Miami is a headed to Denver for the first round of the NCHC Tournament.
The RedHawks wrapped up their first winning season in 11 years with a 4-2 win over Omaha at Baxter Arena on Saturday, finishing with 28 points in league play.
They earned the No. 7 seed in the conference championship and will play a first-round, best-of-3 series against the Pioneers at Magness Arena starting next Friday.
Miami, which suffered through 10 straight losing seasons dating back to 2015, also snapped a six-game losing streak in its regular season finale.
RECAP: Miami (18-14-2) took the lead at the 6:00 mark of the first period on a scrum in front of the Omaha net, as Ryan Smith fired a point-blank shot on net, and Shaun McEwen swept in the rebound from the right side of the net on the power play.
The Mavericks (12-22) tied it with 4:48 left in the opening frame, as Marcus Nguyen was able to rip a shot from the left faceoff dot that snuck past Miami goalie Matteo Drobac.
But just 47 seconds later, the RedHawks’ Matteo Giampa penetrated the zone and was able shovel the puck over Omaha goalie Simon Latkoczy, far post, as Miami regained the lead.
With 13:42 left in the middle frame, Omaha’s Myles Hillman tied the score at two, driving the net and tucking the puck in on the short side from the left wing.
A skirmish broke out with 2:04 left in that period, and five players received 10-minute misconducts.
Miami was assessed an extra minor penalty, and 43 seconds later, David Deputy carried the puck along the right half wall and was able to slide a pass to Ilia Morozov in the slot, and Morozov drove the net and tucked the puck inside the post on his backhand to give the RedHawks the lead.
McEwen sealed it with a length-of-the-ice shot from his own crease that hit the back of the net with 1:49 left in regulation.
STATS: McEwen’s goals were the first of his collegiate career, and neither were even strength.
He had a pair of assists on Friday, giving him four points on the weekend after recording just four his first 32 games.
McEwen scored on the power play and shorthanded, the first Miami defenseman to tally an SHG this season.
Giampa finished 1-1-2 for a four-point series. He had missed the last three games due to injury.
Morozov, who also notched a marker and an assist, snapped a 20-game goal drought, with his last goal coming against RIT in Belfast, although he has five assists in his last eight games.
He had not recorded a multi-point game since Nov. 14 at Western Michigan.
Vladislav Lukashevich and Smith notched a helper apiece, giving both two points for the series.
Deputy went 0-1-1 as well, his second assist in three games after amazingly failing to record one in 17 consecutive contests.
— This game featured 96 total penalty minutes, including five 10-minute misconducts, all assessed late in the second period.
— RedHawks special teams were actually plus-1!
Miami was 1 of 5 on the power play and killed all five Omaha chances.
The RedHawks finished the regular season 23.5 percent on the man-advantage vs. Omaha and 11.0 percent against the rest of the Division I field.
Miami had allowed two PPGs in three straight games and was just 13 of 20 (65.0 percent) in its previous four contests.
— The RedHawks scored twice in the first period after racking up just two goals in the opening 20 minutes in their previous nine games combined.
— Drobac won his 17th game of 2025-26, tying him with Trevor Prior for eighth on Miami’s all-time single-season leaderboard.
Drobac started and finished 33 of 34 games this regular season. It’s the first time we could find a Miami starting goalie playing all but 60 minutes or fewer entering the postseason, dating back to 1993.
David Burleigh holds the RedHawks’ record for most minutes played in a season at 2,333. Drobac has logged 1,979 minutes in net thus far.
LINEUP CHANGES: Miami dressed 13 forwards again but subbed Nicholas Mikan in for David Grosek, who played his first collegiate game last night.
Mikan has been banged up this calendar year and is in the lineup for just the second time in nine games.
More to come Sunday…
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