Things are certainly looking bright and sunny for Miami these days. Having started the year 8-0-0, the RedHawks were one vote away from a unanimous No. 1 in Monday’s USCHO.com poll (who was the idiot who still insists on giving Michigan State one first-place vote?) What’s astounding, though, is not the perfect start for Miami, but the manner in which they are winning.
The RedHakws have yet to allow more than two goals in a game, but at the same time they’ve scored five or more goals in five of their eight contests. They’ve outscored their opponents 40-12 overall and 34-10 in six CCHA games. At this point, Miami seems to be the New England Patriots of college hockey. It’s just incredible.
Offensively, Miami has seen its goal scoring spread throughout the club with 13 different players having recorded a goal. Only senior Ryan Jones and rookie Carter Camper (how’s that for a hockey name – ‘Carter Camper camped out at the right post’?) have hit double-digits in points. Truly, this is a very balanced team.
As I mentioned last week, the next few names will be important for Miami to prove their worth. This week’s pair at home versus Notre Dame will be tough, but not as difficult as next week’s series at Michigan State appears to be.
Maybe then that sole Spartan voter will be justified?
Perfect Princeton
By the way, I was just about to write about Miami remaining the only team without a blemish to date. And then I realized that Princeton has quietly begun the season with three straight wins (yes, they’re an Ivy, so they start later than the rest of the college hockey world). What’s impressive is the league competition that they’ve beaten – Yale might not be the strongest, but both Cornell and Colgate had some decent pre-season expectations.
Shockers
Probably the wrong tag, but here are a few results from the weekend that caught my attention:
Denver sweep of Minnesota: Sure there’s a lot of parity in the WCHA, but seriously, how often will a team go to Mariucci and sweep the Gophers… convincingly.
Mercyhurst over Air Force: The Lakers are reeling after losing their top goaltender, but still were able to go to Colorado Springs and upset defending champion Air Force.
Northeastern over New Hampshire: The Huskies struggled to keep the puck out of the goal on Friday night in a 7-4 loss, then rebounded with a 2-1 win at Durham on Saturday.
Canisius over RIT: Maybe the Griffs are better than expected, but RIT was coming off a win against Cornell last weekend. Great win for coach Dave Smith and his young program.
Bowling Green’s two OT wins over Western Michigan: Okay so these two don’t shock me, but any time you win back-to-back OT games you deserve some recognition.
