OXFORD, Ohio — For the second straight game, No. 20 Miami was unable to hold a two-goal lead.
On Friday, the RedHawks scored the first two goals against No. 9 Minn.-Duluth, but the Bulldogs netted the final five en route to a 5-2 win over MU at Cady Arena.
It was the RedHawks’ fourth straight loss, all against top-10 NCHC opponents.
The teams wrap up the weekend series at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday.
RECAP: Miami (17-12-2) jumped in front with 5:56 left in the first period when Doug Grimes stole a puck in the right faceoff circle, skated unabated toward the net and roofed it short side.
The RedHawks took a 2-0 lead 6:15 into the middle frame, as Kocha Delic picked a Minn.-Duluth skater’s pocket between the faceoff circles, fought off a pair of defenders and curled while sliding a drop pass to David Deputy, who blasted a one-timer past goalie Ethan Dahlmeir from the slot.
But the Bulldogs cut their deficit to one with 7:26 left in that stanza on a wrist shot from the high slot that was tipped in by Hunter Anderson at the top of the crease on the back end of a four-minute power play.
Minn.-Duluth (19-12) tied it on a tic-tac-toe passing play, with Max Plante taking a feed from Jayson Schaugabay in the slot and burying the wrister, stick side less than five minutes later.
Miami was assessed a major early in the third period, and the Bulldogs’ Scout Truman blasted a one-timer from the high slot past RedHawks goalie Matteo Drobac with 16:47 left in regulation to put UMD ahead, 3-2.
With 4:44 remaining, Shaugabay skated through the neutral zone, drove the net and tried to slide the puck under Drobac, and Drobac stopped it but the loose puck sat in the crease and was accidentally poked into the net by Miami defenseman Kyle Aucoin, extending the Bulldogs’ lead to two.
UMD’s Callum Arnott intercepted a drop pass at the blue line, skated in the buried an empty netter from the right wing with 27 seconds to play to cap the scoring.
STATS: Grimes scored in his second straight game, giving him nine tallies on the season, tied with Ryan Smith for fourth on the team.
Deputy scored his 15th of the season, the most by a RedHawk since Gordie Green in 2017-18. He became the third Miami skater to record 20 points this season, as he in now tied with Matteo Giampa for second on the team.
Speaking of 20-point producers, Delic picked up the lone RedHawks assist, his team-leading 24th point of the season.
— Ilia Morozov finished 18-9 in the faceoff circle, one of his best efforts on the dot this season.
Now the negative…
— Miami has been outscored, 6-0 after the second period in its last two games.
— This was the RedHawks’ 11th game of 2026, and Miami has only scored a power play goal in one. The RedHawks were 0-for-4 on the man-advantage — including a 46-second 5-on-3 — dropping to 2 of 31 (5.6 percent) this calendar year.
— The penalty kill was 3-for-5, the first time MU has allowed multiple power play goals since Dec. 13 vs. Colorado College.
ANALYSIS: Often when teams meet for the first time in a season, there’s a feeling-out process, with choppy, conservative play, but whistles were rare early in this game.
Miami was a little sloppy defensively, but Grimes made a defensive play to give Miami the lead.
Play felt pretty even for the final 40 minutes, but special teams were the difference (documented below).
Miami’s effort was fine as always, but they were unable to convert on a couple of Grade-A chances, and of course there were the power plays…
— Special teams.
Credit Minn.-Duluth, which scored twice on the power play. Miami was shut out. Then the Bulldogs tacked on an empty netter.
Both PPGs came on extended man-advantages: UMD’s first was a highly-rare multiple-offense, now-I-have-a-rap-sheet double minor on Aucoin for holding and tripping and the second was on Bradley Walker’s spearing major.
Anderson scored with 1:24 left in the second minor penalty, and Truman’s goal was 2:59 into the Walker major.
Minn.-Duluth entered the weekend second in Division I power play efficiency at 30.6 percent (.07 percent behind first-place Michigan), so Miami needed to avoid the penalty box at all costs.
Instead, the Bulldogs spent 9:36 on the man-advantage, and to no one’s surprise, they cashed in twice and won the game as a result.
— Weird that all three even-strength goals in the first two periods were scored by the team that did not have the momentum.
Grimes and Deputy both found the net moments after solid shifts by UMD in Miami’s end, and Plante tied it late in the second period following a RedHawks surge.
— Both Miami goals were scored on forced turnovers, one that Grimes both created and finished and Delic stripped a Duluth skater then set up Deputy.
— Saturday seems like the perfect time to give Mattis Langevin a start in net. He stopped 30 of 32 shots in his only appearance, a win over Ferris State in the third-place game of the Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 29.
Nothing against Drobac, who has been amazing and a workhorse, but having lost four straight, it seems like the time. Miami can’t want its backup to have logged zero minutes in two months-plus heading into the playoffs?
— Grimes needs to have an award named after him. He appeared to block a shot midway through the first period and skated down the tunnel in discomfort, but he was right back on the bench moments later and scored on one of his first shifts after returning.
He has played hurt at times this season, and last weekend he was pinned in his zone for nearly three minutes by North Dakota but was able to swat a puck out across his own blue line and ultimately start a partial breakaway for a second to allow his teammates to change.
LINEUP CHANGES: Defenseman Vladislav Lukashevich returned to the lineup after missing three games with an UBI, so Miami dressed seven defensemen since it finally had seven healthy defensemen.
John Emmons, who was scratched the past two games, was also was back on the ice.
Out were forwards Brayden Morrison and Nicholas Mikan.
STANDINGS: Minn.-Duluth pulled six points ahead of Miami (31 vs. 25), so the RedHawks no longer control their own fate in their pursuit of home-ice advantage in the NCHC Tournament.
Because Colorado College earned a point on Friday, the Tigers are now tied with Miami for sixth place. St. Cloud State — in fifth place — also earned two points and pulled five ahead of the RedHawks.
In short: Scoreboard watching didn’t pan out for Miami on Friday.
The RedHawks dropped to No. 23 in the NPI and no longer have a realistic chance at an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Preface this by saying VFG’s win expectation prior to the season was in the 10-12 range, but the RedHawks have been sitting on 17 for a couple of weekends.
Multiple times after games in his first two seasons when Miami coach Anthony Noreen has been praised for his team’s effort, he said that’s the expectation.
Message received. With all of this earlier-than-expected success — well beyond most fans’ homer fantasies — those nightly expectations have risen.
This is a good team that has proven it can hang with anyone, anywhere, and the final line of Back to the Future sums up this program’s trajectory.
So it’s always worth noting where we’ve come from under this coaching staff (if you need reminding: Three wins last season, worst record in history. Five straight last-place finishes in the NCHC. 0-23-1 conference record in 2024-25).
With all of that edification laid out, regardless of opponents’ ranking, it’s been tough to see Miami earn one point in the last two games, getting outscored, 6-0 after 40 minutes.
It’s unsettling that MU was unable to hold multiple-goal leads in consecutive games, and with an emasculated power play, opponents can push the penalty limits without fear of consequence.
The penalty thing is also a concern, as the RedHawks are in the top 30th percentile in PIM taken, averaging over 11 per game.
Still, perspective: Miami split with the fourth-ranked team in Division I, salvaged a point and could’ve won either night at the Ralph vs. No. 3 North Dakota and led by two 26 minutes into this game against ninth-ranked Minn.-Duluth 11 months after finishing the 2024-25 season the second-worst in the NCAA.
This loss was definitely a standings enema, and the RedHawks have lost four straight for the first time in 2025-26, but Miami has hung with best all season, and the smart money is on Miami correcting course Saturday.
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