Where Friday’s contest was punctuated with stout defense and stingy goaltending, Saturday brought with it a slew of goals for the visiting squad. Minnesota-Duluth scored four goals in the first 30 minutes to cruise to a 5-2 win over Miami.
“I thought our guys had another strong game,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “Obviously it was great to get out and get the first couple goals and build off that. … I thought our guys played a strong game again, even when they made it 4-2. I thought we played better after that, after they made it 4-2, than prior to that. It was a good way to close it out and get a big three points.”
The Bulldogs owned the shot category again in all three periods of the series finale and got off to a quick start scoring as well. Neal Pionk netted his second of the series, and of the season, at 13:52 on a quirky bounce that glanced off a Miami stick and past a helpless Ryan McKay. Tony Cameranesi netted his seventh of the year just minutes later, this time on a failed clear stemming from a highlight-reel save by McKay.
The second period opened to another pair of goals from the maroon and gold. Dominic Toninato stripped the puck from Michael Mooney’s stick and rocketed the eventual game-winner past McKay’s blocker to increase the lead to three. Parker Mackay finished the run off for the Bulldogs two minutes after Toninato’s strike. He intercepted an errant McKay pass and touched twine before the goaltender could recover, and Jay Williams was brought on in relief of McKay.
“We were down [four] goals and our first two periods weren’t good,” Ryan Siroky, who scored the second RedHawks goal, said. “They came into tonight with a lot more intensity than they had last night and we didn’t match it. We had times where we were good in their offensive zone, but we were a little bit too complacent and they took advantage of that tonight.”
Miami snagged two goals of its own down the stretch — the first from offensive defenseman Louie Belpedio, the second off the stick of Siroky, the first of his college career — but it wasn’t nearly enough. Minnesota-Duluth held Miami to two shots in the third and Alex Iafallo converted an unassisted empty-net marker to finish the red and white off by a score of 5-2.
“Give [the Bulldogs] a lot of credit,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “They did what they needed to do to smother us and capitalize on their chances.”
The 15-shot effort is tied for the lowest output by the RedHawks on the season, while the Bulldogs’ 22 is their lowest total of the year.
Miami’s McKay finished with 11 saves before being pulled in favor of Williams, who was a perfect six-for-six. Kasimir Kaskisuo turned aside 13 of the 15 shots he faced.
“We have to give them respect,” Iafallo said of Miami. “They played a great game and so did we. We got a lot of bounces that we were finally looking for. A lot of great plays from everybody, from ‘Kas’ all the way up. Defense, offense, it was a great game for us.”
The win puts a positive cap on the weekend for Minnesota-Duluth, which furthers their hope to climb the PairWise rankings into an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. The loss all but eradicates Miami’s hopes of sneaking into the year-end tournament on its own merits, so the RedHawks will almost certainly need to win out in the conference tournament.
