If Miami didn’t see enough evidence on Friday, No. 6 Denver again demonstrated why it has the most efficient power play in college hockey.
The Pioneers scored two more goals on the man-advantage in the series finale, running off the first four tallies vs. the RedHawks en route to a 6-2 win over Miami at Magness Arena on Saturday to complete the weekend sweep.
The RedHawks were limited to 12 shots — their lowest game total in over four years — and Denver’s 42 SOG were the second-most allowed by Miami this season.
MU, which has lost 12 straight and is 0-10 in conference play, hosts its first games in six weeks when Omaha visits Oxford next weekend.
RECAP: The Pioneers opened the scoring nine minutes in when Jared Wright poked a pass from behind the net to the top of the crease past Miami goalie Bruno Bruveris on the stick side.
Denver (17-5) extended its lead with 3:02 left in the first period on the power play, as another pass from behind the RedHawks’ net connected from Carter King to Jack Devine, who rifled it home from the right side of the cage.
Just 64 seconds into the second frame, Denver’s Sam Harris cashed in a one-time power-play feed from Devine at the right faceoff dot, scoring short side to make it 3-0.
With 7:51 remaining in the middle stanza, Aiden Thompson skated from his own blue line past the entire RedHawks’ skating corps and beat Bruveris five hole with a slap shot from the left faceoff dot to blow it open.
Miami (3-15-2) RedHawks cut the deficit to three when Casper Nassen rifled a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle off a feed from Michael Quinn past DU goalie Matt Davis over his right shoulder with 5:10 left in the middle stanza.
With 9:16 left in regulation, the Pioneers’ Eric Pohlkamp made it 5-1 on a missile of a one-timer from just inside the blue line.
Quinn whipped a one-timer from the blue line past Denver goalie Matt Davis on the power play with 7:15 left in regulation to again trim the lead to three, but the Pioneers’ Kieran Cebrian roofed a bad-angle shot less than three minutes later to seal it.
STATS: Quinn finished with a goal and an assist for the freshman’s second career marker (first on the power play) and first career multi-point game.
Quinn leads all Miami defensemen in points 2-6-8, with all of them coming in Saturday games.
Johnny Waldron picked up helpers on both RedHawks goals, giving him six points in his last four games. He now leads the team in assists (10) and points (14).
Quinn whipped a one-timer from the blue line home on the man-advantage to again trim the margin to three two minutes later, but Denver’s Kieran Cebrian roofed a bad-angle shot from the left side of the net to seal it.
It was his third multi-point game of the season and his first on the road.
Nassen scored his first NCHC goal, snapping an 11-game drought. It was his fourth goal of the season, and in honor of classmate Quinn, all have come on Saturday. Nassen has recorded six of his seven points in the back end of series.
Captain Ryan Sullivan picked up the other Miami assist, giving him three points in four games. And five of Sullivan’s seven points in 2024-25 came on Saturday.
— How about that power play! Miami finished 2-for-2, the first time the RedHawks have finished perfect on the man-advantage with multiple chances since Feb. 18, 2022 vs. Colorado College when they scored on all three of their power plays.
(And that’s all we have for the positive stats)
— Speaking of power plays, after scoring twice on the man-advantage on Friday, Denver lodged two more PPGs in this game.
Miami boasted a penalty kill percentage in the 90s early this season, but the RedHawks are an abysmal 13 of 23 (56.5 percent) on the PK in their last five games.
Denver’s power play has converted at a 32.5 percent clip this season, tops in the NCAA and four points clear of the entire field.
— Miami was outshot, 33-6 in the first two periods and 42-12 overall. The last time MU finished with 12 shots was in The Pod, a Dec. 12, 2020 game the RedHawks actually won, 1-0 over Omaha.
The last time Miami recorded fewer than 12 shots was March 4, 2017 when the RedHawks were outshot, 27-11 and — not surprisingly — outscored, 5-2.
— MU has allowed 14 third-period goals in its last eight games and nine in its last four. The RedHawks have netted just two in their last 12 games and only eight this season.
— This was Miami’s 12th straight loss, tied for the third-longest losing streak in history and its lengthiest since 1991.
— Jan. 13 will mark one full year since the RedHawks’ last NCHC win, which came against Western Michigan. Miami is 0-25-1 (.019!!%$*!) since.
ANALYSIS: Whatever you do, don’t put Denver on the power play.
This weekend, Miami pucked around with the defending national champions’ man-advantage. And found out.
Entering this weekend just under 31 percent on power plays, the Pioneers scored their first two goals on the man-advantage and never relinquished that lead.
Saturday, Denver scored its first goal seven seconds after a Miami penalty had expired on a resulting rush, and DU’s second and third were PPGs.
Pioneers 3, RedHawks 0. Game over.
To be fair, the penalties Miami took this weekend largely weren’t undisciplined and at least one maybe shouldn’t have whistled at all.
And Coach Anthony Noreen said publicly he believed the major on Friday that lead to the first two DU goals shouldn’t have a major.
But the fact is: Denver was awarded them early in both and did capitalize, putting the Friday and Saturday games essentially out of reach by the second period’s final media timeout.
It was always going to be a struggle to manage points against this team in this building, but Denver’s early power play goals both nights ensured Miami would be returning home emptyhanded.
— The start was excellent, as Miami held court in the Denver zone for much of the first several minutes, and also the RedHawks didn’t give up and kept the score respectable. The effort was solid all night.
— And yay, power play! Quinn and Nassen are going to be stars in this league, and it was great to see them rewarded on the scoresheet.
— Suddenly and for the first time under Noreen, the penalty kill is hemorrhaging goals. Miami has allowed as many power plays as it has total tallies in its last five games (10). That absolutely needs to improve.
LINEUP CHANGES: On defense, Michael Feenstra and Nick Donato sat while Zane Demsey and Hampus Rydqvist dressed.
Feenstra was injured early on Friday and did not return to that game.
Up front, John Emmons replaced Brayden Morrison, although Morrison was on the original lineup sheet. Morrison was banged up on Friday, taking a cross-check to the back.
STANDINGS: Miami is No. 61 out of 64 in the PairWise rankings, ahead of only Northern Michigan, RIT and Mercyhurst.
The RedHawks have just one NCHC point in 10 games, 12 behind the field (Duluth and CC both have 13).
FINAL THOUGHTS: Honestly, sometimes it gets hard to write about the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel after mounting losses.
For those who follow this program the closest, this is Year 10 of Miami not even coming close to an NCAA Tournament berth after it was pretty much a given for the previous decade. So it’s natural to fight feelings of impatience.
Admittedly, this season has been more of a struggle than envisioned record-wise. But in the long-term, the trajectory of Miami hockey still feels better than it has in years.
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