Miami sweeps away St. Cloud

Hours before February started, Miami clinched its first non-losing regular season in 11 years.

Max Helgeson recorded two assists as the RedHawks swept their second consecutive NCHC series for the first time in program history, scoring three unanswered goals in the first two periods and holding on for a 3-1 win at No. 20 St. Cloud State on Saturday.

Miami’s last winning season was in 2014-15, when the RedHawks won the NCHC Tournament. MU finished the first month of 2026 with a 5-1 record after winning four games in the previous seven Januarys combined.

MU hosts Western Michigan next weekend.

RECAP: In one of the best individual effort plays of the season, Miami’s John Emmons stole the puck at his offensive blue line, skated in and roofed a puck just over the a SCSU defender and the pads of St. Cloud State goalie Yan Shostak for an unassisted goal with 10:01 left in the first period to open the scoring.

The RedHawks (16-8-2) extended their lead to two at the 5:25 mark of the middle frame when Matteo Giampa fired a puck toward the net from the right point, and the deflection ended up behind the net, where Helgeson backhanded a pass to a streaking Ryan Smith, who slammed home a one-time blast from the right faceoff dot.

Miami went up three with 3:54 left in that stanza when Helgeson won a defensive zone boards battle and sprung David Deputy loose for a breakaway, which he converted on his forehand.

St. Cloud State (13-15) cut the deficit to two on a Max Smolinski power play goal with nine minutes remaining in regulation, but the Huskies could not pull closer.

SCSU hit multiple posts after pulling Shostak with over four minutes to play.

STATS: After netting one goal in his first 28 games over 1½ seasons with the RedHawks, Emmons has scored in three straight games.  

Only Deputy, Giampa and Kocha Delic have found the net in three or more consecutive contests this season.

Helgeson’s two points led all skaters. Of his seven assists in 2025-26, four have come against St. Cloud State.

Deputy scored for the ninth time in 10 games. Smith’s goal gave him three points in his last four games.

Giampa also earned an assist, his first point since Dec. 13 due to injury.

— Goalie Matteo Drobac stopped 36 of 37 shots, improving his season save percentage to .913, and he’s at .964 his last six games.

His 15th win moves him into a tie for 10th on Miami’s all-time single-season leaderboard. Connor Knapp is the most recent RedHawks netminder to win 15 games in a season, doing so in 2011-12.

— Miami failed to score on the power play for the fifth time in six games, and the RedHawks were 4-for-5 on the penalty kill, giving up PPGs for the second straight game after going 14 of 14 in their previous six contests.

— Sixteen wins in a season is MU’s high-water mark since 2014-15.

 LINEUP CHANGES: Two, both due to injuries suffered on Friday.

Nick Donato returned to the lineup on defense, replacing Kyle Aucoin, and Justin Stupka dressed in place of a banged-up Nicholas Mikan.

Check back more for more on Sunday.