Second Ranked Miami Blanks No. 6 Ferris State

Desperately needing a victory, Miami netminder Cody Reichard stopped all 23 shots he faced in the second ranked RedHawks 4-0 win over the No. 6 ranked Ferris State Bulldogs.

Reichard is now tied with David Burleigh for the school record for shutouts in a season with four so far this season.

“We blocked a lot a of shots and did a great of keeping them outside and when they did have opportunities,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. “Cody made some great saves,”

Miami pressured the Bulldogs early in the game and were rewarded with their first goal seven minutes into the first period. Vincent LoVerde’s shot from the left point was blocked a Bulldogs defenseman at the top of the crease. However, the puck landed right in front of senior forward Jarod Palmer. Palmer made a quick move to his backhand before sliding the puck past Bulldog goalie Pat Nagle.

Nagle made some great saves on the night, including a beauty with his glove when Palmer was alone in the slot late in the first, but it wasn’t enough as Ferris State couldn’t solve Reichard.

“The desire is there, but Miami was the better team tonight,” said Bulldogs head coach Bob Daniels.

Five minutes into the second period, a bad bounce as the Bulldogs’ were trying to clear the zone near the end of a Miami power play put the puck on Chris Wideman’s stick. Wideman moved the puck ahead to Will Weber who made the back door pass to Andy Miele for the easy goal.

Later in the second period, Devin Mantha forced a turnover as Ferris State was going for a line change and made a quick pass to Curtis McKenzie, creating a three-on-one for Miami. McKenzie made a quick pass across the crease to Brandon Smith to make the score 3-0.

Miami added one more goal late in the third. With an extra attacker due to a delayed penalty, Trent Vogelhuber beat everyone to his own rebound and lifted a quick shot over Nagle.

“They were a lot quicker to pucks than were tonight,” said Daniels. “I think their defense overall deserves a lot credit for the win tonight.”

Neither team scored with the man-advantage tonight, a fact that was not lost on either of the coaches. Miami was 0-5 on the while Ferris State went scoreless in seven tries.

“Both power play units struggled tonight and both penalty kills were great tonight,” said Blasi. “Anytime you kill a five minute power play is good. I thought both teams did a nice job on that.

“It was a tight game and we got some opportunistic bounces tonight. We played hard and it was a great game. It had a real good playoff feel to it.”

Miami (14-4-5 overall, 11-1-3-1 in the CCHA) and Ferris State (16-5-2, 10-3-2-2) will conclude the regular season series in Big Rapids tomorrow night at 5:05.