Miami completed a home sweep of No. 9 Western Michigan in dominant fashion Saturday night, rolling to an impressive 7-3 victory and climbing to third place in the CCHA standings.
Bolstered by an offensive onslaught that kept the heat on Western Michigan netminder Jeff Reynaert all night, Miami attempted a season-best 50 shots on goal while tallying its second-highest goal total of the season. In all, five Miami players recorded multiple-point games.
Miami, which took a season-best 21 shots on goal in the opening period, was led out of the gates by Evan Cheverie who scored from in front of the net off a setup from Matt Medvecz.
Derek Edwardson spotted Miami a 2-0 lead less than a minute later, finding the back of the net for the third-consecutive game with Mike Kompon at 12:05.
With less than a minute remaining in the period, Miami hit its seventh unanswered goal of the two-night series when Jason Deskins scored off a slapshot.
WMU finally broke up Miami’s run of goals 10 seconds later when Dana Lattery found the back of the net at 19:23.
Miami endured a blitz of WMU shots early in the second period, but netminder David Burleigh repeatedly turned the Broncos away, collecting 12 saves in the period. Krajnc broke up the WMU run at 9:49, scoring on the power play with help from Edwardson and Jason Deskins.
WMU pulled to within 4-2 with a Mike Bishai goal at 10:30 but the Broncos would get no closer.
Pat Leahy responded with a power play goal at 16:44 and Hartlieb struck again at 19:38.
Bishai scored the Broncos’ final goal at 2:14 in the third period, but WMU would attempt only four more shots in the remainder of the game.
Chris Knupp, who ended a 28-game scoring drought with a goal Friday night, scored for the second-straight game at 6:34 to round out the scoring.
Miami, which won for the fourth-consecutive time overall and eighth-straight time at home, improved to 15-11-2 (12-7-1 CCHA). The RedHawks jumped ahead of Nebraska-Omaha to claim sole possession of third place in the CCHA with the win.
Western Michigan, which is winless over its last eight (0-5-3) was swept for the first time this season and dropped to 16-8-5 (9-7-5 CCHA).
