Dec. 12, 2009

Final Stats

OXFORD, Ohio - Top-ranked Miami erased a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat Ohio State 4-2 Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena at the Goggin Ice Center. Andy Miele scored both the tying and game-winning goals and Alden Hirschfeld added two assists to lead the RedHawks to their fifth weekend sweep of the season.

Connor Knapp stopped 25 of 27 shots he faced to earn the win and Steven Spinell started the scoring for Miami with a goal in the third period, his first career point.

Just a day after a six-goal outburst against Ohio State, the RedHawks found themselves in a defensive battle early on. The team was able to put 13 shots on goal in the first period, but Buckeye goaltender Dustin Carlson turned away each shot. On the other side of the ice, the Red and White defense limited Ohio State (7-12-1, 5-8-1-1 CCHA) to just eight shots on goal.

In the second period, the RedHawks (13-2-5, 10-1-3-1 CCHA) controlled the puck for most of the first 10 minutes, but found themselves down 1-0 at 11:59 of the stanza after Ohio State held in a Miami clear and sent a one-timer across the ice to beat Knapp just before he was able to cover the empty side of the net.

The goal was the first scored on Miami since North Dakota put one in late in the second period on Nov. 28. The time between the two goals spanned 239 minutes and 13 seconds, which ranks the RedHawks fourth all-time on the NCAA Division I list of consecutive shutout minutes.

The Buckeyes added to the lead at 15:06 of the second period when Matt Bartkowski stole the puck in the Miami zone and centered to Zac Dalpe, who made a move to his right and beat Knapp high for a power-play goal. Prior to the goal, Miami's penalty killing unit had stopped 24 consecutive opponents' power plays.

As the horn sounded to end the of the second period, an Ohio State skater got in front of Knapp as the Miami goaltender headed toward the bench. The RedHawk skaters raced to Knapp's defense and the teams gathered at center ice as a number of scuffles broke out. As a result, RedHawks Justin Vaive, Jarod Palmer and Will Weber and Buckeyes Corey Toy, C.J. Severyn and Taylor Stefishen all received 2-minute minors for roughing after the whistle.

Down 2-0 in the third period, Miami stuck to its game plan and found a way to comeback from a two-goal deficit for the fifth time this season--earning the win for the first time in those games.

"We've been there before and knew we could come back," Head Coach Enrico Blasi said. "We just got a little more physical and took it to them."

Miami cut the Ohio State lead to 2-1 at 7:07 of the third period when Hirschfeld carried the puck across the front of the goal and drew the Ohio State defense toward him. As he got tangled up with a defender, he left the puck behind him and Spinell skated in to finish it off.

Miele tallied the equalizer on the power play at 11:43 of the third when he settled a pass from Palmer while skating backwards through the right face off circle and sent a hard slap shot past everyone into the left side of the net. Chris Wideman earned the second assist.

The go-ahead goal came at 17:41 of the final frame after Hirschfeld carried the puck into the offensive zone along the left boards with Miele racing up the middle of the ice. Hirschfeld sent a pass past two defenders to the front of the net where Miele picked it up, skated across the front of the net and beat the Ohio State goaltender to make it 3-2.

"Hirschfeld made a great play to me," Miele said. "I just cut across and put it in the net."

Palmer iced the game for the RedHawks when he grabbed a loose puck near center-ice, skated just over the blue line and fired a shot into the empty net. Weber earned an assist for creating the chance when he poked the puck away from an Ohio State skater along the left boards.

Miami is off for the rest of 2009 as the season resumes Jan. 8-10, 2010 with a home-and-home series against Robert Morris. The team will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Colonials on their ice on Friday at 8:05 p.m. before returning to Oxford to finish the series at Steve Cady Arena Sunday at 4:05 p.m.

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