Dec. 6, 2003

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - With first place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association up for grabs, the Miami (10-6-2, 8-3-1 CCHA) hockey team took advantage of the opportunity by scoring two goals in the third period to defeat the Buckeyes at home, 4-2. The sweep moves the Red and White past Ohio State (11-7-0, 8-5-0 CCHA), as well as Notre Dame, into first place in the conference for the first time since 2000-01.

Ohio State got on the board early when Paul Caponigri ripped a shot top shelf at 9:35 in the first period to give OSU a 1-0 lead. Dave Steckel beat the Miami defenseman down the right boards and dumped Caponigri the puck for an easy shot.

At 10:33 in the first period, sophomore defenseman Andy Greene (Trenton, Mich.) lit up an OSU player with a massive hit in the OSU zone, breaking the Goggin Ice Arena glass. The hit resulted in a minor penalty for Greene, and a brief 12-minute delay as the arena staff quickly replaced the broken pane.

After play resumed, Miami was skating 4-on-4 against the Buckeyes when seniors Mike Kompon (Thunder Bay, Ontario) and Greg Hogeboom (Etobicoke, Ontario) broke out on a 2-on-1 break. Hogeboom flipped a pass over the extended stick of an OSU defensemen to Kompon, who skated in on the breakaway against OSU's goalie Mike Betz. A quick wrist shot over the shoulder of Betz gave Kompon his sixth goal of the season, and evened the game, 1-1, at 16:50 in the first frame.

Hogeboom gave the RedHawks their first lead of the game, 2-1, when he scored an even-strength goal at 7:16. Freshman Andy Nelson (Superior, Wis.) centered a pass to Hogeboom in the slot who ripped the puck to Betz' gloveside to light the lamp for the ninth time this season. Starting the rush at center ice and credited with the second assist was Kompon.

Miami's lead was shortlived when the Buckeyes scored at 14:27 on a waived-off icing that Chris Olsgard tracked down in the Red and White zone. Olsgard fed the puck to Daymen Bencharski who rifled a shot past freshman goalie Brandon Crawford-West (San Diego, Calif.) from point-blank range.

Sophomore Chris Michael (Glenview, Ill.) put the RedHawks up for good, 3-2, when he scored his fourth power-play goal of the season at 5:43 in the final period. Already with several scoring chances on their eighth power play of the game, the RedHawks made good on the man advantage when Kompon found a wide open Michael for the easy goal.

The Red and White added an insurance goal to its fourth straight win when senior Derek Edwardson (Morton Grove, Ill.) scored his 11th goal at 18:03 on the power play. Both Greene and linemate, junior Chris Busby (Kenilworth, Ill.), cycled the puck on the blueline to Edwardson, who was waiting with stick ready on the right wing.

The victory gives the RedHawks their first sweep of intrastate rival Ohio State since the 2000-01 campaign. Crawford-West notched his sixth straight win between the pipes by stopping 28 OSU shots. Betz suffered the loss for the Buckeyes, making 27 stops.

The RedHawks are now in first place as Notre Dame also lost this evening at Western Michigan, 6-4, and take two weeks off before their next competition. Miami plays next when it travels to Minneapolis, Minn. for the Dodge Holiday Classic on Dec. 20-21.

Printer-friendly format	Email this article