The score was much less lopsided than a night before, but the result was the same.
No. 3 Western Michigan shut out Miami, limiting the RedHawks to 14 shots and handing them their 16th consecutive loss, 2-0 at Lawson Arena on Saturday.
That ties Miami’s all-time record for its longest losing streak, set between Dec. 22, 1990 and Feb. 22, 1991.
Miami (3-19-2) looks to snap its historic skid when it hosts Arizona State next weekend.
RECAP: The Broncos took the lead with 2:50 left in the first, as Iiro Haakarainen cut to the slot and one-timed a feed from Samuel Sjolund past Miami goalie Brett Miller.
Seven minutes into the second stanza on a 4-on-4, Owen Michael skated around the Miami net and fed a pass through the crease to Alex Bump for a slam-dunk, extending WMU’s lead to two.
STATS: Brett Miller stopped 31 of 33 shots (.939) in the loss — the fourth-highest save total of his five-year collegiate career, and he raised his save percentage to .907 and lowest his goals-against average to 2.92.
And Miami was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The RedHawks had allowed at least one power play goal in eight straight games — 14 total in that span.
Miami was outshot, 33-14 and had just five shots from its 12 forwards. For the series, Western Michigan led on the shot counter, 80-35.
And since we try to come up with at least one “The More You Know” stat, the last time the RedHawks were outshot by at least a 2-on-1 margin in consecutive games was Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2022 against Denver and these same Broncos.
ANALYSIS: Miami played much better than Friday, respectably overall.
Western Michigan (17-4-1) is a Division I force and not only one of the favorites to win the last Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul but to take home an NCAA championship this spring, and the Broncos are especially tough to beat in their own building.
But five shots from forwards in 60 minutes? And getting outshot, 12-3 as a trailing team in the third period?
That’s on top of a 16-5 shot differential in the last stanza on Friday, meaning WMU led in SOG by a 28-8 margin in the final 20 minutes for the weekend.
The losses are tough enough to accept, but when Miami isn’t at its best way too often, it’s demoralizing to watch.
— Coach Anthony Noreen recently talked about looking for someone to take the reins in net, and Miller may be that goalie.
Miller started the season as Miami’s third netminder, but in a small sample size, his numbers are way better than those of Bruveris, and while Dahlmeir has shown flashes of potential and should be a solid goalie for the coming years, he just came back from injury and was banged up again on Friday. And Dahlmeir’s save percentage is just .877 compared to .907 for Miller (Bruveris is at .869).
LINEUP CHANGES: Among forwards, Raimonds Vitolins was scratched for just the second time this season. He did block a shot Friday that may have rendered him unavailable.
Frankie Carogioiello was also out of the lineup, the first time he has not dressed in 2024-25, and Johnny Waldron sat for the second consecutive contest.
Artur Turansky and Tanyon Bajzer played their place, although their ice time was limited, especially late.
On defense, one Dubuque graduate replaced another, as Zane Demsey returned to the ice in place of Michael Feenstra.
And in net, Miller made his third start, a night after Ethan Dahlmeir left early with an injury and Bruno Bruveris allowed two goals on five shots in relief.
STANDINGS: Miami remained 62nd out of 64 teams in the PairWise rankings with an RPI rating of .4014.
At 0-14 in the NCHC with one league point, the RedHawks have already been mathematically eliminated from the top two spots in the league standings with six weeks remaining.
MU remains 13 points back of eighth-place St. Cloud State, which it would need to run down to qualify for the league tournament.
FINAL THOUGHTS: In the past few seasons, we’ve compared Miami to other NCAA teams that have either rebuilt or in some cases created a program from scratch and have surged past the RedHawks, forcing inquiring minds to wonder out loud why this program can’t do the same.
Currently, only two teams are currently ranked worse in the PairWise rankings. With only 10 of 34 games remaining in the season, Miami is tied with Mercyhurst for dead last in wins (3) IN ALL OF DIVISION I!
It’s really tough to watch a team like Long Island (where RedHawks defenseman Spencer Cox started his college career) play .500 hockey, including a win at Notre Dame and a tie last weekend at Wisconsin while the RedHawks languish in the NCHC basement.
Long Island, as you’ll recall, went Division I in mid-2020 in the heart of the pandemic and fielded a competitive team despite not having a coaching staff, a roster or a home rink until a couple months before the season started.
Or Lindenwood, a third-year, small-school program that has beaten Wisconsin, Omaha and Notre Dame on the road while playing a brutal schedule. And oh yeah, the St. Louis-based team split with Miami in Oxford, the RedHawks’ last win over three months ago.
Despite not having a home conference (like Long Island), Lindenwood has six wins and has not been blown out in any of its losses.
Robert Morris is 9-13-3 despite having its program cut after 2020-21 by a moronic president only to have it reinstated last season, which meant it needed to build its roster from scratch in the portal era.
RMU swept Miami earlier this season.
So if other programs facing much bigger obstacles have effectively lapped Miami in the overall college hockey landscape, what does that mean for the RedHawks, who will set the program record for longest losing streak on Friday unless they tie?
Cleaning house. Get ready for it.
Noreen’s roster sits at 29, and he has repeatedly indicated he prefers it closer to 26.
And it sounds like as many as 20 of the current RedHawks won’t return this fall.
Eleven players are either seniors (the automatic extra COVID year is now gone) or grad seniors, so this fall Miami may return as few as six current players of the 18 with eligibility.
Noreen and his staff seem to have done almost everything right to this point.
In nine months, they’ve completely rebuilt the recruiting pipeline, with a ton of top USHL performers and even OHL studs headed to Oxford the next couple of seasons.
They’ve done their best to prioritize fitness and tighten up on X’s and O’s, especially when it comes to defensive breakdowns that have ravaged Miami in recent years.
They brought in top-end skaters from programs that won the NCAA title game or advanced to the final.
So now it’s put up or shut up time for the players with eligibility beyond this season.
The final five weeks of 2024-25 will ultimately act as a training camp to see who will remain a RedHawk this fall.
College hockey has never faced so much uncertainty, with questions abound regarding NILs, eligibility and most importantly the CHL and its impact on the product.
But after 16 straight RedHawks losses and no wins in three months, there’s no ambiguity on one issue: The Miami hockey roster will look radically different in eight months.
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