OXFORD, Ohio — Suddenly Miami is the king of overtime.
The RedHawks saw three leads evaporate but eventually a Matteo Giampa rocket helped them edge St. Cloud State, 6-5 in the extra session on Friday, giving MU a hat trick’s worth of OT winners already this season.
Miami improved to 3-0 in overtime Friday after winning just twice after regulation the previous seven campaigns combined, and the RedHawks are off to their best start through 11 games overall since 2014-15.
The teams wrap up the weekend series at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday.
RECAP: Miami (8-3) took the lead with 8:20 left in the first period on the power play when Max Helgeson teed up Michael Quinn for a one-time blue line blast that snuck inside the glove side post.
RedHawks defenseman Michael Phelan one-handed a centering feed — while being defended tightly — to a streaking Ethan Hay, who skated in from the blue line with a defender draped on him and punched a backhander through Huskies goalie Yan Shostak 2:20 into the second period to make it 2-0.
Three minutes later, St. Cloud State’s Barrett Hall intercepted a clearing pass at the side of the Miami net and slammed it into the empty cage, as RedHawks goalie Matteo Drobac had left the crease to play the puck but instead left it for Shaun McEwen, whose pass was picked for the slam-dunk.
The Huskies tied it with 6:38 left in the middle frame when Grant Ahcan knocked down a slap-pass from Finn Loftus at the side of the crease, pulled it to his backhand in front of the net and slid it just inside the glove-side post.
Miami regained the lead, 3-2 three-plus minutes later, as Kocha Delic curled and whipped a spin-a-rama wrister through Shostak.
But St. Cloud State (6-7) again tied it 6:16 into the third period shorthanded, as Gavyn Thoreson skated behind the net and somehow eluded two defenders, curling to the front of the net and backhanding the puck.
The teams would combine for four goals over the next 2:48.
With 5:50 left in regulation, Miami took its third lead of the game, 4-3 on a goal by David Deputy, who fired a loose puck over a sprawling defender after a Helgeson wrap-around attempt hit a defender’s skate and found Deputy’s stick just inside the right faceoff circle.
Just 19 seconds later, the RedHawks extended their lead when Casper Nassen redirected a Vladislav Lukashevich wrist shot from the left point.
Then St. Cloud State made it 5-4 on a tip-in by Tyson Gross at the top of the crease 59 seconds after Nassen’s goal, and Thoreson carried the puck through a pair of Miami defenders and roofed one from the left faceoff dot 1:30 later to tie it. Both goals were scored with an extra attacker.
But despite seeing three leads erased — including two by multiple goals — Miami laughed last, as Matteo Giampa skated in on the right wing and buried a shot near post from the right faceoff dot 1:10 into overtime to win it.
STATS: Deputy’s goal was the first of his career, and he also had an assist for his first collegiate multi-point game. He has four points in his last four games after suffering an early injury.
Quinn also finished with two points, posting his second consecutive 1-1-2 line. After finishing with 12 points as a freshman, he already has three goals and five assists this season, surpassing his rookie goal total (2).
Nassen ended the night with a goal and an assist as well, giving him three points in his last two games.
And Helgeson earned a pair of assists for the first time as a RedHawk, and this was his third multi-point game in his last six.
Delic scored his sixth goal of the season, moving into a four-way tie for the team lead with Helgeson, Ilia Morozov and Ryan Smith.
Hay scored his second goal of the season, with both coming in the last four contests.
Lukashevich picked up an assist, making him Miami’s current points streak leader at three games (1-3-4).
Kyle Aucoin assisted on the overtime winner for his first point as a RedHawk. The Harvard transfer’s last assist was Jan. 11 vs. Yale.
Smith also notched a helper for his ninth point of the season, as did Phelan, the freshman defenseman’s second as a Miamian.
— The attendance was listed at 3,642, unofficially the best crowd since 2015. That number is coincidentally the exact same number as the listed maximum capacity for the rink the first 15 or so years of its existence. It’s now officially 3,019, the number of arena seats. The 3,642 figure was the most allowed under the Ohio fire code.
— Miami was outshot, 51-16 last Saturday at Western Michigan but dominated in SOG on Friday, 34-19 including 18-3 in the first period. It was the first time in the Anthony Noreen era the RedHawks have finished plus-15 in shot differential.
MU hasn’t outshot a team by 15 SOG since Dec. 30, 2023 at Niagara.
— Miami struggled on the penalty kill early this season but is 10-for-10 its last two games, which were against defending national champion Western Michigan and this SCSU team that leads Division I in power play percentage.
A couple of negatives:
— Miami allowed its first shorthanded goal of 2025-26.
— The RedHawks have allowed 14 goals in the second and third periods their last three games, and have surrendered at least two goals in all of those stanzas.
ANALYSIS: We could write a novel about this game, and while we don’t want to bore our readers, let’s start from the beginning.
This game was promoted uptown, so about 30 minutes until puck drop, students started showing up by the hundreds, and fortunately for them there was no sobriety checkpoint at the entrances.
The place is packed from opening faceoff, 2-3 deep in some SRO spots, and Miami plays arguably its best period of the season. Hit a post and missed another Grade-A chance but heads into intermission leading 1-0 while outshooting the Huskies at a 6-to-1 clip.
Second period, St. Cloud State could have done a Red Bull commercial because the Huskies absolutely had wings — not unexpectedly — for the first 10 minutes. But Miami not only didn’t break, it actually extended its lead on Hay’s goal.
Then a bad turnover led to a Huskies goal and a highlight-reel play tie it.
Miami again takes the lead again, St. Cloud evens the score. The RedHawks try going up by two. Doesn’t work, the Huskies score two extra-attacker goals after the ballsy move by SCSU coach Brett Larson to pull his goalie with five minutes left.
By an amazing coincidence, beer sales for this game obliterated the previous record.
Then after making an ill-advised outlet pass that was kind-of-sort-of intercepted at the Miami blue line, Giampa was sprung loose by Aucoin after he secured the puck in his own end, and Giampa sent the fans home happy, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Sitting here four hours after it ended, it’s still hard to unzip and fully explore all of the storylines. And there’s no way we’ll be able to explore them all, because Game 2 is in 16 hours.
The biggest takeaway from our perspective is that we continue to witness the RedHawks finding ways to win games when adversity strikes.
Giampa really nailed it in his post-game interview Friday, as Miami showed again in this game that just because it gives up a lead once, or twice, OK three times, the RedHawks won’t give up.
Now that it’s obvious this team is cured of its seasons-long rake-in-the-face syndrome, it’s time for Miami to hand the keys to the NCHC basement to someone else.
— A lost storyline in this is there were some truly excellent passes that led to goals. Helgeson might as well have put a bow on his touch pass to Quinn for the first tally. Then Phelan makes an incredible play at an awkward angle with a defender practically going TSA on him at the red line, and Phelan also made a key chip pass along the boards that ultimately set up Deputy’s marker.
And of course there’s Aucoin’s feed to Giampa for the GWG.
LINEUP CHANGES: Defenseman Ryder Thompson was out with an injury, missing his first game as a RedHawk, and Miami dressed 13 forwards for the first time this season.
Aucoin, who returned from injury, replaced him and ended up keying Miami’s game-winning goal, and forward John Emmons dressed in place of defenseman Charlie Michaud.
Senior Blake Mesenburg, who was alternate captain last season, was scratched for the third straight game.
STANDINGS: Miami improved to 2-3 in NCHC play, and the RedHawks are in a three-way tie with SCSU and Colorado College for last place in the league with five points, but Miami and the Huskies are the only teams that have played just five NCHC contests.
MU is currently 24th in the PSI.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Noreen preempted the first question of his postgame presser by acknowledging the crowd, which was ample and loud.
It sounds like the hockey staff made every attempt to get students to the game, and overwhelmingly that was great.
Lost in all of the rebuild talk of the team is the need to rebuild a fan base.
3,642 was the standard when Cady Arena opened in 2006. Students lined up outside the rink lobby and down Oak St.
Noreen clearly has this program back to relevance on the ice. Hopefully Miami has found a way to bring students back to games in large numbers as well.
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