BELFAST, Northern Ireland — On Saturday, Miami became the first Ohio team to win the Belpot in the event’s 10-year history after beating RIT and No. 20 Union.
Following the RedHawks’ first tournament win of any kind since 2015 behind us, we take a look at some of the other storylines from the weekend:
— Not only was Miami presented with a miniature replica of the Belpot Trophy, awarded to the Friendship Four champion, it was given a personalized 12 year-aged bottle of Bushmills bearing the block ‘M’.
It’s unclear if the contents of that bottle were consumed that night.
— What a crazy night for Matteo Giampa on Saturday.
He scored, giving Miami a 1-0 lead, got slammed into the boards and hit again as he was down, retaliated and was given a minor (that was a borderline major) then netted the tournament-winning goal in the closing minutes.
It’s the proverbial storybook ending that we literally could’ve written an entire story about.
Giampa also extended his points streak to four games, the longest on the team.
All five points during that stretch are goals.
David Deputy entered the title game with points in four straight contests but was held off the scoresheet.
— I feel like we didn’t praise the other Matteo — Matteo Drobac — nearly enough. Drobac finished 52-for-54 (.963) in net on the weekend, including his second career Division I shutout.
Drobac, who made multiple highlight-reel saves on Saturday (and benefitted from a couple of shots of the post) has logged every minute in net for Miami this season, and the last goalie to win 10 games in a campaign was Ryan Larkin in…2018-19.
— Michael Quinn picked up assists on the first two RedHawks goals on Saturday but was not on the power play the second half of the game. Quinn leads the team with a plus-10 rating and is 3-7-10 this season.
— It’s Nov. 30 and at 10-4, the RedHawks already have more wins than in any entire season since 2018-19.
Let that sink in.
— Goalie Shika Gadzhiev appears a step closer to becoming eligible. While MU split with St. Cloud State last week, Gadzhiev was in his home country of Slovakia passing his high school equivalence exam.
The puck is in the NCAA’s end now, and it’s likely Gadzhiev will finally be cleared for either the RedHawks’ series at Denver next weekend or their final home series of 2025 vs. Colorado College.
— Miami still hasn’t named captains, which is highly unusual for a team two months and 14 games into its regular season. Blake Mesenburg appeared the early frontrunner to wear the ‘C’, but he has been scratched the last six games.
Doug Grimes may ultimately get that job, as he took the ceremonial puck drop and was the first person to accept the Belpot trophy.
— After three-plus goal differentials in all of the tournament’s first three games, the local SSE crowd finally saw a thriller.
Fast pace, tons of hitting, lots of crisp passing and some sweet goals.
— We almost always stick to hockey, but we’ll make an exception here.
It’s worth mentioning that the arena staff and the people of Belfast overall were some of the nicest people we’ve ever encountered.
When we arrived, our drive to the rink adjacent SSE Arena got real quickly, as our cab driver passed a spot that had been bombed 38 times, and he pointed out where a 50-feet fence was erected every night to maintain peace.
This region has endured an incredible amount of violence since the 1970s, and as our cabbie put it: “We’re holding hands, but we’re not kissing”.
On Saturday, a huge protest broke out near the Christmas Market. After I photographed the enormous crowd of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protestors, a Belfast policeman with a sad look on his face said — and I’m paraphrasing because I can’t recall his exact words — this wasn’t who the people of this city were and that he hoped we didn’t judge Belfast on this clash.
Tourism is resurging here, and for good reason, as the food and beer are excellent and this region is ripe with history.
And hockey is playing a role, through this tournament and the popularity of the Belfast Giants.
Hopefully in some small way, Miami’s win in an incredible 2025 Friendship Four championship game helps this city heal. I would love to return if the RedHawks are invited again.
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