OXFORD, Ohio — Midway through Friday’s second period, Miami’s Bradley Walker blocked a slap shot with the side of his foot and required a primary assist by linemate Ethan Hay to reach the bench, followed by the tunnel and locker room.
Six minutes into the final frame, Walker was not only back on the ice, he scored a crucial goal in the RedHawks’ 3-0 win over Omaha at Cady Area.
“Bradley Walker leaves the ice after a huge block at a huge moment in the game. You don’t know if he’s going to be able to come back,” Noreen said. “And not does he come back, feeling it for sure, but comes back and scores. Usually when you do stuff like that, in our game, you get rewarded. That’s what our game calls for.”
The win was Miami’s 13th of the season, its most since 2015-16. The RedHawks have also clinched their best winning percentage since that campaign.
Matteo Drobac turned 19 shots aside to earn his third shutout of the season.
The teams wrap up their weekend series at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday.
RECAP: The game was scoreless through two periods, but just 57 seconds into the final stanza, Miami’s Michael Phelan tipped a 50/50 puck from the right point to Kocha Delic, who seized it at the blue line, skated through a pair of Omaha (8-15) defenders and shoveled a forehand shot from the left faceoff dot top shelf, near post — hitting the underside of the crossbar and ricocheting straight down 4-on-4.
At the six-minute mark, Hay leveled Mavericks puck carrier Griffin Ludtke while he was carrying the puck out from behind his own net. The loose puck trickled to Miami’s Doug Grimes, who teed up the streaking Walker for a one-time rifle, which beat UNO goalie Simon Latkoczy blocker side to make it 2-0.
With 1:55 left in regulation on a 6-on-5, the RedHawks’ Ryan Smith cleared the puck to teammate Max Helgeson at the red line. Helgeson ladled a backhander from the left wing to the high slot for Blake Mesenburg, who deposited the puck into the empty net, extending the MU lead to three and sealing the win.
STATS: As alluded to earlier, Miami (13-8-2) reached the 13-win mark for the first time in 10 years. And the RedHawks still have 11 regular season games remaining with playoffs looming.
They entered 2025-26 with 10 victories in their last two campaigns combined.
Miami Version 2015-16 finished 15-18-6. The last time the RedHawks posted a winning record was a year earlier when they won the NCHC Tournament, which was also the last time they qualified for the NCAAs.
— Drobac’s three shutouts are the most in a season by a Miami goalie since Ryan Larkin in 2018-19.
It was just the 15th time in program history a netminder has posted three zeroes.
Drobac has also won 12 games, tops by a RedHawk since Jay Williams‘ 19 in 2014-15.
— Delic’s marker was his eighth of the season, moving him into second place on the team outright. He has three points in his last three games.
Walker scored his third goal of 2025-26 and his first since the opening round in Belfast. He has three points in five contests.
Mesenburg netted his first marker of the season and the ninth of his career but just his third on home ice.
Grimes, Smith, Helgeson and Phelan were all credited with assists.
Smith and Helgeson are tied with Michael Quinn and Ilia Morozov for fourth on the team with 14 points.
Grimes picked up his first assist since Nov. 14 and Phelan — a defenseman — last recorded a helper on Nov. 21.
— Prior to last Saturday, the RedHawks had not played in a game that was scoreless through the first two periods since Jan. 21, 2023.
They’ve been in 0-0 games after 40 minutes in back-to-back contests.
And before to this month, the last Miami game without a goal into the final frame? That was against Omaha.
Remember when these teams had an 11-7 slugfest at Baxter? This has been a strange series.
— In no period did either team register 10 shots on goal. We don’t really track this, but from someone who has looked at a lot of Miami box scores, that seems highly unusual.
— Miami’s power play continues to have little to do with power. The RedHawks failed to score on the man-advantage for the third straight game, going aught on eight chances in that span including 0-for-2 on Friday, and are just 1 of 17 (6.7 percent) in their last five games and 3-for-36 (8.3 percent) spanning their previous nine.
But the penalty kill was perfect: 1-for-1. And that one was cut short by 47 seconds on an Omaha minor. MU hasn’t allowed a man-advantage goal in five games, killing off 13 consecutive chances.
— Miami held the Mavericks to just 19 shots on goal, tying a season low allowed by the RedHawks.
ANALYSIS: Miami came out strong the first 6-8 minutes, Omaha was the better team in the middle part of the first period but the RedHawks finished strong, hitting a post so soundly it could be heard in Omaha.
All of the special-teams play was early in the middle frame, with neither team generating serious scoring chances.
Drobac did frighten the bejesus out of the home crowd late in that stanza when he drifted into the corner to play a puck and was caught there by an UNO skater, so he made like a run-blocking offensive lineman back to his crease as the scoring chance was ultimately thwarted.
And oh yeah, Omaha missed a 2-on-0 (and nearly a 3-on-0!) on a bad line change, with a shot floating wide.
In the first minute of the third period, David Deputy was denied on a breakaway before and Delic scored his close-range shot while driving the net.
Drobac made a shoulder save on a breakaway a couple of minutes later, and Walker — who could barely skate after blocking a shot a period earlier — wired a shot home to make it 2-0.
A save that epitomized Drobac’s recent run came midway through that frame, when he cleanly gloved a blue line shot through a rugby scrum in front of the net.
After less than a minute of 5-on-6, Smith battled to clear the puck to Helgeson to Mesenburg to net. Game over.
— We can’t overstate the relevance of Miami getting to 13 wins at all, much less in mid-January. Barack Obama was still president the last time the RedHawks reached that mark.
— Hay didn’t get a point on Walker’s goal but deserves one. He ran over a puck-carrying senior captain, forcing a loose puck that Walker blasted home.
— Creating competition has catapulted Drobac’s game. Since teammate Mathis Langevin made his debut at the GLI and stopped 30 of 32 shots, Drobac has played all three games since, 81-for-83 (.976) in 181 minutes.
His rebound control was outstanding, and he denied a clear breakaway for one of his 19 stops.
LINEUP CHANGES: Just one, and it was on defense: Owen Lalonde dressed in place of Nick Donato.
Lalonde had missed the previous three games due to injury.
STANDINGS: Miami vaulted past Omaha and idle Colorado College, moving into seventh in the NCHC standings with 13 points. The Mavericks and Tigers have 12 apiece, and CC also has a game in hand over both teams.
After the conclusion of all Friday Division I games, the RedHawks were 30th in the NPI, up two spots from last weekend.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The biggest turnaround in Division I hockey is happening in Oxford, and Friday exemplified how Miami has been able to transform a 3-win program in 2024-25 to a potential .500-plus team a year later.
Timely offense. Shut-down defense, especially late. Quality goaltending.
Maximum effort, at all times.
This team has made nearly inconceivable improvement in nearly every facet of the game over last season, and the fun is just beginning.
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