Alaska-Anchorage and Miami have played each other a total of three times in their programs’ history: All in the same season nearly 40 years ago.
And the RedHawks loss all of those 1980s contests.
Alaska-Anchorage came to Cincinnati for the Schweppes Invitational and beat MU, 2-1 on Dec. 28, 1986, and less than a month later, the Seawolves swept a series vs. Miami in Anchorage, 4-3 and 8-5.
This will be the first visit to Oxford for UAA, which opened the 2024-25 season last weekend by dropping a pair to Denver on the Seawolves’ home ice.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves (0-2) at Miami RedHawks (0-0-2).
WHERE: Cady Arena (3,049), Oxford, Ohio.
WHEN: Both nights – 7:05 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Alaska-Anchorage leads, 3-0.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO: Saturday — WMOH-AM (1450), Hamilton, Ohio.
MIAMI RADIO STREAMING: MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell, PxP and Drew Davis, color).
NOTES: It’s been a crazy last few years for Alaska-Anchorage hockey.
The program went into dormancy after the 2019-20 season along with skiing and gymnastics, but ice hockey set a fundraising goal which it hit, and the sport resumed in 2022.
After winning just eight games in 2022-23, the Seawolves nearly reached .500 last season, going 15-17-1 including wins at Penn State, Wisconsin and Providence under Matt Shasby (UAA’s third coach in five seasons, all named Matt).
Alaska-Anchorage was slapped with reality last weekend, getting swept at home by top-ranked Denver and outscored, 10-3.
The Seawolves lost all three of their 20-point producers up front from last season, as Porter Schachle and Aiden Westin are the lead returning scorers with 16 points apiece for UAA in 2023-24.
Conner Marritt is also a solid returning contributor in the forward corps, racking up 30 points the past two seasons including a 7-7-14 line in 2023-24.
Westin has one of Alaska-Anchorage’s three goals this season, and the other two are by freshmen.
Forward Dimitry Kimbreau netted one and defenseman and Union transfer Joey Potter scored the other. Potter and another freshman — forward Ryan Johnson — are tied for the team lead early with season with two points.
Gunnar VanDamme notched 10 points last season to lead all returning defensemen. A couple more transfers — Logan Acheson (Bemidji State) and Will Schimek (Providence) — are expected to eat a lot of minutes patrolling the blue line this season.
In net, Greg Orosz played in both games vs. Denver and surrendered 10 goals on 74 shots (.865). The sophomore was excellent in limited action last season, going 3-1-1 with a .915 save percentage.
UAA’s other two goalies, Tyler Krivtsov and Bryant Marks, are both freshmen who played in the NAHL last season.
Miami tied both ends of its weekend series at Ferris State to open the season, 3-3 and 4-4.
After starting on the road, the RedHawks play seven of their next eight games at Cady Arena, all against non-conference opponents.
Three transfers, forwards Matthew Choupani and Colby Ambrosio plus defenseman Conner Hutchison, are tied for the team lead with three points.
A big question for Miami is the status of Johnny Waldron, who left Friday’s game after taking a shot to the head. He did not play on Saturday. The junior went 9-13-22 last season and is the RedHawks’ lead returning scorer.
Miami coach Anthony Noreen said Waldron skated on Wednesday.
“Our hope is that he’s a full-go for the weekend,” Noreen said. “Having said that, it’s just way too early to say right now.”
Another question is how Noreen will handle goaltending. Bruno Bruveris stopped 34 of 37 shots (.919) — nine in overtime — in the opener.
Freshman Ethan Dahlmeir finished 23-for-27 (.852) on Saturday but appeared to gain confidence as the game progressed after some early nerves.
There’s a good chance a rotation continues for now.
Miami is trying to avoid setting a school for longest winless streak. The RedHawks are 0-15-3 in their last 18 games, tying a record set in 1991. Their last win was Jan. 13 vs. Western Michigan.
And this is Noreen’s first Division I home series as head coach.
He and his staff should be commended for the job they’ve done since taking over in April.
Let them know that during intros on Friday.
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