This season has turned into a tragedy that could bump F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bronte and Shakespeare down the all-time top-10 list.
After getting blown out a night earlier, Miami erased a three-goal third-period deficit and scored the apparent game-winner in the closing seconds, only to have it reversed.
And of course, No. 19 Colorado College topped the RedHawks in overtime, 5-4 after a 6-1 gut-punch in Game 1.
Miami (3-23-2), which did earn a second league point but dropped to 0-16 in the NCHC, hosts Denver next weekend.
(Full disclosure: We’ve both been seriously under the weather this weekend and med-ed up, and although we did watch both games, we’re keeping this short. So if you see anything out of the ordinary posted, let me know immediately, as I squeeze some ketchup onto my hot dog…)
STATS: Rihards Simanovics scored his first career goal on Saturday, and he added an assist for his first multi-point effort.
The sophomore defenseman had just one previous point as a RedHawk.
— Dylan Moulton did not have a goal in 26 straight games entering last weekend, but he has netted three in his last four, giving the defenseman alternate captain nine tallies in the past two seasons and 14 for his career.
— Johnny Waldron missed four games due to injury prior to this weekend, and while he didn’t record a point on Friday, he picked up two assists in the finale as he regained the team lead with 12.
— Colby Ambrosio and Raimonds Vitolins found the net this weekend, their fifth and third goals of the season, respectively.
Forwards Frankie Carogioiello, and Brayden Morrison and defensemen Michael Feenstra and Hampus Rydqvist also picked up helpers in the series.
— The last time Miami scored four goals in the period was Oct. 8, 2023 at Ferris State in a 5-2 win.
— Ambrosio’s goal snapped a string of 302:29 without a Miami goal by a forward, as the previous four had all been scored by defensemen.
— The RedHawks dropped to 1-13-12 since the implementation of the current 3-on-3 overtime rules and have one win in their last 38 OT contests since 2018 (1-15-22).
— Opponents have scored on Miami in 12 consecutive periods, not including overtime (which would make 13, but we’re being nice and limiting the stat to full-length periods).
–That’s 20 straight losses, shattering the previous school record of 17. Don’t shoot the messenger, but it’s not really a secret at this point.
ANALYSIS: Miami played well for four minutes on Friday but allowed a soft goal and imploded. A 3-0 deficit for a RedHawks team that had scored three times in its previous four contests was a near death sentence.
Yet MU overcame a three-goal deficit to tie the score, 4-4 on Saturday, only to have a potentially game-winning marker overturned and then allow the decisive tally in OT.
It’s not only so 2024-25, but it’s so post-2009 NCAA title game for this program.
Miami has somehow lost games in the most seemingly inconceivable ways since that Game We Don’t Talk About in D.C.
Not just on occasion, all the time.
Being outmanned really doesn’t explain winning one in 38 overtime contests.
The Billy Goat urban legend permanently died in 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series, but it almost feels like Chicago-born head coach Anthony Noreen has retained remnants of that curse since his move to Oxford.
Two controversial topics to address:
— On the Friday Spencer Cox hit: I’ve watched it countless times and saw a second angle from down the ice, parallel to the hit.
The monitors the officials can see are visible to the TV cameras behind the benches, and from what the was shown on NCHC.tv, it looked like initial contact could’ve been to the chest and not the head.
Cross-check? Good case can be made. Contact to the head? Hard to say, but there definitely doesn’t appear to be any intent to injure. The skater (who we hope is OK) had his head down and play at this level happens extremely fast. Not seeing how it’s a game misconduct, and it doesn’t sound like suspension is a considering, especially since the NCHC hasn’t sat anyone this season.
Cox did blow up Arizona State’s Artem Shlaine last Saturday, sending him to the hospital on a clean hit in the corner and was not assessed a penalty. Prior to his 5-and-10 on Friday, the senior had 30 PIM since the start of his sophomore season at Long Island.
— On the overturned goal, the angle on Root Sports showed Miami forward Casper Nassen may have obstructed goalie Carsen Musser.
It looked like Nassen’s skate may have locked with Musser’s, preventing the CC goalie from pushing off to stop the would-be decisive goal.
Noreen went ballistic on the officials, which was shown by Root Sports on TV and picked up on the Tigers’ jumbotron.
It seemed like the decision was awfully quick to overturn such a consequential goal would be the only objection here.
This site tries to call balls and strikes, and that may have been the right call but to overturn such a key call in a matter of seconds when some replays last five minutes…?
— The third-period fight on Saturday must be commended. Down 10-2 on the weekend after 19 straight losses, to erase a three-goal deficit and score the potentially-winning goal when no sane person would’ve predicted a comeback is a big step in the right direction for this program.
STANDINGS: At 0-18 in the NCHC, even with the second conference point earned by advancing to overtime on Saturday, mathematically Miami can finish no better than eighth in the league.
And that would require overtaking a St. Cloud State team 13 points ahead of the RedHawks.
Just three points by the Huskies in their final six games will lock Miami out of postseason competition.
Miami is now tied with Northern Michigan for 62nd out of 64 in the PairWise rankings.
FINAL THOUGHTS: We’ll leave you with this: All-Solar System defenseman Zeev Buium, a first-round draftee of the Minnesota Wild who has 80 points with Denver despite having just turned 19 in December, could be suspended for a dust-up at the end of his game vs. North Dakota on Saturday.
The Pioneers visit Oxford this weekend and would become a lot more beatable if Buium is unavailable.
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