After 10 non-conference games to start his Division I career, Anthony Noreen makes his NCHC debut this weekend.
The first-year Miami coach opens his first league slate at St. Cloud State, where the RedHawks have pulled off major upsets and suffered historically-bad losses since the teams became conference foes in 2013.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (3-5-2) at No. 12 St. Cloud State Huskies (6-3).
WHERE: Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,159), St. Cloud, Minn.
WHEN: Friday — 8:30 p.m.; Saturday — 7 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: St. Cloud State leads, 34-19-6.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO STREAMING: MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell PxP).
MIAMI RADIO: WBKV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind.
ST. CLOUD STATE RADIO: KNSI-FM (99.3) and KNSI-AM (1450), St. Cloud, Minn.
NOTES: We’ve seen a lot of extremes when these teams have played in this building.
The most famous series was in the 2014 NCHC Tournament, when eighth-seeded Miami swept top-ranked St. Cloud State.
The RedHawks were brutalized by a 19-1 margin over a two-game set in the Brooks Center three seasons ago but rallied to tie SCSU twice in 2022-23, a season in which MU won just three of 24 conference games.
St. Cloud State outscored Miami, 9-2 in its sweep here last season, and the RedHawks are now winless in their last 15 games at Brooks Center (0-13-2).
The Huskies started 2024-25 with six wins in its first seven but were swept by Boston College at home last weekend. This set actually caps a six-game SCSU homestand.
Scoring has been an issue thus far for St. Cloud State, which has just 20 goals in nine games, a 2.22 average that is tied for 44th out of 62 in the NCAA.
The youth has led the way up front for the Huskies, as six of their top seven points-producing forwards are freshmen or sophomores, and junior and senior wings and centers have combined for just nine points.
In-state freshman Austin Bernevik and sophomore Barrett Hall are tied for the team lead in points (8), and Bernevik is the lone SCSU skater with three goals.
Finnish sophomore Verner Miettinen tallied 23 points last season is already 1-5-6 in 2024-25, and classmate Tyler Gross is fourth on the Huskies with four points following a 20-point freshman campaign.
Vancouver draftee and Clarkson transfer Daimon Gardner has two goals and an assist, and of course a SCSU roster wouldn’t be complete without an Ahcan in the points mix — Grant Ahcan is 1-2-3.
Josh Zinger leads the defense corps in goals (2) and points (3), and a pair of Minnesotans — junior Cooper Wylie and freshman Colin Ralph — have two points apiece.
Returning as well is senior Josh Luedtke, who has been an excellent shut-down defenseman for three-plus years.
One interesting name on the Huskies’ roster is Thor Byfuglien, a freshman and second cousin of NHL wide-body Dustin Byfuglien. Thor already has a goal in five games.
In net, Swedish sophomore Isak Posch has logged every minute and has been outstanding. Posch has a 1.79 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Last season his GAA was 2.93 and his save percentage .901.
That doesn’t bode well for Miami, which is 1-5 in its last six games and has scored just 11 goals in that span, an average of 1.83.
The level of competition jumps six levels with this series, as the RedHawks enter a meatgrinder of an NCHC slate having struggled the past three weekends against teams that have struggled to crack 50th in the PairWise the past few seasons.
It will be interesting to see how Miami handles this level of competition in its first series with Noreen behind the bench.
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