Fifteen Wildcats registered points and New Hampshire cruised to a 7-2 victory over Miami at Towse Rink at the Whittemore Center.
Senior captain Corey-Joe Ficek led the Wildcats with two goals and an assist on the night.
“I was real pleased with the way we played tonight,” UNH coach Dick Umile said. “Last night we had one line that was scoring, tonight it didn’t matter what line we put out there.”
The Wildcats jumped on the board at 9:07 of the first period when RedHawk defenseman Jake Ortmeyer tried to clear the zone, but the puck was knocked down by UNH forward Lanny Gare. Gare carried from the corner to netminder David Burleigh’s left, and with Ortmeyer draped all over him, Gare punched the puck in the net off Burleigh’s right leg. Darren Haydar and Matt Swain assisted on the play.
UNH’s fourth line added the second goal of the night at 12:31 of the period. Freshman forward Nathan Martz scored his first career goal with a wraparound that beat Burleigh just inside the right post. Steve Saviano and Josh Prudden assisted on the goal.
The scoring continued just over a minute later when defenseman Garrett Stafford fed Ficek with a breakout pass just across the red line on the left wing. Ficek skated in 2-on-1, with Colin Hemingway to his right, and when defenseman Matt Medvecz went down to block the pass, Ficek fired the shot and beat Burleigh glove side at 13:43.
The onslaught continued just five seconds later. Ficek took a pass from defenseman Mark White and skated in 2 on 1, this time with Jim Abbott on the left wing. Ficek flipped a shot toward the net that Abbott, parked just outside the far post, batted out of the air and past Burleigh.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “They’re a far superior team to us at this point in the season. They have a great transition team. You have to limit their outnumbered rushes, and we didn’t do that.”
The first period came to a close with UNH outshooting Miami 15-3.
The second period started with Miami controlling the play, and at 4:16 the Redhawks finally got on the board. Center Evan Cheverie won a faceoff to Wildcat goalie Matt Carney’s right. Ortmeyer picked up the puck at the point, and wristed a shot through a screen past Carney to make it 4-1. Mike Kompon added an assist on the play.
UNH answered just 29 seconds later when Ficek picked up the bouncing puck just inside the Miami blue line. He carried it into the faceoff circle to Burleigh’s right and slid a shot that deflected off defenseman Bart Stevens’ skate and through the goalie’s legs for his second game of the night. Stafford and Colin Hemingway assisted on the Wildcats’ fifth goal of the night.
“Tonight, it seemed like we got the bounces,” Ficek said. “Our third and fourth lines really got us going tonight. The freshmen played really well, and that gave us momentum.”
UNH added two more goals in the second period when Johnny Rogers scored his first on a perfect feed by David Busch from behind the net. Rogers slid the puck through Burleigh’s five hole to make it 6-1 at 6:19. Freshman Steve Saviano scored his first career goal at 11:29 when defenseman Sean Austin’s home run pass from just outside his own crease found Saviano at center ice. Saviano raced in with Ray Stevens hooking his shoulder, and slid it past Burleigh closing out the scoring for UNH.
“The defenseman made a great play on my goal,” said Saviano. “I just got the puck on net, and it went in.”
Burleigh was then pulled for freshman David Bowen, who didn’t allow a goal the rest of the game.
Miami added a goal at 13:26 of the third period when Gregor Krajnc beat Carney on a 4-on-3 power play, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough as the Wildcats easily took care of the Redhawks. Freshman Michael Ayers played the last 5:50 in net for the Wildcats making two saves.
“I thought it was a real strong team effort,” said Umile. “I was looking to improve on last night, and play a full 60-minute hockey game, and stay out of the penalty box. We did that.
“It’s fun to play a game like this because it doesn’t happen to often in our league.”
