OXFORD, Ohio — David Deputy singlehandedly solved Miami’s special teams drought.
The freshman scored twice on the power play and again shorthanded for his first career hat trick as Miami pounded Omaha, 6-2 at Cady Arena on Saturday, to finish off its first conference sweep in four years.
The RedHawks scored three unanswered first-period goals and the Mavericks never recovered.
Miami is off next weekend and returns to action Jan. 30-31 at St. Cloud State.
RECAP: Miami (14-8-2!) opened the scoring 5:21 into the first period when Casper Nassen fired a slap pass from the top of the left faceoff circle to the slot, where Deputy redirected it into the net from the slot.
Just 92 seconds later, the RedHawks’ Bradley Walker lifted a fly-pattern pass through the neutral zone to Doug Grimes, who won a hand-to-hand battle to control the puck through the slot then poked it past goalie Dawson Cowan.
With 2:33 left in the opening frame, Deputy struck again on a power play tip drill, this time deflecting a Michael Quinn blue line wrist shot in the slot, making it 3-0.
At the 8:27 mark of the second period, Miami extended its lead to four when Ethan Hay sprung Deputy loose on an outlet pass through the neutral zone that Deputy controlled at the blue line for a breakaway, juked on his backhand and tucked the puck into the net on his forehand.
Omaha (8-16) scored two minutes later, as Cameron Briere fed a pass from behind the net to Sean Tschigerl, who batted the puck in from the top of the crease to make it 4-1.
The Mavericks joined the tipping parade, with Myles Hilman redirecting a blue line wrister from Spencer Sova, cutting the deficit to two 1:59 into the third period.
But just 18 seconds later, Miami re-upped its lead to three when a shot from the blue line by Nicholas Mikan was partially blocked in the slot, and John Emmons grabbed the loose puck and whipped it into the short side of the net from the left faceoff circle.
The RedHawks capped the scoring with 6:41 left in regulation when Quinn sent a wrister from the right point that hit a body and deflected to the left side of the net to a wide-open Max Helgeson, whose diving backhander found the back of the net.
STATS: It was Deputy’s first career hat trick and the second three-goal game by a RedHawk this season (Ryan Smith netted three at Lindenwood on Oct. 25).
Deputy has eight goals in eight games and is tied with Helgeson for the team lead in markers with 10.
Quinn finished with a career-high three points, all on assists.
Hay and Nassen picked up a pair of helpers, the first career two-assist game for both.
Helgeson scored his 10th goal, tying him with Deputy atop the team goals leaderboard.
Grimes tallied his seventh of the season and the first since returning from injury two weeks ago, and Emmons’ marker was his first of 2025-26 and the second of his career.
Smith, Walker and Michael Phelan picked up assists to give them points in consecutive games, and Mikan recorded his second point of the season.
— Miami had not swept an NCHC opponent since Feb. 11-12, 2022. That was Omaha, at Cady Arena.
The previous time? Omaha again, Feb. 28-29, 2020, also in Oxford.
— Miami was 3-for-36 (8.3 percent) on the power play entering Saturday but was 2 of 4 on the man-advantage chances in this game. The RedHawks also scored their first shorthanded goal since Nov. 1 vs. Arizona State.
— Speaking of special teams, Miami did not allow a PPG for the sixth straight game, going 13-for-13 in that span.
ANALYSIS: It was expected that Omaha would come out super aggressively and control play, and the Mavericks did…for a minute or two.
Then Miami ran off the first eight shots, scored three times (really four but UNO ‘unintentionally’ knocked the net off its mooring), and finished the period with a 15-3 SOG advantage in a very choppy opening period chock with whistles and reviews.
After two Miami power play goals, the Mavericks went on the man-advantage for the first time, only to see Deputy take a Hay feed through the middle and blow past the defense for his third goal of the night.
Omaha did trim the deficit to three, and after about a five-minute run without a whistle, the game had more icing than a bakery the final few minutes.
And after giving up a quick one to start the third, the RedHawks not only shut it down defensively, they answered with Emmons’ goal 18 seconds later and tacked on another insurance goal to seal it.
Shots were 40-21.
The Omaha coaching staff probably wasn’t very happy with its play this weekend, but Miami has to be ecstatic with not only the effort but the execution, especially without big-time scorer Matteo Giampa.
With one or two exceptions, this was a very well played game by Miami, something we’re starting to get used to.
— Miami finished 1-for-3 on replays. The afore-mentioned net off its moorings, the RedHawks lost. The second goal — the ridiculous effort by Grimes — was rightly called a goal. Later Miami whacked a puck in from the high slot that was whistled dead because it was hit with a high stick. Didn’t get a good luck so no opinion. Miami coach Anthony Noreen clearly had an opinion though.
— High effort and tip-ins were the goal themes. Deputy’s first goal was a beautiful redirection. Grimes’ tangible effort should really qualify for some kind of highlights leaderboard. Beautiful goal. The breakaway fit neither category, but that will be definitely make some highlight reels.
— Hay only had two points this weekend but was definitely a top three star for Miami this weekend. The turnover he created on Friday resulted in a RedHawks goal, his feed to Deputy set up his breakaway, he played very solid defensively, was physical and he went 9-4 in the faceoff circle.
Hay, a freshman, may never lead this team in points, but he’s going to be one of the most valuable members of this team for years to come.
— Matteo Drobac — remember him? — didn’t have a tough night but stopped 19 of 21, his rebound control was excellent as usual and he had little chance on either of the goals against. Mathis Langevin has only played once since arriving from the QMJHL because Drobac has been so good.
This calendar year (since Langevin’s start as well), Drobac is 100-for-104, a .962 save percentage. And Langevin was 30 of 32 (.938) in his lone start.
— The fourth line was one of the best for Miami. Emmons always plays every game like it’s the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final, and the hockey gods rewarded him. Mikan assisted and deserved it for his hard-nosed play. Justin Stupka quietly has eight points and has held his own defensively, and Blake Mesenburg scored on Friday.
LINEUP CHANGES: Miami played 13 forwards on Saturday, moving Emmons into that slot, which obviously reaped rewards.
Defenseman Owen Lalonde, who has been banged up recently, did not dress.
The RedHawks’ line charts listed Giampa and forward Brayden Morrison as injured.
STANDINGS: Miami has climbed to seventh place in the NCHC with 16 points, one behind both St. Cloud State and Arizona State, who are tied for fifth.
Omaha and Colorado College are tied for last with 12 apiece.
As of Sunday evening, the RedHawks were No. 24 in the NPI. The top 14 or 15 will likely earn at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Miami continues to check boxes off their ‘last-time’-to-do list, and the RedHawks have won 4 of 5, including a 3-1 record in conference play, two more victories than in their previous two seasons of NCHC play combined.
And the great thing is: They’re getting better. Not just better as all hockey teams do down the stretch, after four months of familiarity.
Better against the field. The eyeball test shows it. The NPI shows it. The NCHC standings show it.
No Giampa? The Shika Gadzhiev thing imploded? They outscored Omaha, 9-2 on the weekend anyway, and Miami finally moved two spots out of the league basement.
It feels like the 2026 version of this team’s roster would’ve been much more competitive against elite teams Western Michigan and Denver.
And now Miami will have a chance to faceoff against some of the better teams in this league and test that theory.
It’s likely those games are a lot closer this time around.
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