Entering 2025-26, No. 20 Miami hadn’t played in a 1-0 game in over five years.
But on Friday, it happened for the second time this season, and for the second time, the RedHawks came out on the wrong side, losing 1-0 to No. 3 North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
MU goalie Matteo Drobac was the reason the Fighting Hawks only scored once. He stopped 41 of 42 shots including several A-plus opportunities.
It was the RedHawks’ 11th straight loss to North Dakota.
The teams wrap up their weekend series at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.
RECAP: The lone goal of the game came at the 9:57 mark of the second period when Andrew Strathmann threw a blue-line wrister through the slot that Tyler Young was able to tip just inside Drobac’s glove side post.
Miami was able to whiz a few shots toward the Fighting Hawks’ net with the extra attacker in the final minute, but none found the back of the net.
STATS: Drobac’s 41 saves were the second-most of his collegiate career. He turned aside 45 of 51 SOG in Miami’s 6-2 loss at Western Michigan on Nov. 15.
He raised his save percentage for the season from .913 to .917, and it’s at .958 in nine starts this calendar year.
— Miami was shut out for the third time this season and has been held to one goal in its last two games. The RedHawks’ 12 shots on goal were a season low. The fewest shots they had been held to previously in 2025-26 was 16, and the last time they finished with fewer was Feb. 1, 2025 when they managed just 11 SOG against Arizona State.
— MU went 0-for-2 on the power play and killed off all three of North Dakota’s man-advantage chances, which falls in line with its MO.
The RedHawks have failed to score a PPG in eight of their last nine games and are 2-for-27 (7.4 percent) in that span, but they have also held opponents to just two power play goals in their most recent 11 contests, killing 31 of 33 penalties — a 93.9 percent clip.
— Miami snapped a 37-game streak of allowing at least two goals to North Dakota.
The last time the RedHawks didn’t give up multiple markers vs. UND was March 21, 2014 in their 3-0 shutout of the Fighting Hawks in a Frozen Faceoff semifinal.
— Prior to this season, the last 1-0 game Miami played in was a win over Omaha in the COVID Pod.
ANALYSIS: North Dakota absolutely dominated the opening minutes. The Fighting Hawks generated one of their best scoring chances of the first period just seconds in.
The first media timeout was the best thing that could’ve happened to Miami, which came out of the break by piecing together its best shift of the game to that point and drawing a penalty.
The RedHawks — as has been the norm recently — were ineffective on the power play, but they settled in and played well the balance of the opening frame, having survived the huge UND surge out of the gate.
North Dakota was again the better team overall in the second period but like the opening frame, Miami finished strong.
The final 20 minutes kind of went the same way: The Fighting Hawks showed why they’re No. 3 but the RedHawks never game up, sustained some offensive-zone pressure late and fell just short.
It feels like the hockey gods played fair: The better team won but the runner-up definitely went down trying.
— Feels like as good as Drobac has been, we still haven’t gushed over him enough. He finished 41-for-42, making several post-to-post saves, and multiple other A-plus stops, including a breakaway.
That save total actually tied for the second-most of his career if you count USports — he turned 41 of 43 shots aside on Nov. 3, 2024 in a 6-2 win over Carleton.
— Defenseman Shaun McEwen absolutely lit up three North Dakota skaters and was involved in multiple other collisions. He also made a goal-saving defensive play at the edge of the crease.
Since the calendar year flipped, he may be the most improved RedHawk.
— Speaking of physicality (and this game had enough), Nick Donato laid out a pair of big hits as well, and with the RedHawks down to six healthy defenseman, he was beaten once on a drive to the net (by a first-round draft pick) but continues to eat innings effectively.
— Brayden Morrison was scratched for 26 of Miami’s first 27 games, but he dressed for the second straight game and more than held his own, as that fourth line has done all season.
— This was the first game at The Ralph for most of the RedHawks and likely the biggest crowd many have ever played in front on.
The previous highest-attendance mark for any game involving Miami was 7,764 at the Great Lakes Invitational.
LINEUP CHANGES: Just one, and it was up front. Justin Stupka returned to the forward corps, replacing John Emmons, who is out with an LBI.
Vladislav Lukashevich, Owen Lalonde and Nicholas Mikan remain out with injuries.
STANDINGS: With the loss, Miami remains in sixth place in the NCHC with 24 points, four behind fifth-place St. Cloud State and three ahead of both Colorado College, five up on Arizona State and leading last-place Omaha by six.
The ninth place team in the conference doesn’t qualify for the conference tournament.
As of 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, Miami was No. 22 in the NPI, which determines at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The final shot total was 42-12 in favor of North Dakota.
But like the Fighting Hawks’ broadcasters said, it didn’t feel like that accurately depicted this game.
Miami was right there, a shot away from sending this game to overtime, in the final seconds.
As the cliche goes: If we told you on Labor Day that Miami would give North Dakota a game and lose 1-0 at the Ralph, less than 12 months after going 0-23-1 in NCHC play, would you take that?
Obviously, the RedHawks would have loved to have come away from this game with points, but they have nothing to be ashamed of.
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