OXFORD, Ohio — Making hockey a two-period game is looking even more appealing for Miami.
Tied after 40 minutes, No. 16 North Dakota scored twice in the final frame to beat the RedHawks, 4-2 at Cady Arena on Saturday.
The Fighting Hawks’ sweep extended Miami’s losing streak to 10 games as the RedHawks wrapped up the 2024 portion of their schedule.
North Dakota (9-7-1) trailed by two heading into the final stanza on Friday and scored three unanswered goals to win.
Miami (3-13-2) has the next four weeks off before resuming play on Jan. 10-11 at defending NCAA champion Denver.
RECAP: North Dakota’s Adam Wiebe buried a one-timer from Jayden Perron in the slot, glove side, on the power play just 2:27 into the first period.
Andrew Strathmann extended the Fighting Hawks’ lead to two at the 6:01 mark of the frame when he skated in alone, juked Miami goalie Brett Miller and slid the puck in on his forehand.
With 3:57 left in the opening period, Miami’s Christophe Fillion somehow tipped a wrist shot from Michael Quinn past goalie T.J. Semptimphelter while stumbling at the top of the crease to make it 2-1.
Miami tied the score at two 8:02 into the middle stanza on a sustained offensive-zone shift, as Raimonds Vitolins centered a pass from the half wall to a wide-open Johnny Waldron, who blasted a one-timer home from the slot.
But North Dakota went ahead for good 3:07 into the final frame when Sacha Boisvert threaded a pass from along the boards through four Miami defenders to a wide-open Jackson Kunz, who rammed the puck in from the top of the crease.
The Fighting Hawks capped off the scoring on a Perron wrister from the left faceoff dot the picked the top corner, far post with 11:44 remaining.
STATS: Waldron scored for the second straight game and for the third time in six contests. He finished the weekend with a 2-2-4 line.
Fillion picked up two assists on Friday and snapped a nine-game goal drought on Saturday.
On defense, Quinn, Conner Hutchison and Spencer Cox all picked up assists.
Quinn earned his fifth helper and sixth point of the season — all of which have come on Saturday games. Hutchison leads the team in defenseman assists (6) and points (7), edging out Quinn by one in both categories.
Cox sat the last eight games but notched his second point in three games.
Vitolins was the only forward to register an assist, his second helper and third point of the series.
— Special teams was certainly that in this game. Miami was 0-for-3 on the power play, dropping to 19.1 percent on the season, and the RedHawks allowed two power play goals on four chances, as their penalty killing percentage slipped to 87.5.
After 15 games, MU’s PK was 92.7 percent, but the RedHawks are just 9 of 15 (60.0 percent) their last three games.
— Miami did hold North Dakota without a goal in the second period, snapping a string of 16 straight periods allowing a marker. Unfortunately for the RedHawks, UND netted a pair in the final frame.
— Speaking of the third period, Miami was outscored, 5-0 in the final 20 minutes this weekend and has been dominated, 22-7 in that stanza this season.
ANALYSIS: When North Dakota went ahead, 2-0 at the 6:01 mark of the first period, completely dominating play to that point, it looked like Miami was destined for another lopsided loss.
The RedHawks were outscored, 12-1 in their past two home series finales vs. North Dakota.
But after struggling out of the gate, Miami actually put forth one of its best 54-minute efforts of the season.
The RedHawks battled to get the score squared at the end of the second period, one of the best 20 minutes MU has logged all season.
But credit North Dakota: This is a team that’s missing multiple high-end players due to injury, and the Fighting Hawks came up with timely goals when it mattered most and were much better at sustaining offensive-zone pressure all weekend.
LINEUP CHANGES: Up front, Tanyon Bajzer dressed on the fourth line in place of John Emmons.
On defense, fifth-year seniors Hampus Rydqvist and Dylan Moulton were both scratched.
Rydqvist missed his second game in his last four after dressing for 102 consecutive contests. Moulton — the team captain — had played in 40 straight.
It was the first time since the defensive pair came to Miami in 2020-21 that neither was on the ice.
Zane Demsey returned to the lineup after sitting for back-to-back games, and Spencer Cox played for the first time since Nov. 1.
After being injured on Friday, goalie Ethan Dahlmeir was scratched and third goalie Brett Miller started for the first time as a RedHawk.
STANDINGS: Miami dropped to 60th out of 64 in PairWise and have one league point, last in the NCHC and six points clear of the field.
GRADES
FORWARDS: C+. In the Stone Age of 1980s Illinois, students received two grades on their report cards: One for results and one for effort. The C+ is for the two goals and just 16 shots as a group. The effort level was closer to a B+. The fourth line of Bajzer, Matt Choupani and Brayden Morrison seemed to create the most offensive zone time (Coach Anthony Noreen called it his best line of the game and said it wasn’t even close), and Colby Ambrosio excelled in a rare penalty killing role and pesky Blake Mesenburg was even peskier than usual and was around the puck every time he was on the ice. Johnny Waldron and Raimonds Vitolins have been inconsistent at times but thrived as top linemates, including one of the best shifts of the year that resulted in the tying goal by Waldron.
DEFENSEMEN: C-. Definitely still room for improvement here, but overall this group was better in its own end than Friday. Quinn picked up an assist on Miami’s first goal, but this corps wasn’t much of a factor offensively, combining for just five SOG.
GOALTENDING: B-. Starting for the first time this season, Miller didn’t allow any bad goals — two were one-time blasts, one was scored on a breakaway and the other was a snipe ticketed for the corner. He also made a couple of big saves early to keep Miami in the game. In two appearances this season, Miller has shown that he’s much more than a typical third goalie, only to be deployed in case of injuries or blowouts.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Special teams was the difference on the scoreboard, as the RedHawks were shut out on the power play and allowed two PPGs on four chances.
We’ll have more during the extended break, but the positive takeaway from this series was that Miami was able to hang with a much more talented and experienced ranked team — albeit one battling key injuries — and was in both games until the third period.
Two of MU’s biggest problems remain confidence in closing out games and its need to clean up unforced errors, whether it be the untimely penalty or losing track of an opponent who ends up wide open in front of the Miami net.
While five weeks is an insanely long time between games, the RedHawks have already played 18 games in 10 weeks, more than all but five Division I teams.
And with their losing streak reaching 10 games, this seems like a good time to regroup.
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