OXFORD, Ohio — Omaha entered Oxford Friday night with its only objective to extend the high level of play that propelled the Mavericks to a series split with now-No.1 North Dakota.
UNO might have opened the scoring, but Miami netted the next seven consecutive scores in what would eventually end as an 8-2 route.
The Mavs started off hot, containing the RedHawks’ outside speed and limiting opportunities while generating a few of their own. Not five minutes into the opening period, Austin Ortega rifled one into the chest of Miami goaltender Jay Williams. Unable to swallow the shot, David Pope stepped across the crease and buried the rebound past a sprawling Williams, silencing the crowd early and giving his team the 1-0 lead.
Perhaps wary of its struggles (0-3-1) against Omaha last season, Miami responded almost immediately. A couple of redirections by Keven Morris and Cody Murphy within two minutes of each other boosted the Red and White to a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission and from there, the pucks began to find the back of the net.
Murphy collected the next two strikes to complete a natural hat trick before the clock hit the halfway mark of the second, chasing UNO goaltender Ryan Massa from between the pipes on just 16 shots – a rare misstep from the owner of the NCAA’s fourth-best save percentage – a sterling .943 – entering the contest, and giving Murphy a shooting percentage of 75 on the night.
“UNO’s got a good squad over there and a great goalie,” Murphy said. “Honestly, it just felt incredible.”
With a 4-1 lead and a fresh Kirk Thompson in the crease for Omaha, Miami did anything but rest on its laurels. A high-slot shot from Matthew Caito was followed by tallies from Riley Barber and Blake Coleman, which effectively put this one out of reach as the second frame came to a close.
The third period was responsible for a goal each way, but more notably, 84 penalty minutes and six misconducts that were split evenly between the two opponents. Coleman took exception to contact enacted by a Maverick defender. Tempers spilled over into action and officials had to separate multiple piles of players before deciding the punishment. No major penalty was handed down and sin bins were filled to the cusp for the remainder of the 8-2 contest.
Though Omaha coach Dean Blais and the Maverick players were unavailable for comment following the game, second-year assistant coach Alex Todd offered some insight into how his team couldn’t keep pace.
“[Miami] did a really good job beating us up-ice and getting in front of our net,” Todd explained. “When you’re open in front of the net, it doesn’t take much to score. It’s a really tough conference. A couple of bad hops and you don’t work a couple of shifts, and that’s what can happen.”
Miami remains atop the NCHC standings at 7-2 with an overall record of 11-4-0, while UNO drops to 3-3-1-1 in conference play with a 7-4-2 overall record.
Six RedHawks had multi-point games and captain Austin Czarnik earned the 100th assist of his career while setting up the first goal of the year for teammates Morris, Caito and senior Michael Mooney, whose empty-netter was the first tally of his career – an action that lead head coach Enrico Blasi to state, simply, “that’s why he’s the captain.”
Pope and Dominic Zombo earned their third and fourth goals of the year, respectively, in the loss. A game like this sets the stage for a grand showing on Saturday evening, a battle in which Omaha will surely respond with fire and physicality if its players’ demeanor after the final buzzer carries any weight.
“[Miami] has home ice and now they’ve got confidence and they’re feeling good,” Todd said. “It means we’ve got to play a tough, tough road game and be a lot better than we were tonight. We’ve got to get over this quickly and get ready to be better tomorrow.”
