The Miami RedHawks’ comeback failed to materialize on Saturday night 4-2 to the St. Cloud State Huskies. After trailing 3-0 in the second period, the RedHawks couldn’t find the equalizer until late in the third.
The loss dropped their record to 8-4-0, 2-4-0 in NCHC play. St. Cloud State improved to 7-7-0, 2-4-0 in NCHC play.
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After winning 6-5 in overtime on Friday evening, Miami took the series split; However, St. Cloud State left with four points in the standings, while Miami earned just two this weekend.
Grant Ahcan scored twice for the Huskies, while Tyson Gross and Barrett Hall scored one each. Goalkeeper Patriks Berzins stopped 35 of 37 shots in the win.
Miami’s two goals came from Matteo Giampa and David Deputy, while Matteo Drobac stopped 25 of 28 shots in the loss. Deputy finished with two points, a goal and an assist, while Kocha Delic and Owen Lalonde each finished with an assist.
Summary of the game
Just over halfway through the first, St. Cloud State’s Ahcan jumped right out of the box and broke free on an easy breakaway off a Gross pass, then snuck one through Drobac’s five-hole for the 1-0 lead.
After two rather questionable calls from the officials, Miami trailed five-on-three, one against Giampa for holding and the other against Ethan Hay for handling the puck with his glove out of the faceoff.
It came back to bite Miami early in the second, when Hall scored a puck for a five-on-three power play goal to make it 2-0 in St. Cloud State’s favor.
Delic would later take an undisciplined interference penalty deep in his zone, and Gross made him pay for it by scoring on another power play to make it 3-0.
Giampa would get it later Miami on the board during a five-on-three power play midway through the second. The deputy gave him a pass as he drove towards the net and then roofed it to make the score 3-1.
In his first appearance of the season, Lalonde made a perfect pass to Deputy near the faceoff circle, who then cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the second.
Miami fired 19 shots on goal in the second alone, compared to just eight in the first. St. Cloud State fired a total of nine in the second.
Ahcan would later get his second of the match, capping it off with an empty net goal that Michael Quin hit with less than a minute to go in regulation, making it 4-2.
Miami finished with 37 shots on goal, compared to St. Cloud State’s 29. Miami also led in shot attempts by a 67-57 margin.
On special teams, Miami finished 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill.
In the faceoff circle, St. Cloud State won 59.2% of the draws, while Miami won 40.8%.
Miami will now travel abroad to Belfast, Ireland, for the Friendship Four, the first NCHC program to do so. Game 1 comes this Friday at 2:00 PM EST against the RIT Tigers. Game 2 comes Saturday, but depends on Friday’s outcome. It will either be against Union or Sacred Heart.
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