OXFORD, Ohio — And just like that, Miami is under .500.
The RedHawks dropped their fourth straight game and extended their winless streak to five in a series-sweeping 4-1 loss to Colorado College at Cady Arena on Saturday.
RECAP: Colorado College (7-3) took the lead with 8:17 left in the first period when Noah Laba carried the puck through the neutral zone, drove the net and shoveled a pinball shot that somehow snuck through Miami goalie Logan Neaton.
The Tigers’ Ryan Beck corralled a centering feed by Bret Link in the slot, took a stride toward the left side of the cage and buried a wrister two minutes into the second to make it 2-0.
Three minutes later, Miami (4-5-1) trimmed its deficit to one on an odd-angle shot by Max Dukovac from near the left goal line that eluded goalie Kaiden Mbereko on the short side.
But Colorado College regained its two-goal lead while shorthanded with 2:39 left in the middle frame when Noah Laba stole a lateral pass from the blue line, went in alone, pulled up at the top of crease and roofed a forehand shot to make it 3-1.
Drew Montgomery tapped in an empty netter in the closing seconds off a feed from Stanley Cooley.
STATS: Believe it or not, Dukovac’s goal was just the third of his career, as he has already eclipsed his freshman mark of one.
The goal snapped a six-game points drought for Dukovac.
John Waldron picked up the primary assist for the feed that led to his goal. Waldron is second on the team with 10 points and is the only RedHawk to earn points in both games this weekend.
Michael Feenstra notched the other helper, his fourth of the season. All have come in the last six games. The sophomore defenseman did not register a point his entire rookie campaign.
— Miami finished 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a shorthanded goal. The RedHawks did kill all five Colorado College chances. The MU power play is minus-1 in November — it has generated one goal in 13 opportunities and allowed a pair of SHGs.
— In four NCHC games this season, the RedHawks are 0-4 and have been outscored, 18-4. They are 1-17-2 (.100) in their last 20 games vs. conference foes.
— MU’s woes against Colorado College continued. The Tigers — who have never finished above sixth in the league, are 9-0-2 in these teams’ last 11 meetings.
Miami is winless in nine straight at home vs. CC as well, with its last Cady Arena win over the Tigers coming Nov. 3, 2017.
ANALYSIS: Sort of like Friday, it felt like the game was pretty even, but Colorado College capitalized on its scoring chances and Miami did not.
The 9-2 aggregate score this weekend looks awful on paper but after an abysmal first period on Friday, the RedHawks played pretty well overall in the series.
Last weekend, Miami seemed to give up late at St. Cloud State, and when the RedHawks found themselves again down big after 20 minutes Friday, concern of a repeat was justified.
But the opposite happened, and MU was pretty much on its game the final 100 minutes, especially considering the illness that has hampered the team for several weeks as well as the mounting injuries to key players.
Effort has been an issue at times over the past few seasons, but for all of Miami’s current problems, this team busted it for 60 minutes, short significant players and battling sickness.
That said, every team battles adversity and no one feels sorry for teams going through it. Miami will need to continue its recent commitment to maximum effort, and better health and more puck luck the next four months sure wouldn’t hurt, as the RedHawks’ league schedule only gets tougher from here.
— Things looked promising early, as Miami fired three shots in the first 20 seconds, on pace to dominate, 540-0.
— We were right (for once)! We said after Friday’s game that featured multiple skirmishes that saw very few penalties assessed, this game might be called tight, especially early. Sure enough, the teams combined for seven power play chances in the first 20 minutes.
— We have no stats on this, but it seems like Miami’s success on home ice is inversely proportional to crowd size. A big-time late student wave poured in and nearly 2,500 attended for a solid showing.
— The RedHawks were limited to two goals on the weekend, but Mbereko was outstanding. He finished the weekend 61-for-63 (.968), and also caught multiple breaks on missed shots and posts. Mbereko robbed P.J. Fletcher from in close and fended up multiple chances during a power play midway through the first period.
— The hitting was outstanding. Spencer Cox laid out a couple of huge checks, and Zane Demsey and Teddy Lagerback also dished out serious punishment on multiple occasions as well.
— Coach Chris Bergeron was booed by a more sizeable portion of the crowd than ever when he was announced during introductions. A decent segment, when it wasn’t chanting its affection for regular linesman Eric Frank, also led anti-Bergeron cheers.
LINEUP CHANGES: None in terms of players, but defensemen Zane Demsey and Rihards Simanovics traded places in the fourth-line left wing spot on the lineup card.
Miami is extremely thin up front, with four injuries to its forwards.
F Raimonds Vitolins, F Frankie Carogioiello, F Ryan Sullivan, F Albin Nilsson and G Bruno Bruveris were all unavailable for this game due to injury.
GRADES: D. The energy was there but this corps generated just one goal despite 10 minutes of power play time. Artur Turansky had the best energy but also made an ill-advised pass that was intercepted and skated down for an eventual goal. Matthew Barbolini and William Hallen both look a lot stronger than last season, as they are dominating more in 1-on-1 situations. Waldron also seems to be much tougher to separate from the puck.
DEFENSEMEN: D+. Two plays were costly: Axel Kumlin couldn’t handle a pass by Hampus Rydqvist, resulting in a breakaway shorthanded goal, and Jack Clement lost Beck on a 3-on-3 on the second Colorado College goal. Cox turned the puck over in his own zone for the ENG, but that was in the final 20 seconds with Miami down two, so you can’t fault desperation plays at that point.
GOALTENDING: B+. Having watched it live from one angle, asked several people who saw it from the opposite side of the rink and checked out the replay, we still don’t know how the first goal went in. Neaton has no chance on the second, the third was on a breakaway and the fourth was empty net. He was excellent on a first-period 5-on-3. This was one of his better games this season.
STANDINGS/SCHEDULE: Miami dropped to 4-5-1, 0-4 in NCHC play.
Only the RedHawks and Minn.-Duluth have zero league points, and the Bulldogs have only played two in-conference games.
MU is tied with Michigan Tech for No. 36 in the PairWise rankings.
Miami heads to Grand Forks next week for a series vs. No. 4 North Dakota.
FINAL THOUGHTS: While we’re obviously pleased that this team has a good amount of talent and is playing better than its record indicates, stats still matter.
And the stats say that through 4 of 24 games in league play, Miami has been outscored by an average of 4.5-1, and the RedHawks have yet to play a ranked NCHC foe.
Hopefully Miami gets healthier and luckier while sustaining the same intensity level we saw the final five periods of this series the rest of the season.
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