For the second straight night, Miami and No. 19 Colorado College skated to a tie, but this time the Tigers earned the extra league point.
The RedHawks and Tigers tied, 3-3 at Cady Arena on Saturday, with Colorado College winning the second NCHC point in a shootout.
On Friday, the teams finished level at four and Miami notched the additional conference point for a penalty shot win.
The RedHawks are idle next weekend, and their next games will be at the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Dec. 28-29.
RECAP: Like Friday, Miami (10-6-2) took the lead in the opening minutes on a wrist shot from the high slot. In this game, it was Doug Grimes giving the RedHawks the advantage at the 1:58 mark, beating Colorado College goalie Kaidan Mbereko stick side.
Colorado College (8-7-3) tied it just 2:10 later on a wrister by Colton Roberts from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Miami goalie Matteo Drobac on the glove side.
The Tigers took the 2-1 lead exactly four minutes after the equalizer when Philippe Blais-Savoie blasted a one-timer past Drobac on the power play.
Miami evened the score at two at the 4:59 mark of the second period, as Grimes tipped a Michael Quinn shot from the right point into the cage from the top of the crease on the power play.
The RedHawks went ahead with 8:08 left in that frame, as a streaking Kocha Delic tipped in a Quinn slap pass from the right point.
Blais-Savoie tied it at three on a wrister from the right faceoff circle on the power play with 12:52 left in regulation.
Miami went 0-for-3 in the shootout, and Bret Link converted in the second round to give Colorado College the extra league point.
STATS: This was the first multi-goal game of Grimes’ career.
He scored three times in two previous collegiate seasons but has already found the net six times in 2025-26.
Delic scored his seventh goal of the season, third-best on the team behind Matteo Giampa and Max Helgeson.
Quinn finished with two assists, his fourth multi-point game in his last nine. The sophomore has already tied his rookie points output at 12.
Giampa picked up a helper, his ninth point in his last eight contests, giving him a team-best 19 points on the season.
Ryan Smith earned his second point in as many games by going 0-1-1, and Justin Stupka snapped a nine-game scoreless streak with an assist.
ANALYSIS: Miami began the game with rockets in its skates, but after scoring the first goal, Colorado College upped its game several clicks and controlled the rest of the period, save the final couple of minutes.
The RedHawks struggled mightily on two power play chances, allowing a high-percentage shorthanded chance on the latter.
Bad luck didn’t help, and Mbereko made two scouting-reel saves.
Both teams carried play at times in the middle frame, and Miami cashed in on one its three power plays in that period, with Grimes knotting the score at two.
Almost half of the third period was played by special teams, five minors were whistled and Colorado College scored the equalizer.
The final minutes of regulation were tense for both teams, as Vladislav Lukashevich was assessed a weak hooking penalty with 3:35 left, and the Tigers’ Seth Constance was whistled for an equally soft interference minor exactly a minute later.
Overtime was pretty even as well, with Miami leading in shots on goal, 3-2.
Like Friday, credit Colorado College for its speed and grit.
— Mbereko robbed Miami shooters on Grade-A chances multiple occasions early on. Despite allowing three goals, this was one of the best goaltending performances the RedHawks have faced this season.
— MU appeared to tie the game at two midway through the second period on a shot by Kyle Aucoin, but it was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference. The officials made that call in this case. In overtime on Friday, the RedHawks were originally awarded a goal, but the Tigers challenged and the call was overturned because — of all skaters — Aucoin bumped Mbereko at the top of the crease.
— Loved the effort by the fourth line, especially early. The line of Bradley Walker, Nicholas Mikan and Ethan Hay was Miami’s best in the opening frame.
— It seemed like bad bounces, weird caroms off the boards (especially behind the nets) and broken and lost sticks were way more prevalent than normal this weekend.
Considering how cold it was after the game, they probably could have created a pretty good bonfire with the number of sticks that snapped in this series.
— Speaking of which, Colorado College’s critical tying goal hit a stick on the way in. Unfortunate for Drobac, who stopped 32 of 35 shots.
— Special teams were less than special for Miami. The RedHawks were 1-for-7 on the power play and other than the Grimes goal were largely ineffective on the man-advantage.
Colorado College finished 2 of 5 on the power play.
— Quinn made an unsexy play by batting the puck down to hold it in at the left point moments before setting up Miami’s second goal.
Ilia Morozov did the same on the RedHawks final tally, as he stripped the puck just inside his own blue line and poked it forward to Giampa, who fed Quinn for the slap-pass goal by Delic.
— Master class in coaching by Anthony Noreen at the end of overtime. He pulled Drobac for an offensive zone draw with 1.2 seconds left in the extra session, since it’s physically impossible for a team to score from the defensive zone into an empty net in under two seconds.
Moments earlier (with 2.6 seconds left on the game clock), Miami had a faceoff in the same circle, but Drobac remained in net.
— Unfortunate that this game was poorly attended, but students were done for the semester and a winter weather warning kept most others away from the rink. Six inches of snow fell in southwestern Ohio on Saturday and temperatures plummeted throughout.
LINEUP CHANGES: None. Six games in a row for this group of 21.
STANDINGS: As of 11:30 p.m. EDT, Miami had dropped from No. 23 to 26th in the NPI.
The RedHawks remain in last place in the NCHC with eight points, one behind eighth-place Omaha and two back of Colorado College.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Obviously, things haven’t gone perfectly the first three months — do they ever? — but if Miami fans had been told in late September that the RedHawks would be 10-6-2 heading into Christmas, would most or all be happy?
The answer is an obvious ‘yes’.
Miami has a rough schedule ahead. As is life in the NCHC.
But at least through the first 10 games of the conference slate, the RedHawks have handled it infinitely better than in recent years.
View From the Glass 