Preview: Miami at Canisius

Miami has absolutely dominated the all-time series between these teams, winning all six meetings and outscoring Canisius, 31-5.

But the RedHawks and Golden Griffins have not hooked up since 2013 and Miami has never played Canisius on the road.

While the RedHawks were off last weekend, the Golden Griffins not only played two games at Ferris State on Oct. 14-15, they hosted RPI on Tuesday.

A look at this weekend’s matchup:

WHO: Miami RedHawks (2-1-1) at Canisius Golden Griffins (2-3).

WHERE: Lecom Harborcenter (1,800), Buffalo, N.Y.

WHEN: Friday – 7 p.m.: Saturday – 4 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Miami leads, 6-0.

TV: None.

STREAMING: FloHockey ($).

MIAMI RADIO: Saturday – WBMV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind.

NOTES: Canisius lost its first two games of the season at Penn State but has rebounded with two wins in its last three.

The Golden Griffins have struggled to keep the puck out of their own net thus far, allowing 21 goals in five contests.

Their team save percentage is just .876, although Canisius has improved in its last three games, holding opponents to nine goals.

Jacob Barczewski and John Hawthorne have both logged three games in net for the Golden Griffins, and in a small sample size, Barczewski has been the better of the tandem in save percentage at .887 vs. Hawthorne’s .873 clip.

Both are likely to rebound, however, as Barczewski posted save percentage clips of .926 and .923 the past two seasons and Hawthorne went 3-1-2 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in 2021-22.

Transfer Nick Bowman tallied 10 points in three seasons at RPI but has scored four goals and added three assists for a team-best seven points.

Another RPI transfer — Nick DiGrande — has netted five goals in five games after notching nine in three previous collegiate seasons.

Keaton Mastrodonato, last season’s leading scorer who went 11-15-26, is one of Canisius’ top offensive threats and has a goal and four assists already, and Max Kouznetsov — who paced the Golden Griffins with 12 markers in 2021-22 — has scored twice already this campaign.

The last time these teams played was nine years ago in Oxford, and the RedHawks won, 3-0 and 5-2. Ryan McKay earned a shutout, Blake Coleman picked up four points and Austin Czarnik and Alex Wideman both scored twice.

Canisius is also the first team Miami played in a weekend series at Cady Arena. The RedHawks hosted the Ice Breaker to open the 2006-07 campaign, beating Denver and falling to Vermont, and the next weekend they won 5-1 and 3-1 decisions vs. Canisius.