It might have taken a goal in the final two minutes for the Miami RedHawks to claim victory in Columbus on Friday, but the red and white controlled the game from start to finish on Saturday. Three freshmen lit the lamp en route to a 3-1 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes and a series sweep.
The first big play came when Jack Roslovic, who scored the game-winner the previous evening, earned the primary assist on the RedHawks’ first strike of the evening. Classmate and linemate Josh Melnick was the benefactor of the backdoor, no-look pass, which he slammed home for a power-play goal at 12:11 of the first frame.
“We try to spread them out, because a lot of teams will try to run around and pressure you pretty hard,” Roslovic explained. “So when you spread them out, things kind of open a bit. They were a tired and I made a nice pass to Josh [Melnick], a little hard, but he put it home.
After letting in the initial goal, Buckeyes goaltender Matt Tomkins settled in and looked close to impenetrable for the better part of the second period, despite a flurry of Miami activity around his net. It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to bounce back and feed off his momentum. Freshman forward Mason Jobst got in on the action at 5:22 of the period when he rang a wrist shot off the post and in past senior netminder Ryan McKay.
Like Tomkins, McKay looked reinvigorated after allowing one to get by him and came up with several key stops throughout the latter half of the second period, including a show-stopping blocker save, sans helmet. It seemed to spark the RedHawks, and not minutes later, Melnick forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Roslovic picked up the puck, split the Buckeyes defensemen, and buried a short side, top-shelf shot to give the home team the lead at the 13:56 mark.
The scoring chances seemed to even out in the twilight minutes of the second period until Ohio State’s Tyler Lundey was whistled for a hit from behind with 13 seconds remaining. After a quick conference, the officials deemed it severe enough to eject Lundey from the contest, giving Miami its first five-minute, non-releasable power play of the season.
The RedHawks made Lundey pay for the errant hit just two minutes into the third on a Zach Lavalle rebound goal. The freshman put his second try home over the right pad of Tomkins to secure the 3-1 lead and the first two-goal lead of the year. The score would stand the test of the third period, and several in-tight Ohio State opportunities, to become the final.
“I thought our play away from the puck was a lot better tonight,” RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi said. “I don’t know if we played a complete game tonight, but that was probably the best game we’ve played to this point. Our power play was good tonight, our penalty kill was good tonight, so it was a good team effort.”
The Buckeyes are now 0-4-0 on the season after swept weekends at the hands of rivals Bowling Green and Miami. For newcomers like freshman forward Brendon Kearney, it’s all part of the process of learning and growing as a hockey team.
“To start off against teams like [Miami], it gets you ready for the rest of the season,” Kearney, who finished the evening with one blocked shot and one shot on goal, said. “I think we’d all rather be thrown into the fire and face the best early. It’s a good learning experience.”
The RedHawks controlled the game for long stretches of time, outshooting the Buckeyes in all three periods to lead the count 41-28. Tomkins fought valiantly between the pipes in a 38-save effort, but was out-dueled by McKay, who turned aside all but one of the 28 shots he faced. It’s the third straight game McKay has allowed two goals or less, and remains unbeaten on the year at 2-0-1.
With the win, the RedHawks improve to 2-1-1 on the year. They’ll look to build on the winning streak when they visit St. Lawrence next weekend. The Buckeyes will continue to seek out that elusive first win during a tough trip up to Providence to take on the defending national champions in a two-game series.
