Second-ranked Miami used its power play to fire three goals past Ohio State goaltender Collin Olson en route to a 6-2 win Friday evening.<\/p>\n
The two squads square off again Saturday evening in Oxford.<\/p>\n
“[We need to] stay out of the box, pretty simple,” Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said. “The head of officials [Steve Piotrowski] came down and talked about it. I think you are going to see it across college hockey. A lot more penalties here and emphasis on some things, but our guys have to be responsible on that.”<\/p>\n
Miami converted on three out of its nine power-play opportunities.<\/p>\n
Six different RedHawks scored goals Friday and sophomore forward Sean Kuraly tallied three helpers.<\/p>\n
MU had an early 2-0 lead off a pair of five-on-three man advantages. OSU briefly tied the game at two in the third period. The 2-2 stalemate lasted 29 seconds as Miami went on to score four-unanswered goals in the third.<\/p>\n
“We put a lot of work into [the power play],” Kuraly said. “Those things don’t come easy. We worked hard at that in practice and it showed tonight.” <\/p>\n
Miami’s two five-on-three goals came 1:04 apart early in the first period. Forwards Austin Czarnik and Alex Wideman scored the goals. <\/p>\n
“You get a couple of penalties and you capitalize early and all of a sudden, it settles everybody down, especially the younger guys,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. <\/p>\n
After a scoreless second period where OSU took some of MU’s momentum, the Buckeyes responded with goals from Darik Angeli and Chad Niddery to knot the game at two 2:53 into the third period. <\/p>\n
“I thought about calling timeout, but I felt first game of the year, I wanted to see how these guys responded and these guys responded real well,” Blasi said. <\/p>\n
Miami’s Cody Murphy answered 29 seconds after Niddery’s goal with a shot that beat the glove of Olson to give MU a 3-2 lead. Miami piled on with third period goals from Blake Coleman, Anthony Louis and Ben Paulides. For Louis and Paulides, it was their first collegiate goals.<\/p>\n
“Murphy’s goal was the pivotal point in the game,” Kuraly said. “We kind of lost ourselves there for a moment, but I was really happy with how we came back. It was huge for our team.” <\/p>\n
With the two teams joining new conferences this year [Miami to the NCHC and Ohio State to the Big Ten], both coaches felt it was important to keep in the in-state rivalry alive. A boisterous crowd of 4,831 was on hand and was evenly divided between fans for both squads. <\/p>\n
“It is what college hockey is all about,” Blasi said. “I know we’re both in different leagues, but this is our state and we want to take care of it. Playing a home-and-home is important for both institutions.” <\/p>\n
“[Preserving the rivalry] was the first thing that was talked about when the leagues were breaking up,” Rohlik said. “We want to continue this [and] we’ll play Miami for as long as we can.”<\/p>\n
Friday’s game was Rohlik’s first as the head coach. He replaced Mark Osiecki, who was fired by OSU during the offseason.<\/p>\n
“It was very humbling and an honor to walk out there and lead this program,” Rohlik said. “Especially these guys in this room because I know what we have and I know the character that we have.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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