Miami hasn’t won a game in over two months, entering this series 0-13-1 in its last 14 games, and now the RedHawks must take 2 of 3 in one of the most hostile rinks in Division I against the fifth-ranked NCAA team just to extend their season.
MU is 1-15-1 in its last 17 meetings vs. North Dakota. The series winner advances to the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul next weekend.
The RedHawks have not advanced past the first round of the conference tournament since 2015.
VFTG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (7-24-3) at No. 5 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (24-10-2).
WHERE: Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,643), Grand Forks, N.D.
WHEN: Friday — 8:07 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday — 7:07 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: North Dakota leads, 29-8-4.
MIAMI RADIO: WMOH-AM (1450), Hamilton, Ohio.
NORTH DAKOTA RADIO: KQHT-FM (96.1), Grand Forks, N.D.
STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
NOTES: This is our third advance on North Dakota, so everything has pretty already been written about the Fighting Hawks.
Jackson Blake is still a stud up front, leading the NCHC with 52 points, the third-best total in Division I.
Cameron Berg has maintained his scoring pace, as he has 20 goals and 15 assists. Owen McLaughlin is now 12-22-34, and Riese Gaber has scored 16 times and added 15 helpers.
Graduate transfers Garrett Pyke (3-21-24) and Logan Britt (6-6-12) have helped lock down the back end, as well as a pair of solid freshmen in Jake Livanavage and Abram Wiebe, both of which have dressed for all 36 of UND’s regular season games.
And of course in net is former RedHawk Ludvig Persson, who is 4-0 against Miami in his first year at UND after winning just once in seven appearances over three seasons vs. North Dakota at MU. He is 21-10-2 with five shutouts, a 2.47 goals-against average and a save percentage of .906.
The Fighting Hawks were swept at Omaha last weekend, dropping them two spots in the poll, but they are 17-4-1 at home, including seven straight wins. They have not lost in Grand Forks since Oct. 20 (Minnesota).
This is the second time these teams have met in the first round of the NCHC postseason, with the other coming in 2021, when the entire tournament was played in Grand Forks and was single elimination. So this is the first time they’ve played in a best-of-3.
Miami did sweep top-ranked St. Cloud State on the road in 2014 as an eight seed, with Justin Greenberg firing home the series-clinching goal in the closing seconds, so the RedHawks have won as an eight seed at a one seed.
The RedHawks have lost eight straight first-round conference tournament games, with their last win coming on March 10, 1998, also the last overall March win for this program, which has lost 22 consecutive games in this month.
Defenseman Michael Feenstra and forwards Frankie Carogioiello and William Hallen — all sophomores — remain out with long-term injuries and will hopefully be ready to rejoin the team this fall.
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