Five weeks after winning its first tournament of any kind in over 10 years, Miami makes its inaugural appearance in the Great Lakes Invitational this weekend.
The RedHawks will face Michigan Tech in the first round on Sunday and either Ferris State or Michigan State in the championship or third-place game the next day.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming tournament:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (10-6-2) at Michigan Tech Huskies (10-6-2).
WHERE: Van Andel Arena (10,834), Grand Rapids, Mich.
WHEN: Sunday, 3:37 p.m. (championship game is at 7 p.m. on Monday; third-place game is at 3:30 p.m.).
ALL-TIME SERIES: Tied, 3-3.
VIDEO STEAMING: UpperMichiganSource.com.
MIAMI RADIO: MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell, PxP; Drew Davis, color).
NOTES: These teams have played each other six times in their history — with each winning three times — but this will be their first meeting in over 40 years.
If Miami hopes to advance to the championship game, it must shut down Russian-born Stiven Sardarian, who leads the CCHA and is tied for sixth in Division I with 26 points, including 18 assists.
The senior finished with 35 points last season and has nearly twice as many as any of his Michigan Tech teammates.
He leads all Huskies forwards with a plus-12 rating and has scored all of those points with just one power play goal.
Freshman Teydon Trembecky has been a pleasant addition for MTU up front, notching six goals and 14 points — second-best on the team despite missing three games.
Fellow forwards and third-year Huskies Max Koskipirtti and Isaac Gordon have 13 points apiece, and both have an excellent chance of reaching Michigan Tech’s 100-point club in 2026-27.
Rookie Reid Andresen leads a young Michigan Tech defense corps in points with nine, sophomore Tyler Miller has eight and another frosh — Kalem Parker — has three goals and is tops on the Huskies in average TOI at 21:22.
In net, rent-a-goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz is 10-5-2 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage, playing on his third team in three years (he played both games for Lindenwood against Miami last season and finished the weekend 44-for-49 in a series split).
He has logged all but 59 minutes in the Huskies’ net this season.
Michigan Tech is tied for 10th in the NCAA in penalty minutes per game (8.2) and is 14th on the penalty kill (84.2 percent), so the Huskies rarely allow power play goals.
Miami swept Ferris State in Oxford to open the season, 6-4 and 3-1. The Bulldogs have dropped eight of their last 11 games and have a team save percentage of .869, the second-worst clip in the NCAA.
Michigan State is ranked No. 3 in both polls. Detroit second-round draft pick goalie Trey Augustine led Team USA to consecutive World Juniors titles and is fifth in college hockey with a 1.71 goals-against average and tied for fourth in save percentage at .937.
Miami is actually 14-6-1 against the Spartans in the teams’ last 21 meetings, but the RedHawks were swept by MSU the last time they played, which was in October of 2021 in East Lansing.
Biggest storyline for Miami: Will Matteo Drobac — who has logged every minute in Miami’s net this far this season — play both games this weekend, or will newly-added Mathis Langevin debut between the pipes for the RedHawks?
Langevin recently joined Miami after netminder Shika Gadzhiev left the team due to the NCAA refusing to grant him eligibility despite his having recently passed a high school equivalence exam in Slovakia.
Gadzhiev was expected to compete for the starting goaltending job in 2025-26.
According to MU’s game notes, this weekend’s games are available free online at UpperMichiganSource.com.
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