We’re answering questions from our mail bag during this most chaotic off-season.
Part I, which can be viewed here, dealt more with NCAA changes and how they will impact Miami.
In our second segment, we respond to questions that we received from Twit-X, email and the site regarding the program’s quest to return to relevance.
Q: Only a handful of players from last season are being brought back in 2025-26. What’s the reason for the massive turnover?
VFG: The turnover is huge, no doubt. Only nine skaters with eligibility remaining did not enter the transfer portal, of which only five or six are expected to return.
I’ll get into more reasons later, but the short answer is a) the program needed a reboot, and b) the players coach Anthony Noreen and his staff is bringing in are better.
Noreen was hired in April of 2024. He had four months to piece together a roster before move-in. So he largely inherited much of last year’s team that won three games.
This team needed a major talent injection. It looks the RedHawks got it.
Q: What’s being done to ensure it doesn’t happen again next year?
A: Most of the RedHawks that entered the portal this spring were signed by the previous coaching staff. Noreen is bringing in 20 or more of his own players that he and his assistants recruited for 2025-26, so hopefully most or all will stick for multiple seasons.
But in terms of the number of players that hit the transfer portal, no team has a grip on it, and players are free to change schools each off-season. That’s why it’s so important to make Miami a place hockey players want to gravitate toward again for the reasons we talk about constantly, and Noreen gets that and is the program’s ultimate salesman.
Q: How did Miami fare in the transfer portal?
VFG: If you believe rankings, Miami’s portal class was sixth-best in Division I.
Obviously we won’t really know until well into the season, but on paper it looks like the RedHawks did quite well.
Florida Panthers fourth-round draftee, Vladislav Lukashevich, should be a staple on MU’s blue line. Forward Matteo Giampa led Canisius in scoring his first two seasons there. Max Helgeson was third in points on an offensively-challenged Alaska-Anchorage team.
The RedHawks have brought in six players from the portal, and Noreen recently said on a podcast that MU will have seven transfers total.
The other three officially signed all played for winning teams, and they should not only hold their own on the ice, they’ll give a young Miami team much-needed experience and leadership.
Q: Can Miami finish in the top four of the NCHC in the next two years?
VFG: Hopefully. This is a very good recruiting class.
Lukeshevich was highly regarded by the Panthers, who for the second straight year are playing for the Stanley Cup, and he chose to transfer to Miami from Michigan State.
Arguably the best goalie in the USHL is coming in, and he’s bringing his 57-point producing teammate with him.
There’s a ton to like about the incoming players, and on paper this team should improve dramatically this season. This coaching staff has already landed some quality talent for 2026-27 and beyond, so things already look better long-term as well.
While talent is great, the coaches will obviously still need to develop these kids once they’re in Oxford.
And, of course, the NCHC is the best college hockey conference in the world, so eight other really good Division I programs will have much to say about a rejuvenated Miami shooting up the league standings.
Q: Who are you most excited to see play in the Red and White next season?
VFG: Just because he played in such high-profile games and I saw several interviews that highlighted his personality, I have to say Shika Gadzhiev.
One smart fan I know pointed out that he never stops smiling. He’s also into martial arts, showing yet again that goalies aren’t like the rest of us.
Gadzhiev backstopped his Muskegon Lumberjacks USHL team a Clark Cup championship, and he has the chance to play a major role in this rebuild.
Q: Will any 2006-08 commits/signees come in early?
VFG: The biggest question is Ilia Morozov. He’s 6-feet, 3-inches, 200 pounds and is so advanced in his studies that he could come in this fall.
Morozov turns 17 in August.
He learned English in six months, which is highly unusual for someone from Russia, where English isn’t generally taught in grade school like many hockey-playing European countries.
Morozov, who has the highest pro upside of any commit or signee at this point, could end up being a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL draft.
Denver just lost a commit to Minnesota that was going to be held back a year, so that may play a role in Noreen’s decision to bring him to Oxford.
But at this point I don’t see any of the other younger recruits stepping in, especially since Miami already has more signees than 2025-26 roster spots.
Q: If Miami continues to struggle in the NCHC, would the RedHawks change conferences?
VFG: I think the RedHawks will prove they belong in this conference this season, but regardless, it’s highly doubtful MU — a league cofounder — would leave the NCHC voluntarily.
First, there’s an exit fee of well over a million dollars. There’s also no guarantee with the current geography that another conference would vote to add Miami.
A supermajority is required to admit another team, and teams in the UP or Minnesota in the case of the CCHA may not be particularly eager to add a 12-hour drive to their schedule to face — what would be in that scenario — a weak league opponent.
The Big Ten has no interest in expanding to outsiders (Ohio State won’t even schedule Miami) and the closest AHA team is five hours away in Erie.
Commits also want to play in the best conference in college hockey, which makes Miami a major draw. Scouts want to watch the best teams, so more eyeballs are on more players in this league than lower-level conferences, and the kids and their advisors know that.
Q: What makes us think this season will be better, even with the influx of players?
VFG: There’s no comparison between the incoming recruiting class and those of the past few seasons. Previously Miami was lucky to get a few average USHL guys, and the rest were from the NAHL (Tier 2) and the British Columbia Hockey League (somewhere between the USHL and the NAHL).
Noreen is bringing in up to 12 USHL graduates this fall, including two of the top scorers, two high-end defensemen and one of the best goalies from that league. Not to mention several key portal guys and three more from the CHL.
But to answer the question, it feels like the culture is in a better place now. Better culture = better on-ice results.
Noreen has turned programs around at every level and outside of a miserable record last season, he’s done everything possible to show how it can happen in Oxford as well.
Answer continued after the next question.
Q: Isn’t a coach’s job to have his team playing better at the end of season? Certainly, it can be argued that Miami showed zero improvement last season.
VFG: No doubt the results were disappointing. It was really tough to watch the losses pile up for four months, believe me. Miami hasn’t posted a winning record in 10 years, and in its last six seasons, its high mark in wins is eight.
Having watched this decline in real time can drive one to drink…a cyanide colada.
But I would say that only a few players from that team are returning, and the ones that are showed significant improvement from early October to early March.
Michael Quinn looked a lot more confident on defense as the season progressed, and Casper Nassen went from a winger just known for his howitzer of a shot to a more complete player.
The others that are returning were certainly not the issue in terms of effort or culture.
It’s important to point out that the issue wasn’t just recruiting: It was a toxic culture. If I had a dime for every time I heard the someone refer to the Miami hockey program as having a “country club mentality”, I could afford to build Ohio’s first Portillo’s on campus.
And that’s been a major issue with the RedHawks for a decade. Both the country club mentality and not having a Portillo’s within Oxford city limits.
An example: In the locker room a couple of years back a player threw his dirty jersey in the general direction of the hamper and missed, and he had to be told to pick it up off the floor. That would never have happened in 2010. And it likely won’t happen in 2025 and beyond.
In recent years, a number of players didn’t condition themselves off the ice and gave sporadic efforts on it.
Noreen understands all of this, which is why he cleaned house this spring. He’s a fitness nut committed to getting his players in shape. He’s focused on bringing in guys that are hellbent on turning the culture around.
He’s signed a ton of guys with a ton of talent, and a number of them wore letters at their respective juniors programs.
Miami hockey fans can feel like abused spouses. They’ve heard all of the rah-rah talk before. But the vibe is way better than it was 14 months ago, and it really feels like the program is on an upward trajectory.
Q: Who were most significant player losses from last season?
VFG: We knew Colby Ambrosio and the two French Canadians were one and done anyway, so I’m not counting them.
Of the players that still had remaining eligibility, Johnny Waldron heading to Arizona State probably stings the most, but there were whispers he wouldn’t be back all winter, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.
I’ll miss Max Dukovac and Raimonds Vitolins up front, and Frankie Carogioiello played every shift like it was the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final, but there just wasn’t room for him with all of the talent coming in.
I liked Zane Demsey on defense, and I think both goalies that hit the portal still have potential and hope they thrive with their new schools.
Q: What began the downfall of Miami hockey? We used to secure many of the top USHL recruits and plenty of (U.S. National Development Team) recruits.
VFG: Don’t really want to rehash the past, but the short answer is: Recruiting, recruiting and recruiting.
When Jeff Blashill was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks late last month, I said if Miami hockey had a Mt. Rushmore, Blashill would be on it. He not only landed tons of recruits as a RedHawks assistant, when he took over USHL Indiana, he continued to funnel top-end guys like Blake Coleman from that program to Oxford.
Chris Bergeron was the other assistant at the time and also killed it on the recruiting trail during that period. The talent level dropped after those assistants moved on and the country club mentality and other problems emerged and then metastasized.
Which leads into the next question…
Q: How has Noreen been able to in his short time here been able to attract top talent this program hasn’t landed in the last 10-plus years?
VFG: That’s a great question.
Noreen and his assistants all came from USHL, so they have tons of active relationships with coaches, players and other contacts in that league. That’s proving to be incredibly helpful in this rebuild process, as several key players from his former Tri-City team are coming to Oxford this fall, and studs from other USHL teams are heading to Miami as well.
And having gotten to know Noreen the past 14 months, the guy is an absolute workaholic for this program.
Dave Starman noted that he ran into him on a road trip and saw Noreen working out at 10 p.m.
I was flying out of Cincinnati International last July, and who shows up at my gate at 5 a.m.?
Noreen and assistant Troy Thibodeau, headed to Buffalo to catch a player showcase. Miami landed multiple players from that trip.
I also think Noreen is the optimal candidate to navigate Miami through all of the current changes in college hockey. Noreen and his assistants have always been underdogs, having never reached Division I status themselves, and they actually thrive on the challenge to outwork and outwit everyone else in the field.
Q: How has Miami adapted to CHL players being allowed to play in the NCAA?
VFG: The coaching staff has spent significant time in Canada, and Miami landed three players from the CHL (five if you count U Sports players who played with CHL teams prior).
On paper, Kocha Delic has the best stats, with 54 points in 46 games with OHL Sudbury. But Ethan Hay is a big-time leader and averaged half a point a game with Kingston, and D Ryder Thompson (WHL Portland) should definitely contribute on the blue line.
Miami was ahead of most teams in landing U Sports players, picking up Western Ontario G Matteo Drobac, who has had solid numbers every season, and D Owen Lalonde, coming off a 25-point effort in 26 games at Queens University.
Now, CHL players are still signing every day with NCAA teams, including some big-time blue-chippers. Right now I’d say Miami has held its own in terms of adaptation but hasn’t stood out.
Considering the RedHawks’ record the past few seasons, that’s a compliment, because this staff has still been able to convince quality players to choose Miami over a lot of other programs that won a lot more than three games in 2024-25.
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