The injury bug bit Miami hard in the preseason and the first month of 2023-24, claiming three key forwards.
It went in for a second helping the past two weekends, as the RedHawks suffered four more significant casualties and limped to a 4-2 loss at No. 18 Colorado College on Saturday.
The Tigers swept this weekend’s series as well as the two-game set these teams played in Oxford two months ago, outscoring Miami, 15-5 for the season.
Colorado College extended its overall unbeaten streak vs. the RedHawks to 13 games (11-0-2), as MU’s last win over CC was Jan. 10, 2020.
RECAP: Miami (7-13-2) took the lead 2:13 into the first period when a shot by Ryan Sullivan from the high slot was blocked and ricocheted to P.J. Fletcher, who roofed it from the right side of the net on the power play.
But CC would run off the next four goals.
The Tigers’ Noah Laba tied it with 13:10 left in the opening frame, as Gleb Veremyev slid a pass through to the top of the crease to him at the left side of the cage, and he batted a shot off the post before jamming the rebound in.
Colorado College (13-8-1) took the lead less than three minutes later when Max Burkholder skated behind the Miami net, turned and fired the puck just inside the far post from the left faceoff circle.
With 5:29 left in the middle stanza, the Tigers’ Klavs Veinbergs fed a pass from behind the Miami net while on his knees to Jack Millar in the high slot, and Millar buried a wrist shot high to the stick side, making it 3-1.
Colorado College went up three with 8:49 left in regulation when Zaccharya Wisdom batted a rebound out of the air and past Bruveris, who made the initial save on a shot by Burkholder, who drove the net on the power play.
Miami’s Dylan Moulton cut the final deficit to two with 2:45 to play, skating end to end and slipping a wrister from the top of the right faceoff circle past goalie Kaidan Mbereko.
STATS: Moulton is having quite a month.
The senior set a career high by scoring his fourth goal of the season, with three coming in Miami’s first four games of 2024.
His shorthanded goal was the RedHawks’ first of the season. The last time an MU defenseman scored an SHG was Oct. 3, 2021 at Ferris State, when Moulton’s current pairing partner Jack Clement tied the score with a minute left and an extra attacker on the ice.
Fletcher took over the team lead in goals, scoring his career-best 10th of the season.
The last time someone not named Matthew Barbolini recorded double-digit goals was in 2019-20. Barbolini finished with exactly 10 goals each of the previous two campaigns, and he has nine this season.
He has seven markers in his last 12 games.
— Albin Nilsson, playing in his fourth game with Miami, earned his first assist. He scored last weekend for his first point as a RedHawk.
— Clement picked up his second assist in as many games and his seventh of the season.
— Ryan Sullivan, who has battled injuries this season, notched his second helper of the season, with his other one coming on Oct. 14.
— Miami’s shorty was its first in 47 games, with its last coming on Nov. 11, 2022 vs. — of all teams — Colorado College, with Red Savage registering the breakaway goal at Cady Arena.
ANALYSIS: Miami entered this game missing two-thirds of its top line and put up a decent effort overall, but not good enough to earn points.
Forwards Barbolini and Raimonds Vitolins were both banged up in Friday’s game, and defenseman Michael Feenstra and goalie Logan Neaton suffered injuries vs. Western Michigan last weekend.
Too many times Colorado College skated around the offensive zone unabated, and on three of its goals the RedHawks’ defense corps was out to lunch.
Yeah, altitude, injuries, etc., but that didn’t seem to stop the Tigers’ other NCHC foes that are 3-0 in Colorado Springs this season and have outscored CC, 12-2.
As well as Miami played on Friday, this was a disappointing step back.
— One of the big questions with this team when Neaton went down was how Bruveris would handle being thrust into the No. 1, and he was fine. Maybe he would’ve liked one back, but he made a save on one that was destined for the net to even that out.
He certainly hasn’t gotten rattled, which was a concern after his debut, in which he allowed six goals.
Miami may have gone 0-2 in the series, but this was definitely a good weekend for Bruveris.
— Colorado College led, 3-1 entering the third period, and the shots in that frame were 17-6 (normally the team trailing will lead in SOG the final 20 minutes). Not the best finish.
LINEUP CHANGES: Due to the injuries suffered on Friday and thanks to the J-term allowing the entire team to travel, Teddy Lagerback jumped in up front after sitting for six of the last seven games.
Spencer Cox was also back in the lineup, giving MU eight defensemen once again on the lineup card.
STANDINGS: At 1-10-1 in the conference, Miami is seven clear of the field with four points.
Omaha is in seventh, and those teams will meet in Oxford later this winter.
The RedHawks are ranked No. 44 in the PairWise.
FINAL THOUGHTS: So halfway through the league slate, Miami has earned four of a possible 36 points.
The RedHawks are already 4 1/2 games behind Western Michigan for the final home slot in the NCHC Tournament with just 12 league contests remaining.
And the schedule doesn’t get easier for MU, which will face Duluth on the road, No. 6 and No. 13 North Dakota and St. Cloud State at home, No. 5 Denver on the road, Omaha at home and 11th-ranked WMU at Lawson to wrap up the regular season.
A seven or eight seed would mean Miami would almost certainly travel to SCSU, North Dakota or Denver for a best-of-3 in the first round of the conference tournament.
The RedHawks are once again in a deep hole and need to start racking up points quickly if they hope to advance past the first round of the NCHCs for the first time since 2015.
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