The 1-0-2 Miami University Redhawks hosted the 0-3-0 University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Saturday night at Steve “Coach” Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio. The night before, the RedHawks narrowly won 3-2 in a game that went down to the wire. UAA pulled within one goal in the final two minutes while the RedHawks were shorthanded, but they pulled through, earning Head Coach Anthony Noreen his first collegiate win.
In the first period, the RedHawks came out flying and checking the Seawolves into the boards. Around four minutes in the game, #67 Colby Ambrosio wristed a snipe past the Seawolves goaltender giving the RedHawks an early 1-0 lead. The RedHawks continued to shut down the Seawolves rushing attack at the blue line and control most of the possession for the next five minutes. With eight minutes left in the first, Colby Ambrosio took a five-minute major penalty for boarding, which gave Miami Goalie Bruno Bruveris his first major test of the game. The Miami PK unit continued their hot streak, killing off the five-minute major by blocking shots and icing the puck repeatedly. With two minutes left in the period, Ethan Warrener of UAA took a two-minute roughing penalty that would later be killed off, ending the period.
23 seconds into the second period, Matt Choupani tapped a pass from Colby Ambrosio past UAA goaltender Greg Orosz, giving the RedHawks a 2-0 lead early in the second. Miami goaltender Bruno Bruveris made multiple key saves throughout the next ten minutes of the second. With a little under eight minutes left in the period, Will Schimek of UAA took a tripping penalty, and Casper Nassen capitalized with a PPG in front of the net. Not even two minutes later, Matt Choupani wristed a shot into the net, scoring his second of the game and giving the RedHawks a 4-0 lead, leading to the UAA coaching staff pulling goaltender Greg Orosz and placing Tyler Krivtsov in net. Later, Miami killed off another penalty shortly after the goal, and then went back on the powerplay after a crosscheck by Ben Anderson of UAA. The period ended at a 4-0 final score, with 46 seconds of the Miami powerplay carrying over to the third period.
The Seawolves began the third period, draining out the rest of the Miami powerplay. They later had another chance at the powerplay after Matt Choupani was caught tripping. Miami later killed another two penalties, continuing their hot streak, 17/18 on the PK this season. Directly after the powerplay, the Seawolves finally found the net, with Dimitry Kebreau breaking up the shutout with a snapshot goal. Miami then iced the game out in the final minutes and earned the weekend series sweep over UAA. Miami improves to 2-0-2 and will host Robert Morris in Oxford, Ohio next Thursday. UAA will head to Marquette, Michigan to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats next weekend, seeking their first win on the season after falling to 0-4-0.
Miami earned their first home sweep since last season vs Canisius, with an impressive performance by their special teams’ units and goaltender Bruno Bruveris, who stopped 24/25 shots on Saturday night. From my observation, the Seawolves were unable to maintain neutral zone possession/time due to Miami’s checking intensity at the defensive blue line all game. Also, Miami’s top lines were highly skilled and have already built some chemistry, which will be huge heading into NCHC play soon.
Highlights below:
Three Stars of the Game:
3) Johnny Waldron: 2 Assists
2) Colby Ambrosio: 1 Goal, 2 Assists
1) Matt Choupani: 2 Goals
Below is the post-game press conference, hearing from Head Coach Anthony Noreen and Forward Matt Choupani:
Red hawks seemed fast for the Seawolves.