OXFORD, Ohio — Saturday was Senior Night at Cady Arena, which is always a bittersweet experience.
It’s exciting to see student-athletes that Miami fans and boosters rooted for graduate and move on with their pro careers, either on or off the ice, but it’s also difficult to see them and their families leave Oxford after making that connection.
But these upperclassmen are especially special, since they’ve done what 11 previous senior classes couldn’t: They vaulted Miami hockey back to respectability.
For the first time since 2015, the RedHawks will finish at least .500 with their highest win total (17) since that NCHC championship team.
Kyle Aucoin joined Miami after four seasons at Harvard and has provided tremendous veteran leadership to the blue line.
Same with Owen Lalonde, who is unfortunately out with a long-term injury, but he picked up an assist in his first game and ate some quality minutes in the middle stretch of the season.
Brayden Morrison was in and out of the lineup during that miserable 2024-25 season and has played even less as a grad senior, but he has always worked hard on the ice, defended well and has been an offensive asset with countless linemates.
Max Helgeson, an Anchorage lifer who played for his hometown university until this season and has made a major offensive impact, scoring 10 goals and assisting on 10 more.
Fifth-year RedHawk Nick Donato battled injuries, sat out a year and is playing the best hockey of his collegiate hockey down the stretch, dressing for a career-high 22 games this season.
And Blake Mesenburg, who has logged 115 games and has played every shift like it was his last regardless of the score (which was often lopsided the past few years), would run through a wall for his teammates.
It’s not a senior class comprised of high NHL draft picks or huge contributors — many of which have skated on Cady Arena’s ice surface in the rink’s 20 years of existence — but it’s a group that helped accomplish something even more important: It rejuvenated the team’s winning culture.
Miami finished 3-28-3 a year ago and second-last in the PairWise.
Despite their current five-game skid, the RedHawks’ turnaround is the biggest in Division I by a longshot, both in wins and win percentage, and while hopes are still high for the coming weeks, regardless of how 2025-26 ends, these seniors have rebuilt a foundation for success that will hopefully span decades after they venture out their separate ways this summer.
Some stats from Saturday…
— Kocha Delic moved into solo second on the team in goals with 11. David Deputy leads the team with 15.
It’s the first time two Miami forwards have recorded at least 11 goals in a season since Gordie Green (15) and Phil Knies (11) in 2017-18.
Deputy picked up an assist for the first time since Nov. 28 in Miami’s semifinal win over RIT in Belfast. He was 13-0-13 in 18 games since entering Saturday.
Ilia Morozov also earned a helper on the RedHawks’ lone goal, his fourth point in six games.
— Morozov has been much improved on faceoffs, going 12-9 in the circle after winning two-thirds of his draws on Friday.
— Miami actually held Duluth to 21 shots on goal, tied for the third-fewest shots allowed by the RedHawks this season.
Special teams…
Miami was 0-for-7 on the power play, its worst night on the man-advantage since Jan. 7, 2022, when the RedHawks finished 0 of 8 in a 5-1 home loss to Colorado College.
MU’s power play is executing at a 5.8 percent clip in 2026, going just 2-for-38 with both PPGs coming in the same game. Those were Jan. 17 vs. Omaha.
The RedHawks have not scored in 26 consecutive man-advantage opportunities.
And the penalty kill that was exceptional over most of that span was 3 of 5 for the second straight game and is just 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) in Miami’s last three games.
— Miami has now been outscored, 8-1 in the third period and overtime in the RedHawks’ last five games.
Analysis…?
It felt like a pretty evenly-played game the first period, but once Aaron Pionk scored four minutes into the middle frame, it never felt like this was one that would end up in the win column, especially since Hunter Anderson made it 2-0 less than three minutes later.
Minn.-Duluth had sticks in shooting lanes, in passing lanes — probably in Oxford Lanes — all weekend. It’s rumored Brick Street patrons this weekend had to fight through UMD sticks in their treks to the bar.
The Bulldogs were the better team and completely earned the three points.
— Miami’s current impotence on the power play may require a Viagra prescription.
The bigger problem is teams have no fear of taking borderline penalties, since there’s no consequence for being shorthanded. We saw that Saturday, as Miami had seven power play chances for just the second time this season and the fourth time in the RedHawks’ last 120 games.
If Miami can’t correct its man-advantage woes — and fast — it has little chance for success this postseason.
— Miami stuck with same 19 skaters and goalie as Friday, as standout forward Matteo Giampa missed his third straight game with a UBI.
Final thoughts…
It’s an unfortunate time for Miami to get cold, as the RedHawks controlled their own fate this weekend and had a solid chance at securing home ice for the first round of the NCHC Tournament.
By earning 0 of 6 possible points, MU is likely relegated to a best-of-3 at one of the NCHC’s powerhouses for the first round of the conference tournament, making NCAA Tournament aspirations a serious longshot.
Having Miami score the first two goals of the weekend before allowing the next seven didn’t make accepting this reality any easier.
But the ultimate takeaway is this has been a breakout year for Miami, which has a pipeline of extremely talented FutureHawks ready to lead the RedHawks to another level.
View From the Glass 