OXFORD, Ohio — Miami’s home finale vs. Minn.-Duluth started promisingly enough.
But after the RedHawks scored the first two goals, the Bulldogs netted the final seven in a 7-2 win at Cady Arena on Saturday.
The RedHawks dropped their sixth straight game and are 1-9 since their season-opening four-game unbeaten streak.
Miami (3-9-2) heads to Omaha next weekend for its final series before Thanksgiving break.
RECAP: MU’s Zane Demsey opened the scoring when he blasted a slap shot from the left half wall that snuck through traffic and past goalie Adam Gajan far post at the 7:41 mark of the first period.
Blake Mesenburg extended the RedHawks’ lead to two with 5:56 left in the opening frame when he one-timed a goal line feed by Matt Choupani into the back of the cage from the top of the crease.
But Minn.-Duluth (5-6) ran off three goals in the final four minutes of the stanza.
The Bulldogs’ Jayson Shaugabay cut the deficit to one on a glove-side snipe from the slot with 3:24 remaining.
Tyson Hanson ripped a one-timer past Miami goalie Bruno Bruveris 67 seconds later to tie it, and just 50 seconds after that, Anthony Menghini beat the Miami defense back, skating in from the right wing and tucked the puck under Bruveris to give UMD the lead.
Menghini made it 4-2 when he rammed home a one-time feed from the corner at the 4:28 mark of the second period, and Carter Loney and Blake Bechen scored 21 seconds apart four minutes later, ending Bruveris’ night.
Bechen capped the scoring with 2:29 left in regulation.
STATS: It was the second career goal in 65 games for Demsey, a junior shut-down defenseman, and his first at home and his first in NCHC play.
Mesenburg, also a junior, netted his third marker of the season, setting a career high. Of his six career tallies, this was his second against UMD and his second on home ice. His other two this season were both at Ferris State.
Colby Ambrosio picked up his team-leading eighth assist of the season and his third in five games.
Choupani’s assist gave him six points in eight games. By notching a point apiece, Choupani and Ambrosio remain tied atop the RedHawks’ leaderboard with 11.
Artur Turansky also picked up a helper for Miami, his first point of 2024-25.
Brett Miller relieved Bruveris and stopped 11 of 12 shots (.913) in his RedHawks debut, playing the final 31:30.
— Seven goals are the most surrendered by Miami at home since Jan. 28, 2023 in an 8-0 loss to North Dakota.
— Miami was outshot, 28-8 the first two periods but led, 12-4 in that department the final 20 mkinutes.
— The RedHawks failed to score more than two goals for the sixth straight game, averaging just 1.33 markers during that span.
— Credit to the Miami Student’s Jeff Middleton for pointing this bizarre stat out, but these teams finished .500 on faceoffs both nights. They went 23-23 on Friday and 32-32 in the finale.
ANALYSIS: Watching the game as an outsider, it looked like Miami took its two-goal lead and got cocky, got away from what got the RedHawks there.
MU tried to run and gun with a Minn.-Duluth team that boasts advanced weapons systems as well as an apparent antimissile program in net in second-rounder Gajan.
And after that 2-0 lead was carpet bombed, the RedHawks were unable to regain their early energy in the second period and the Bulldogs blew it open.
With 20 games left in the regular season — all against NCHC teams — it’s become apparent the 2-0-2 start was fool’s gold.
We should all expect Miami to continue improving the next four months and hopefully the RedHawks will pull off some upsets, but RedHawks wins this winter will likely be at a premium.
— Forward Max Dukovac went down with an LBI on Friday and was not in the lineup, and Raimonds Vitolins and John Waldron were also scratched despite combining for 14 points this season.
Coach Anthony Noreen said called some of his lineup changes “internal decisions”.
“The No. 1 thing is we’re going to get the culture right, and I thought the guys that went in did a good job at that,” Noreen said.
Sometimes good players need to sit for a game.
Here’s an example:
In 2014-15, a season in which Miami won the NCHC Tournament, NHLer Riley Barber got off his game during the RedHawks’ stretch regular season run.
In a crazy parallel, like Waldron and Vitolins, Barber was scratched for Miami’s home finale vs. Minn.-Duluth.
Barber responded with two goals his next game and points in each of his next nine — 13 overall — only seeing that streak snapped when he was hurt in the title game.
Hopefully Noreen’s decision to sit two of his better forwards pays similar dividends.
— Miami was clearly bleeding in the second period, and Bruveris was left in after allowing the fifth goal, at which point he was just 14 of 19, and 21 seconds later Minn.-Duluth scored again. It was the first time Noreen has left a goalie in to let in six, and in retrospect maybe he gets pulled earlier.
That said, putting Miller in net midway through the second period was an excellent move by Noreen. Ethan Dahlmeir probably had PTSD after seeing several rockets fired past him from point-blank range on Friday, and as a freshman and especially as a goalie, confidence is key.
— 11 minutes on the power play including a major and a brief 5-on-3 and Miami was unable to score.
— Credit Miami for somehow reversing 24 minutes of target practice and playing a quality third period. As has been the case for several weeks, the RedHawks did everything right but finish, creating several Grade-A chances.
— Also, MU responded better when challenged physically than on Friday when the team was pushed around, had a player injured on a major kneeing penalty and saw two more boarded.
— Both primary assists were well earned. Turansky busted it to win a loose puck along the wall and fed it back to Demsey for his goal. Choupani penetrated the zone and fed the perfect pass through to Mesenburg for the tally.
LINEUP CHANGES: As mentioned above, Waldron and Vitolins were healthy scratches, and Dukovac was out with a LBI suffered on Friday.
John Emmons, Tanyon Bajzer and Teodor Forssander dressed in their place.
William Hallen missed his seventh straight game due to injury.
No change on defense.
In net, it was the sixth straight game Bruveris has alternated with Dahlmeir.
STANDINGS: Miami dropped to 0-4 in league play with one point for advancing to overtime at St. Cloud. That ranks last in the NCHC, two points behind eighth-place Omaha, a team the RedHawks play next weekend.
MU remains No. 57 in the PairWise rankings.
GRADES
FORWARDS: D. Loved all aspects of the Choupani-to-Mesenburg goal, and the Turansky steal and feed to Demsey was excellent. Not much else from this group though. Casper Nassen is making more of an impact in the physical side of the game and was one of Miami’s best forwards despite generating just one shot and going minus-1. Quality third period from this corps but not nearly enough for 60 minutes, and they struggled to get back on multiple goals.
DEFENSEMEN: D+. Demsey’s goal was a rip (did anyone know he had that hard of a shot?), but that was one of the only highlights from this group. Conner Hutchison and Rihards Simanovics had rare off-nights.
GOALTENDING: D+. It wasn’t a strong night for Bruveris, who finished 14-for-20 (.700), but his defense did him little favors. Miller was excellent in relief, allowing just one goal on a blast from the point. He proved he is more than capable to jump in when needed and continue to push Bruveris and Dahlmeir.
FINAL THOUGHTS: There’s no avoiding the obvious: Miami has been atrocious in NCHC play the past few seasons, and MU is once again struggling in conference play.
An 0-4 start to 2024-25 means the RedHawks have won two of their last 46 league games, including playoffs.
Let’s restate that for maximum impact: Miami is 2-40-4 in NCHC play since beating St. Cloud State at home on Dec. 10, 2022. That’s a .087 winning percentage.
Confidence has been an issue with this team for several seasons. Getting shellacked by a 12-2 margin in their own building and physically overpowered by legal and illegal means can’t help.
But we’re going to finish with a quote from Noreen from his postgame presser:
“I think the important thing is the tone you set and the message you set with the team,” Noreen said. “If you make it all about results and you make it all about wins and losses, it’s really easy to get down in times like this. That will never be what we do.
“Winning matters. We are going to win and we want to win, but it can’t just be about that. We need to get this culture right, we need to get the way we work right. We need the type of teammates that we are right and we have zero room for error on the things that are just a choice and take no skill — that’s where our focus is right now.”
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