It took the No. 11 Miami RedHawks 50 minutes to find the back of the net Friday night. Fans of the Red and White didn’t have to wait nearly as long on Saturday; Miami registered five goals in the first two periods en route to a 5-1 win over the Colorado College Tigers.
After a close contest the previous evening was busted open by a few untimely penalties, the same Achilles’ heel took the Tigers out of this one.
“They were unnecessary,” Colorado College coach Mike Haviland said of his team’s infractions. “We take that boarding penalty, and make a mental mistake on the bench, and the next thing you know it’s two goals, and it’s a totally different hockey game.
The ice seemed to be tilted in Miami’s favor from the get-go, though. Colorado College struggled to get much going offensively, and unlike Friday night, the chances were in no way even. Defenseman Scott Dornbrock opened the flood gates for the RedHawks at 5:20 of the first period on a solo, coast-to-coast effort, the first of the freshman’s career, in fact. Sean Kuraly followed suit 10 minutes later when he cleaned up the trash and buried a rebound chance, his second game-winner in as many nights.
Saturday’s second period belonged to the RedHawks in every facet imaginable. Phenom forward Riley Barber’s fourth and fifth goals of the year were separated by an Aaron Harstad snipe halfway through the frame. Louie Belpedio tossed his name into the pool of RedHawks defenseman to make their presence felt in the offensive zone, scoring his third of the year on the man-advantage with just seconds remaining on the clock.
The game entered the third period 5-1, and that’s the way it would stay, though it wasn’t without controversy; a goaltender interference penalty disallowed a Tigers goal in the first few seconds of the third period, much to the dismay of the first-year bench manager. It was the third disallowed goal of the weekend, and the second tally taken off the board for CC.
“I wasn’t very happy, clearly,” Haviland said. “I don’t know what goaltender interference is anymore. I have no clue what is a goal and what’s not a goal anymore.”
For the RedHawks, it was the first sweep of an NCHC series this year. They improve to 7-3 on the year and 3-1 in league play, and it was the closest thing to a complete game that coach Enrico Blasi has seen in this young season.
“I think it was a good team effort,” Blasi said. “It’s the sign of a team that’s starting to buy into what we want to do; it was real team-oriented, and I think that’s what we’re going to take away from this game tonight, we started to play as a team. And when we get into the meat of the season — obviously next week’s a big week against North Dakota — we have to play a good, team-brand game.”
Blasi’s assessment is correct at the first glance of the final stats sheet; nine RedHawks contributed a point in the win. Miami also continued its shot-count domination, out-firing CC, 41-16. Jay Williams was solid for the second night in a row, as he turned aside 15 in his seventh win of the year on eight starts.
For Colorado College, the foreseeable future doesn’t get any easier; the Tigers take on in-state rival Denver Nov. 14. Up next for Miami is a heavyweight, NCHC brawl at No. 2 North Dakota. The team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux are unbeaten in their last eight contests.
