Season wrap: What’s next for MU hockey?

On April 8, 2019, Chris Bergeron gave an impassioned speech to media, season holders, staff and players, captivating all in attendance with his enthusiasm, energy and confidence.

His hiring as Miami’s sixth head coach was celebrated by most that day, and that verve was validated by his powerful message about a return to winning ways through hard work and accountability.

Unfortunately for Miami, his vision never materialized despite his and his coaching staff’s endless effort.

Bergeron was relieved of his position on Tuesday after winning just 35 games in five years and leaving his successor with a 16-game winless streak that is the second-longest in program history.

Before dissecting the current season, it’s important to note that a coach’s firing is not a celebration in any way.

Bergeron and assistants Barry Schutte, Zack Cisek and Jonathan Elliott and since-replaced Eric Rud all love Miami hockey and worked around the clock trying to turn this program around.

All made tremendous sacrifices in their personal lives, with most moving their families to Oxford in hopes of making Miami hockey a power again.

Bergeron and Schutte were also excellent players for MU and practically have block ‘M’s floating in their bloodstreams.

But Division I hockey is a business, and along with Rud, they were hired in 2019 to flip this program’s trajectory, and five years later, it hasn’t improved.

That’s why this move was made.

To be completely fair, Bergeron took over a team that had seen a steep recruiting decline, and its defense corps was so porous if felt like many nights there were runway lights through Miami’s slot.

Then at the end of Season 1, COVID hit. No playoffs, no in-person recruiting for 16 months.

With the extra season awarded to players due to the outbreak, veteran-heavy teams like Western Michigan and St. Cloud State simply kept their bands together and overmatched a Miami team that was unable to rebuild.

So to some extent the staff deserves a mulligan for the first three seasons, and 2022-23 started well, with the RedHawks starting 4-1-1 and actually earning top 20 votes.

But starting on New Year’s Eve, Miami lost to Niagara at home, 5-4 on a goal scored in the final minute by Albin Nilsson. That loss snowballed into a 1-14-2 finish to the season.

This season started well also, with MU running off four straight non-conference wins following an opening-night loss. Then the RedHawks won three of their final 31 games, and here we are.

Nilsson, an impact center who transferred from Niagara for his graduate senior season, blew his knee out in practice the first week, forcing him to miss the first three months.

Injuries were definitely a theme this season. William Hallen, Michael Feenstra and Frankie Carogioiello were all out the final month-plus (Carogioiello was limited to four games), and Logan Neaton, Matthew Barbolini and Raimonds Vitolins missed significant time as well.

But still: Over the past two seasons, in a completely COVID restriction-free world, Miami was 15-51-6 (.250) and 4-39-5 (.135) in the conference, including an NCHC all-time worst 1-21-2 in 2023-24 league play.

Almost every talented player currently here has plateaued rather than improved as typically happens during their collegiate years. Effort still wasn’t 100 percent every night. Fundamentals on defense were still a serious issue at times.

Scouting of opposing teams wasn’t on the level, as opponents seemed to know what Miami was going to do before the RedHawks’ skaters did at times.

In-game coaching was an issue as well, as the dump-and-chase system and plays Miami ran was often antiquated and predictable. Also, no goalie at this level should ever be left in to allow 11 goals when another healthy netminder is available.

And the RedHawks were never able to stop the bleeding when their net started filling up, by calling time out or — to the previous point — changing goalies.

This staff seemed hellbent on getting out of the NCHC in favor of the CCHA, but that was never a realistic option. The exit buyout is well over a million dollars that Miami’s athletic program doesn’t have, and with a supermajority needed to approve new members (it’s three-fourths in the NCHC), there’s no guarantee MU would’ve even been admitted.

And that animus and failure to adapt to the NCHC appeared to have hindered the staff from fulfilling its potential and bled into the locker room as well.

Despite those glaring issues, coupled with the athletic department’s financial woes, it sounds like the decision to pursue a new coach was made very late in the season, possibly during or after Miami’s postseason series at North Dakota that ended Saturday night.

Bergeron had a year left on his six-year contract with a guaranteed one-year buyout clause (north of $300,000), and with Miami athletics currently surviving on a shoestring budget, there’s a good chance the money ponied up to buy him out came from outside donors — and at least one key booster recently arranged for a meeting with AD David Sayler.

That’s how MU bought out Enrico Blasi’s similarly-structured contract five years ago.

Here’s where we get to the optimistic part.

Miami is still a fantastic school with an incredible rink that includes the team’s personal multi million-dollar weight room feet from the locker room that’s the envy of Division I, top-ranked academics, a beautiful campus and even better weather than almost every other NCAA program — except possibly Arizona State.

One of the RedHawks’ recent graduates and impact players said “(the) best players want to play in the best conference. That’s why I and many other guys chose Miami. Hockey is a unique sport where we can win national championships unlike football or basketball.”

Another in the same class said: “It’s one of the best schools in the country to go to. Unreal facilities too. No excuse.”

Other current and recently graduated Miami players have expressed a preference to playing in this league, which maximizes their exposure to media and scouts that show up in much larger numbers for NCHC games to see how high-level players perform against top-end talent.

An opposing broadcaster recent came to Oxford for the first time and said he didn’t understand why any potential student-athlete on a Miami visit wouldn’t want to play here.

And despite the team’s abysmal home record this season (Miami won one game at Cady Arena after Oct. 27), the fans and students still showed up in impressive numbers and were still loud.

Not ‘Pandamonium Like I’ve Never Seen It Before’ at Old Goggin loud or Tent City-era loud, but definitely above room temperature on the decibel meter after goals.

The 2024-25 class is very promising, although with many of those potentially incoming players basing their commitments on the previous coaching staff retaining their positions, it’s unclear how many will actually end up in Oxford this August.

So who will actually take over this program?

We will discuss that in the coming days.

Miami has three huge things going for it: 1) There are only 64 Division I coaching jobs, 2) This is currently the best D-1 program with an HC opening, and 3) coaches have egos like players do, and the coach that flips this program will practically be sainted in Oxford, and a shot at Miami immortality alone should lure quality candidates.

But after nine years of watching the crowds dwindle — and more importantly seeing the incoming revenue dwindle — this juncture is extremely consequential.

Hockey is still the sport at which Miami has the best chance to win a national championship. That was proven in 2009 and 2010.

But it’s also an expensive sport, and Miami hockey alumni coffers aren’t nearly as deep as they were during MU’s heyday.

Another hire that can’t return this program to respectability could be devastating for the program.

Who will the seventh coach in RedHawks’ history be?

Five years ago, Bergeron was introduced on April 8, less than three weeks after Blasi was relieved of duty.

With the need to hire new assistants, retain current players and rebuild the roster, we’ll likely find out fairly soon.

We’ll post our thoughts and insight into potential candidates as well as their credentials in the coming days.