to lead the Golden Knights to a 3-2 upset win over No. 2 Miami Saturday afternoon in the consolation game of the Ohio Hockey Classic.
"We were a little sloppy on our power play and they took advantage of it," Miami head coach Enrio Blasi said. "Obviously we're disappointed but we have to regroup we have a lot of hockey left."
The Red and White was forced to go on the penalty kill early as Will Weber (Gaylord, Mich.) was sent to the "sin bin" for contact to the head high sticking. The RedHawks killed off the infraction but were back on the PK after Kevin Roeder (Glenview, Ill.) was called for tripping. Miami killed off that penalty and another by Chris Wideman (St. Louis, Mo.) to finish the period perfect three-of-three. Connor Knapp (York, N.Y.) stopped all five shots he faced in the period. The Red and White registered 15 or more shots for the seventh period in the last 10.
Miami fell behind in the second after Cody Omilusik slammed in a Will Ryan rebound to give Army a lead at 1:57 of the second. Omilusik would widen the margin at 11:34 of the frame as he slipped one by Knapp stick side with assists from Marcel Alvarez and Jake Hannon. Miami would battle back as Andy Miele (Grosse Point Woods, Mich.) found the net at 15:16. Gary Steffes (Grand Blanc, Mich.) passed the puck from behind the net to Justin Vaive (Toronto, Ontorio) who tipped the puck on to Miele.
The RedHawks would even the score at 4:21 of the third period when Army tried to clear the zone and it was intercepted by Pat Cannone (Bayport, N.Y.) and he fired it past Jay Clark to even the game at two. Army would respond with its second shorthanded goal of the period at 5:11 as Eric Sefchik and Owen Meyer broke out and Sefchik netted the goal that proved to be the game winner.
Miami will head to Ann Arbor, Mich., for its first trip to Yost Ice Arena since Oct. 20, 2006. The RedHawks and the Wolverines will play both games at 7:35 p.m. with the contest on Friday televised on FSN Plus and Saturday's battle televised on Comcast Local and the NHL Network. The game on Saturday will be shown live on the NHL Network in Canada and at 12 noon (EST) on Sunday on the NHL Network in the United States.
Miami RedHawk Hockey
Game Notes
Ohio Hockey Classic Consolation Game
#2 Miami vs. Army
Jan. 3, 2009 • Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio
- Miami allowed the first goal of the game for the second straight night after having taken a 1-0 lead in seven straight before that. The RedHawks have now fallen behind on the first goal eight times in 20 games and are 1-5-2 this year when the opponent scores first.
- Army's opening goal came shorthanded at 1:34 of the second period. It was the fourth shorthanded goal allowed by Miami this year, including the second in five games. The Golden Knights added another shorthanded goal in the third period.
- After falling behind 2-0, Miami evened the score with goals by Andy Miele (his seventh) and by Pat Cannone (his eighth). Assists were credited to Justin Vaive and Gary Steffes on the first strike.
- Miami has now lost back-to-back games after winning eight in a row. The RedHawks had not lost two straight non-conference games since Oct. 29-30, 2004 when they dropped a pair at St. Lawrence.
- Miami has participated in all six Ohio Hockey Classics, winning last year and in 2005. This year marks the second time that the RedHawks have gone winless and drops their OHC record to 4-4-2.
- For the second straight night, Rico Blasi was denied in his attempt to reach 200 career wins. The 10-year head coach now has a record of 199-143-31. Blasi took 218 games (Oct. 9, 1999 to Jan. 24, 2005) to reach the century mark, but this was only the 155th since (Jan. 22, 2005 to Jan. 2, 2009).
- Connor Knapp suffered only his second loss of the season against Army. He is now 7-2-1 after seeing a four-game winning streak snapped.
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