Miami ended up the seventh seed in the NCHC Tournament after splitting in Omaha last weekend, meaning the RedHawks face Denver in the opening round.
So MU must win 2 of 3 games this weekend against the seventh-ranked team in the NCAA on its home ice at altitude after going winless in its last 16 meetings at Magness just to advance to the conference semifinals.
But Miami has proven it can hold its own in hostile environments this season, sweeping St. Cloud State on the road and nearly pulling off a win at the Ralph this winter.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (18-14-2) at No. 7 Denver Pioneers (21-11-3).
WHERE: Magness Arena (6,026), Denver, Colo.
WHEN: Friday–9:07 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday (if necessary)–8:07 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Denver leads, 39-13-4.
VIDEO STREAMING: All three nights–NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO: Miamiredhawks.com, Greg Waddell (PxP).
DENVER RADIO: All three nights–KKFN-FM (104.3), Denver, Colo.
NOTES: Denver has been nearly perfect since late January, finishing the regular season unbeaten in its final nine games (8-0-1) en route to a second-place finish in the NCHC.
A key reason for the Pioneers’ recent dominance is the emergence of freshman goalie Johnny Hicks, who has taken over the starting job and posted video game-like numbers.
His goals-against average is an insane 1.14, and he has not surrendered more than two goals in any of his 13 appearances this season. Hicks is 8-0-1 with a .958 save percentage.
Both of DU’s other goalies have save percentages above .915 as well (Quentin Miller .916 and Paxton Geisel .917).
Two-way defensemen Eric Pohlkamp and Boston Buckberger are averaging over 23 minutes in front of the Pioneers’ netminders, and both are major offensive weapons.
Pohlkamp — who loves to fire the puck, averaging over four SOG — actually led the team in goals (16) and points (34) this regular season, and Buckberger is 8-17-25. Both have four power play goals and are plus-22 and plus-24, respectively.
Six forwards finished with at least 20 points, led by Sam Harris‘ 29.
Coach David Carle has pretty much filled out the same lineup card all season, with 16 skaters having dressed for all 35 games and two others logging 29.
Denver is sixth in the NCAA in shots on goal per game, averaging 34.0, so Miami goalie Matteo Drobac will likely see his share of rubber this weekend.
Miami has checked off a budget bill-sized list of ‘last time’ boxes this season but still has several NCHC playoff ones to eliminate.
The RedHawks haven’t won a single NCHC Tournament game since 2018 and have dropped their last 10. Their last series win was in 2015, when they won the Frozen Faceoff and advanced to the NCAAs as a No. 1 seed.
Miami has pulled off one upset in league history, when the RedHawks swept top-seeded St. Cloud State at the Herb Brooks Center in 2014 on the famous Justin Greenberg clinching goal in the closing seconds of regulation.
These teams only met for one series this season, and that was in Denver, a week after Miami returned from Northern Ireland. The Pioneers swept that set, outscoring the RedHawks, 9-2 after the RedHawks crossed seven time zones in a four-day window.
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