Miami releases 2025-26 roster

Miami will carry 28 players in 2025-26, 21 of which will be first-year RedHawks.

Sixteen forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies comprise the upcoming season’s roster, which MU released Wednesday.

Of the newest RedHawks, 12 are freshmen — including three from the OHL. Seven transferred from other NCAA schools and two more came from U Sports, Canada’s version of the NCAA.

“We’ve got a 17-year-old playing for us this year, and we’ve got a 25-year-old playing for us,” Miami coach Anthony Noreen said. “So it’s everything from portal, now CHL, USHL, to youth hockey with the ’09 class and rising juniors becoming recruitable, so there’s a lot to it. We’re a staff that thinks it’s really important to be in the rinks, and to be out, and to see it with our own eyes. It’s amazing what you pick up just being in the rink sometimes.”

MU made major cuts to its roster following a 3-28-3 season, its worst in history, resulting in the massive incoming class.

Despite the huge number of newcomers from all over North America and Europe, Noreen said the team bonded almost immediately.

“It’s a group that, you walk in the room, you walk into our lounge, you step into our weight room, you step on the ice, that is a group of guys that – whatever happens – it is going to be an enjoyable group to be around every day, it’s going to be an enjoyable group to coach,” Noreen said. “They’re going to push hard, they’re going to play with an attitude, they’re going to play with an edge and there is an extreme level of pride in the group of guys that is here. In having chosen here, and having stepped into what they’re going to be a part of here.”

MU returns seven skaters — graduate senior Nick Donato, senior alternate captain Blake Mesenburg, senior Brayden Morrison and sophomores Michael Quinn, Casper Nassen, John Emmons and David Grosek.

Donato and Quinn are defensemen, the other five are forwards.

Goalies Shika Gadzhiev and Ben Motew, defensemen Shaun McEwen, Charlie Michaud and Michael Phelan and forwards Justin Stupka, Ilia Morozov, David Deputy and Bradley Walker will be freshman, having come through the traditional American USHL/NAHL channel.

Defenseman Ryder Thompson and forwards Kocha Delic and Ethan Hay are also freshmen, but they played in the OHL, which previously disqualified players from NCAA eligibility.

Seven newcomers transferred in from other NCAA schools — defensemen Kyle Aucoin (graduate senior) and Vladimir Lukashevich (sophomore) and forwards Max Helgeson (senior), Matteo Giampa and Doug Grimes (juniors) and Nicholas Mikan and Ryan Smith (sophomores).

Two more came from U Sports: Goalie Matteo Drobac and defenseman Owen Lalonde. Drobac is a sophomore and Lalonde a graduate senior.

Previously rosters were released in late spring or early summer, but with all of the turnover and uncertainty surrounding college sports and specifically hockey with the influx of CHL talent, that process was significantly more difficult this off-season.

“For us, obviously a big part of it was just the amount of roster turnover and new guys coming in,” Noreen said. “Housings and admissions and visas – and visas were shut down for a little bit – there were a lot of moving parts, trying to get all the guys settled, get them here, getting them housing.”

Now in Year 2 of the Noreen era, the hope is that this is the season Miami hockey begins its return to respectability, and Noreen believes his coaching staff has pieced together a roster than can take those first steps.

“Our plan was to put together the foundation of what we thought would be a highly-competitive, high-character group of guys that we could build on moving forward,” Noreen said. “I think that’s been extremely evident right from when we did our off-ice testing to the way we’ve seen the guys interact with each other to the way they’ve been the first (days) of practice to the feedback we got from the leadership development program we had come in and work them in special-forces style training for two days.”

A look at Miami’s 2025-26 roster by position:

Goalies

No.	Player	Class	Previous team/league
29	Shika Gadzhiev	Fr.	Muskegon (USHL)
35	Benji Motew	Fr.	Corpus Christi (NAHL)
43	Matteo Drobac*	So.	W. Ontario (U Sports)

Defensemen

No.	Player	Class	Previous team/league
2	Sean McEwen	Fr.	Tri-City (USHL)
3	Nick Donato	Gr.	Tri-City (USHL)
6	Michael Quinn	So.	Fargo (USHL)
7	Charlie Michaud	Fr.	Madison (USHL)
9	Kyle Aucoin*	Gr.	Harvard (NCAA)
12	Owen Lalonde*	Gr.	Queens U. (U Sports)
43	Ryder Thompson	Fr.	Portland (WHL)
71	Vladislav Lukashevich*	So.	Michigan St. (NCAA)
73	Michael Phelan	Fr.	Waterloo (USHL)

Forwards

No.	Player	Class	Previous team/league
8	John Emmons	So.	Minot (NAHL)
10	Nicholas Mikan*	So.	St. Thomas (NCAA)
11	Justin Stupka	Fr.	Sioux City (USHL)
13	Kocha Delic	Fr.	Sudbury (OHL)
14	Ryan Smith*	So.	Quinnipiac (NCAA)
17	Max Helgeson*	Sr.	Alaska-Anchorage (NCAA)
18	Ilia Morozov	Fr.	Tri-City (USHL)
19	Doug Grimes*	Jr.	Boston U. (NCAA)
20	David Deputy	Fr.	Muskegon (USHL)
21	Bradley Walker	Fr.	Waterloo (USHL)
23	Brayden Morrison	Sr.	Wisconsin (NCAA)
26	Blake Mesenburg (A)	Sr.	St. Cloud (NAHL)
33	Casper Nassen	So.	Vastra (Sweden Jr.)
68	Ethan Hay	Fr.	Kingston (OHL)
81	David Grosek	So.	Maine (NAHL)
91	Matteo Giampa*	Jr.	Canisius (NCAA)

*-transfers

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