Noreen: Time to ‘push even harder’

Miami has won its first six games, the team’s second-longest winning streak to open a season, after sweeping Lindenwood this weekend by identical 5-4 scores, both in overtime.

The RedHawks will likely be nationally ranked on Monday after sweeps of Ferris State, RPI and LU.

But Miami opens NCHC play next weekend, starting with Arizona State at Cady Arena on Oct. 31-Nov. 1, and after finishing winless in 24 league contests last season (0-23-1), the RedHawks look to renounce their status as league punching bag.

“Right now, the first thing is you want to celebrate the fact — for the guys — that we found ways (to win),” Noreen said. “Good teams do that. You find a way, in those moments — you want to build up the guys that had really good nights and you want to celebrate the good moments. Having said that — it starts with me — and we’ve got to go back, and we know we’re going to play a team that can get going even more than (Lindenwood) next weekend. For me, and our staff, it’s turn the page immediately start getting ready for ASU.

“These guys, the way they work, and what they’ve done all summer, and what they’ve done since they’ve been here, they get to enjoy it…and get back to it on Monday.”

Despite the sweep of the Lions, Miami was far from flawless this weekend. They struggled at times defensively and were caught pinching on occasion.

“This is the time where you push even harder, and we will push, we will get back to work,” Noreen said. “We have to push as a staff, and if I know these guys the way we think we know these guys, they’ll show up and they’ll be ready to work on Monday. That’s what this game is: You’ve got to turn the page fast, and I’ve said it a million times: Winning exists in the moment, that’s it. You’ve got to do it again, and you’ve got to build the blocks to put yourself in the best position to it again, and that’s what we have to do.”

Ryan Smith, who had five points in his freshman season at Quinnipac, recorded the first Miami hat trick since New Year’s Eve, 2022, including the game winner, and also notched an assist. He has been one of hardest workers on the team was rarely rewarded on the scoresheet prior to this weekend, tallying just one assist in his first four games.

“Coming into the weekend he was…just knocking on the door, and we felt like he was going to break out and have a game and a weekend like he just did,” Noreen said. “Man, he’s been so competitive in practice, he’s another guy that (does) the work that’s expected of him but (also) above and beyond. Other than doing his school work, he’s at the rink, and he’s in the shooting room, and he’s in the recovery room, he takes care of his body…he deserves it.”

And Ilia Morozov, who went 11-11-22 in his final year of juniors, has taken major steps forward each weekend and may be selected in the first round of the 2026 NHL draft.

“I go back to working in junior hockey where you’re used to having those young, high-end guys who take steps over — you hope for — a season and maybe the second season, but to see the step he’s made, watching everything of last year to this year, seeing how intentional he is with his work…that’s why when we talk to him about guys at the next level, we just think he’s going to keep going in that direction,” Noreen said. “And that doesn’t mean he’s got to be in on the game winner every night, but you talk about someone that’s why you do this for a living, to work with a kid like that and to have an opportunity…and a kid that could not be more kind, unbelievable human being and works at it, and what do you know, he gets rewarded.”

Among those in attendance this weekend were former RedHawks and St. Louis products Chris and Alex Wideman and Grant Frederic as well as Chicago-raised defenseman Vincent LoVerde.

They addressed the team this weekend on the specialness of Oxford.

“Having some alumni here and having them be in the room and hearing them last night to be part of the fight song and say that was the most fun they’ve had: That’s what makes Miami special and it’s for these guys for sure,” Noreen said.

Miami has already won twice as many games as it did last season, when the RedHawks finished 3-28-3. Its 6-0 start is one win away from tying the RedHawks’ record of seven straight wins to open the 2007-08 campaign.

The NCHC slate is looming, but after 18 months of struggles and uncertainty surrounding the program, the RedHawks have passed every test they’ve faced thus far this fall.

“College hockey, the season’s so short, every game’s so meaningful, again for these guys, it started last spring — the workouts, the not being a normal college student or teenager or 20-year-old in the work you put in and the sacrifice you make to be different and try to be elite: You should celebrate,” Noreen said. “You should enjoy every one of these (wins) and not take any of them for granted. God knows after last year, we never will.”