Men's Hockey - at Miami (2/3 Jan)

Miami more than had RPI's number for the last several times that good friends Enrico Blasi and Seth Appert have squared off against each other. It's been very lopsided. This year's home-and-home return to Ohio for last year's Miami blitz ended up being a very even affair instead. The Engineers broke their long losing streak against the RedHawks (dating back to when they were still the Redskins) by winning 3-2 on Saturday night, then had the opportunity to complete a weekend sweep but gave up two goals and an empty netter in the third period on Sunday to fall 4-2 and settle for a split instead.

Saturday
Melanson-Bubela-Wood
Liljegren-Miller-Rodriguez
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Ohrvall-Fulton-Gillespie

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

Only two changes to the RPI lineup from their previous time out against Arizona State a few weeks back - Jason Kasdorf returned to the net (he'd split time with Cam Hackett in the ASU series), and Jared Wilson returned, displacing Tommy Grant.

If you want ominous starts, the Engineers got off to one for sure in the first game. Miami's Josh Melnick scored just 1:20 into the game to put the RedHawks ahead 1-0 - and early goals for Miami have been something of a running theme in this series. But as we've seen frequently this season, RPI bent but did not break. They got some solid goaltending from Jason Kasdorf to keep it a one-goal game, then got some good penalty killing when called upon twice in the opening frame.

It was on the second penalty kill that the Engineers struck as the team notched their fifth shorthanded goal of the year. Lou Nanne's outlet out of the zone to Riley Bourbonnais created a breakaway opportunity that the junior buried for his 11th goal of the year, making it 1-1 with about a minute and a half left in the first period.

Bourbonnais scored again just under five minutes into the second period for his team-leading 12th goal of the season as RPI took the lead on Miami for the first time since a 3-1 first intermission edge in the very first Appert-Blasi duel in 2007 in Troy (a game RPI lost 7-3). The lead was dropped 8 minutes later when Miami took advantage of a quality 2-on-1 opportunity with super-freshman Jack Roslovic scoring on a nifty pass from Anthony Louis to tie the score.

The tie did not last long, however, as Kenny Gillespie buried a rebound off a shot by Chris Bradley during a delayed penalty just over two minutes later to make it 3-2 RPI.

The Engineers were unable to convert on the ensuing power play, nor on one during the third period, but Kasdorf and the team defense helped the score to hold up nonetheless. Kasdorf made 12 saves on 13 shots in the final 40 minutes of a game where few teams were able to create much in the way of offense (RPI managed only 9 in the same time frame), enough to power the Engineers' first win over Miami in over three decades.

Sunday
Melanson-Bubela-Wood
Liljegren-Miller-Rodriguez
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Ohrvall-DeVito-Gillespie

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Hampton-Grant

Kasdorf

Another pair of changes in the RPI lineup came down for Game 2 - Jimmy DeVito made his first appearance of the season after sitting out the fall semester for academic reasons, entering in place of Travis Fulton, while Grant returned to the blue line in place of Meirs Moore.

Again, it was Miami scoring quickly to grab a 1-0 lead. It took slightly longer - 2:01 of the first period - but Andrew Schmit's second goal of the year put RPI down early for the second night in a row. And again, the Engineers responded within the first period with a breakaway goal to tie it up, this time getting it a bit sooner and at even strength as Jesper Ohrvall hit with his fourth goal in as many games to knot the score.

RPI did score yet another shorthanded goal - giving them six on the year, tied for second and trailing only Penn State's seven - as Jake Wood scored a shorty at 13:08 of the second period to give RPI a 2-1 edge that they took into the third period.

With an impressive long-road-trip weekend sweep just 20 minutes away, a combination of a determined Miami attack and a sleepwalking RPI defense conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Alex Gacek made it 2-2 on a goal that looked a lot like Miami's second goal from a night before, and just under two minutes later another east-west pass on an odd-man rush found the back of the cage to make it 3-2. Kasdorf was pulled late for an opportunity at the equalizer, but Miami stood up long enough to make the lead last until an empty netter with under 30 seconds to play sealed up the win for the RedHawks.

RPI has now completed their non-conference schedule with the exception of the Mayor's Cup game against ECAC rival Union, and they did fairly well with it, amassing a 7-5 record on the season against non-ECAC opponents. Their road trip continues on Thursday as they face off at Princeton against the Tigers, a team they need to be able to beat in order to stay in the hunt for a first-round bye.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 18 pts (8-0-2)
2. Cornell - 13 pts (6-1-1)
3. Harvard - 11 pts (4-1-3)
4. RPI - 11 pts (4-1-3)
5. St. Lawrence - 9 pts (4-2-1)
6. Yale - 8 pts (3-3-2)
7. Dartmouth - 6 pts (3-5-0)
8. Brown - 6 pts (2-5-2)
9. Princeton - 6 pts (3-7-0)
10. Union - 5 pts (2-5-1)
11. Colgate - 5 pts (2-6-1)
12. Clarkson - 2 pts (0-5-2)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.900)
2. Cornell (.812)
3. Harvard (.688)
4. RPI (.688)
5. St. Lawrence (.643)
6. Yale (.500)
7. Dartmouth (.375)
8. Brown (.333)
9. Union (.312)
10. Princeton (.300)
11. Colgate (.278)
12. Clarkson (.143)

RPI at Miami

Non-Conference Game - Goggin Ice Center (Oxford, OH)
1/2/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Miami 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record

VIDEO
Appert post-game

RECORD: 11-6-3 (4-1-3 ECAC, 11 pts)

RPI at Miami
Non-Conference Game - Goggin Ice Center (Oxford, OH)
1/3/16 - 5:00pm

RESULT: Miami 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record

VIDEO
Appert post-game

RECORD: 11-7-3 (4-1-3 ECAC, 11 pts)

Upcoming games
07 Jan - at Princeton
15 Jan - #9 Cornell
16 Jan - Colgate
21 Jan - at #2 Quinnipiac
23 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)

Kill The Chicken

Oh, right. Hockey.

So, the first set of the New Year is always an interesting story. The team's been off for a few weeks on holiday break and you never know how much momentum they can carry into those first couple of games. They're almost always against non-conference opponents, which is good because you want whatever questions there are to be answered after break taken care of before getting back into league games. For RPI, that happens next weekend when they host Cornell and Colgate, but this weekend, it's a trip to Ohio to take on the most common non-conference opponent of the Appert era, the Miami RedHawks.

Now, this is an opponent that, in six games over the last decade, has pretty much destroyed the Engineers left and right. The goal tally over the last six is 28-8, including 3-2 and 3-0 wins for Miami in Troy last year on these exact same days.

The good news? Well, heading into the break, these two teams were going in opposite directions, and it's the opposite of what that 28-8 goal line would suggest. RPI concluded 2015 by going unbeaten in 12 of their last 14 games (9-2-3), while Miami has won only two of their last 11 contests (2-8-1).

But the questions remain... what teams are we going to see coming out of break? Miami's home ice advantage makes this a pretty interesting matchup if momentum stays as it was. To be extremely fair to the RedHawks, the NCHC is brutal. A team that would be among the top in other leagues might be languishing in that conference - and their non-conference record is 3-1-1, the lone loss coming against Providence. But they also finished their 2015 schedule getting swept at Colorado College - that would be 0-13-0 to start the season Colorado College - and will be without one of their top players with Louie Belpedio representing the Stars and Stripes in Finland with the World Junior team.

So it'll be intriguing to see what happens. Can RPI end the schneid against Miami? Will the momentum continue?

(Note to our Miami friends: we have a long, sordid history with the name "Redhawks." Or maybe it only felt long. The title of this post is something we used to chant at "our" own mascot about 15 years ago, though thankfully we never had to do it in hockey.)

Stick tap to our friend Bob for this return-to-play pumpup.

Know Your Enemy: Miami

It's something of a benchmark on the offseason when WaP presents its final non-conference opponent for Know Your Enemy, and, well, that week has now arrived. The Engineers will close out their non-conference schedule with a another very tough series against Miami, this one taking place in Ohio. The RedHawks have more than had RPI's number over the last few games in this series. They've won seven in a row against the Engineers, and have won the last six games by a combined score of 28-8. It's going to be hard to see that improving to any great degree on the road against a stacked and experienced squad that could be among the favorites for winning it all.

Miami
Nickname: RedHawks
Location: Oxford, OH
Founded: 1809
Conference: NCHC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2015
Last Frozen Four: 2010
Coach: Enrico Blasi (17th season)
2014-15 Record: 25-14-1 (14-9-1-1 NCHC, 2nd place)
Series: Miami leads, 7-1-0
First Game: December 28, 1984 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: December 28, 1984 (Troy, NY)
Last MU win: January 3, 2015 (Troy, NY)

2015-16 games: January 2-3, 2016 (Oxford, OH)

Key players: D Matthew Caito, sr.; F Alex Gacek, sr.; F Sean Kuraly, sr.; G Ryan McKay, sr.; F Kevin Morris, sr.; D Taylor Richart, sr.; G Jay Williams, sr.; F Justin Greenberg, jr.; D Chris Joyaux, jr.; F Ryan Lomberg, jr.; F Anthony Louis, jr.; D Louie Belpedio, so.; D Scott Dornbrock, so.; F Conor Lemirande, so.; F Jack Roslovic, fr.; D Chaz Switzer, fr.

Previous KYE installment:

• 2014-15

It was a definite bounceback season for Miami last year. After finishing last in the NCHC's inaugural season, the RedHawks rebounded to take 2nd last season and win the NCHC championship, their first league championship since winning the CCHA crown for the first and only time in 2011. When Miami was down last season, they weren't down long. After cleaning up the Engineers in Troy last season, they had their worst winless streak of the season - all of three games.

The only game in which the RedHawks really looked bad at any given time was probably their final game of the season. Opening the NCAA tournament against eventual national champions Providence, Miami got down 6-2 after 40 minutes thanks to an absolutely dreadful second period in which they gave up four goals. It seemed an impossible mountain to climb, but they darn near climbed it in the third period. Still down 6-2 with under 10 minutes to play, Enrico Blasi pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker, and Miami scored three unanswered goals at 6-on-5, storming the RedHawks back within one with nearly a minute and a half left to play. The Friars finally iced it with 7 seconds left by putting it into the empty net, but Miami certainly didn't show any quit facing difficult odds. Every single player who scored an extra-attacker goal is back this season.

The RedHawks do lose their top three scorers - one, Riley Barber, had 20 goals and 20 assists, and left school a year early - but they do bring in a big time freshman in Roslovic, who reaffirmed his commitment to Miami this week amid rumors that he was going to go major junior instead. Roslovic was Winnipeg's first round draft pick in last month's NHL Entry Draft, but it does appear he'll play at least one, if not more seasons in Oxford.

Williams and McKay have platooned in net since the beginning and now they're both seniors, a 1-2 punch in net that gives the RedHawks a solid backbone to a very experienced defensive corps. They'll likely improve on their 2.50 team GAA from last season.

The bottom line is that Miami is likely to have plenty of scoring from guys like Roslovic, Louis, and Kuraly, which should make the RedHawks a tough nut to crack for any team, to say nothing of a team like RPI that has struggled against them in recent years, including this year. Miami, in their building, will represent a most difficult test for the Engineers just before they head into the thick of the ECAC schedule. That seven game winning streak the RedHawks own against RPI doesn't look to be in a great deal of danger, even if the Engineers have the potential to show them perhaps far more than they have in quite some time.

Men's Hockey - at Harvard, Miami (30 Dec, 2/3 Jan)

Having a schedule rife with the nation's top teams is a challenge under the best of circumstances, but when you're having to deal with continuing injuries to some of your most important players - and then having a team issue that ends with the suspension of the team's captains - it's a pretty tough row to hoe. Returning to play after a break of over two weeks, the Engineers briefly took a lead against #4 Harvard in ECAC play, but fell 6-2 after giving up the game's last five scores. Then, with a seriously depleted roster due to the aforementioned suspensions, RPI fought bravely twice against #6 Miami, but couldn't break out of their losing streak, dropping 3-2 and 3-0 games at home. RPI's losing streak is now at eight.

Harvard
McGowan-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Neal-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Laliberte
Fulton, Gillespie

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Reno
Prapavessis-Wilson
Bell

Kasdorf

The big question coming into the unofficial start of the second half of the season revolved around the health of several Engineers. The return of Drew Melanson from a bout with mono, of Travis Fulton and Zach Schroeder from shoulder and ankle injuries respectively, and of Jason Kasdorf from a lower-body injury were certainly big, but they came with a couple of disappointing caveats - Lou Nanne's shoulder was still bothering him, and the injury he appeared to have aggravated against BU apparently wasn't even the same injury that he originally suffered. Mark Miller, who had been playing with bruised ribs, suffered a freak ankle injury in practice, and Viktor Liljegren, previously unhurt, was out with a back injury.

The optimism that sprung with the return especially of Melanson and Kasdorf was dashed pretty quickly. The Engineers have been giving up the first goal of the game with some frequency this year (they've only scored first three times), but on Tuesday night in Boston, it took just 1:21 of game time for RPI to be trailing 1-0 as Luke Esposito scored unassisted after only 81 seconds to open the scoring.

RPI did not back down, and actually turned the game around rather quickly. As part of a fairly dominant first period performance, the Engineers netted a pair of goals from returning players to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Melanson scored his second of the season from Jacob Laliberte and Matt Neal about three minutes after Esposito's goal, and Schroeder hit his second of the year all alone at 11:39. RPI outshot the home team 13-4 in the opening 20 minutes.

However, that was definitely the peak of the evening for the Engineers. They'd caught Harvard flat-footed in the first, and the Crimson rebounded in the second while RPI seemed a bit off from where they'd been to start the game. Harvard's Jimmy Vesey tied the game just 21 seconds into the second, then about three minutes later got a pair of goals nine seconds apart to break the game open at 4-2.

We've seen the Engineers struggle to come back from a bang-bang turn of events like that in the past, but a great deal of their problems came from the fact that the Harvard that played the last 40 minutes better resembled the one that's accrued only one loss all season and has arguably become the best team in the country. Steve Michalek stopped 22 shots in the final two periods, and the Crimson picked up two more goals, including a power play tally, in the third to cruise to the 6-2 victory and pick up another two points in ECAC play.

RPI, meanwhile, dropped their fourth straight league game after starting the ECAC schedule off with a 4-1-0 record.

Miami (Friday)
Liljegren-Bubela-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Wood
Laliberte-DeVito-Fulton
Bokenfohr, Gillespie

Bradley-Hampton
Prapavessis-Bell
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

Viktor Liljegren, one of three very important freshman forwards who have been part of giving the offense what life it's had this season, returned to the lineup for RPI's non-conference series with Miami, but the story of the weekend wasn't who was playing, but rather, who wasn't. With Lou Nanne and Mark Miller still nursing injuries, the team's four captains - Curtis Leonard, Luke Curadi, Matt Neal, and Mark McGowan - were pulled out of the lineup as well, leaving the Engineers with just 10 forwards and 7 defensemen available to play - meaning it was literally an "all hands on deck" moment.

4:40 was the moment on Friday when the usual 1-0 scoreline appeared on the board with the Engineers trailing, as Miami's Riley Barber put one home to give the Redhawks the lead. Miami held an 8-6 edge in shots on goal after one period, as there was plenty of good back and forth action.

Chris Bradley scored his second goal of the season on the power play just 22 seconds into the second period, getting a good screen from Riley Bourbonnais in the process, to tie the game up at one, the third time in four games that RPI had responded with the game's second goal after initially falling behind.

10 minutes later, Miami got their lead back, followed by a second tally from Barber, this time on the power play, at 14:36. That put the Redhawks ahead 3-1 heading into the second intermission. RPI's defensive miscues in the middle stanza put them in a hole that ultimately they would not be able to recover from.

Arguably, however, the Engineers did have the better of the play in the third period. Melanson's third goal of the season and second in as many games cut Miami's lead in half with about eight and a half minutes remaining, and RPI certainly had opportunities to complete the comeback, especially late when they were practically gift wrapped a lengthy two-man advantage, but the home team failed to uncork even a single shot on the power play, and a penalty to Jake Wood just as the second penalty expired scotched any chance the Engineers had to complete the comeback.

Miami (Saturday)
Liljegren-Bubela-Bourbonnais
Melanson-Schroeder-Wood
Laliberte-DeVito-Fulton
Bokenfohr, Gillespie

Bradley-Hampton
Prapavessis-Bell
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

The following night, it was learned that the Engineer captains had been suspended "indefinitely" for an unknown violation of team rules. That suspension continued into the back end of the Miami weekend, which resulted in RPI, out of necessity, putting the exact same lineup out the next night, dressing one fewer man than allowed.

The relative evenness of Friday night's game was not seen on Saturday, and a lot of that had to do with strong play from Miami netminder Jay Williams, who made 22 saves on 22 shots to shut out the Engineers. Meanwhile, the return from the World Junior Championship of Team USA's Anthony Louis injected a bit more life into the visitors. Louis set up Miami's first goal of the night by feeding Cody Murphy in the slot from behind the RPI net to put the Engineers in that oh so typical 1-0 hole.

RPI held their own during the first period, outshooting Miami 12-9 due in large part to a pair of power plays late in the period, but Williams was equal to the task. With RPI not coming terribly close to scoring, the Redhawks basically shut the door midway through the period with a quick burst of two goals reminiscent of RPI's experience against Harvard - this time, the goals were just seven seconds apart. In the blink of an eye, a one goal game was a three goal game.

Miami's physical play disrupted the Engineers all night long, and one RPI player who seemed to take significant umbrage was Milos Bubela. The junior was tagged for interference 18 seconds after the third Miami goal, and was fortunate not to pick up a major and a game misconduct (or more) for what ended up being a boarding penalty in the third period.

The loss extended the season-long losing streak to eight in a row (three in ECAC play), the team's longest drought since an eight-game losing streak in 2011-12.

RPI has now gone 11 consecutive games without reaching 3 goals scored. They also had 11 straight games of two or fewer goals in 2011-12 (which included the aforementioned eight-game schneid). One more would tie the school record of 12 in a row, set between 1912 and 1916 (when hockey was played rather differently).

It's all ECAC matchups from here on out (excluding the Mayor's Cup, played against league foes Union but not counting in the standings), so the time is now if the season is going to be salvaged. RPI does head into the meat of the league schedule with eight crucial points, but many teams have games in hand over the Engineers. It starts with another tough outing against nationally ranked Quinnipiac, followed by what absolutely must be a must-win game no matter what happens against a Princeton team that has been one of the worst in the nation in pretty much every category.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 16 points (8-2-0)
2. Harvard - 14 points (6-1-2)
3. Clarkson - 10 points (4-1-2)
4. Yale - 9 points (4-3-1)
5. St. Lawrence - 8 points (4-3-0)
6. RPI - 8 points (4-5-0)
7. Colgate - 7 points (3-2-1)
8. Union - 7 points (3-4-1)
9. Dartmouth - 7 points (3-4-1)
10. Cornell - 6 points (3-3-0)
11. Brown - 2 points (1-7-0)
12. Princeton - 2 points (1-9-0)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.800)
2. Harvard (.778)
3. Clarkson (.714)
4. St. Lawrence (.571)
5. Colgate (.583)
6. Yale (.562)
7. Cornell (.500)
8. RPI (.444)
9. Union (.438)
10. Dartmouth (.438)
11. Brown (.125)
12. Princeton (.100)

RPI at #4 Harvard
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/30/14 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Harvard 6, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-13-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

#6 Miami at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/2/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Miami 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-14-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

#6 Miami at RPI
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/3/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Miami 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 6-15-1 (4-5-0, 8pts)

Upcoming games
09 Jan - at #15 Quinnipiac
10 Jan - at Princeton
16 Jan - #17 Colgate
17 Jan - Cornell
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)

Know Your Enemy: Miami

There was one thing that people were saying during the formation of two new "super conferences" in the west during the recent reconfiguration of the college hockey landscape: someone's got to be last place in these leagues. In the Big Ten, Penn State was expected to take that role as the new program on the block, and they did just that. In the NCHC, there was no "new program," and it was certain that some team that had been fairly successful in recent years was going to find themselves in the basement. It ended up being Miami.

Miami
Nickname: RedHawks
Location: Oxford, OH
Founded: 1809
Conference: NCHC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2013
Last Frozen Four: 2010
Coach: Enrico Blasi (16th season)
2013-14 Record: 15-20-3 (6-17-1-1 NCHC, 8th place)
Series: Miami leads, 5-1-0
First Game: December 28, 1984 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: December 28, 1984 (Troy, NY)
Last MU win: December 14, 2008 (Oxford, OH)

2014-15 games: January 2-3, 2015 (Troy, NY)

Key players: F Blake Coleman, sr.; F Austin Czarnik, sr.; F Jimmy Mullin, sr.; F Cody Murphy, sr.;  D Ben Paulides, sr.; F Alex Wideman, sr.; F Riley Barber, jr.; D Matthew Caito, jr.; F Sean Kuraly, jr.; G Ryan McKay, jr.; F Kevin Morris, jr.; F Justin Greenberg, so.; D Chris Joyaux, so.; D Matt Joyaux, so.; F Anthony Louis, so.; D Louis Belpedio, fr.

When compared to most of the strongest teams in the nation, Miami is a relative newcomer to the world of college hockey. Their varsity program came into being in 1978, when the club team that had been in existence for 14 years made the move to the big time as a Division I independent.

Under the tutelage of head coach Steve Cady, the Redskins played a largely club-based schedule for their first two years in Division I and did fairly well in that endeavor, kicking off their varsity era with a pair of 20-win seasons as independents before joining the then-fledgling CCHA in 1980, just a year before the conference became a heavy-hitter with the addition of Michigan and Michigan State.

The Redskins didn't fare nearly as well with a steady diet of established Division I teams. Cady's 1983 team managed a winning season, but Miami would end up enduring 10 losing years in their first 11 in the CCHA, eight of which saw the Redskins finishing last or next-to-last in the conference. Cady departed in 1985, his replacement, Bill Davidge, managed just 39 wins in four seasons against 111 losses.

The man who took over in 1989 had an equally inauspicious start, racking up a record of 17-53-7 in his first two seasons in Oxford, which included an especially dreadful 1991 campaign in which the Redskins amassed only 9 points in CCHA play, finishing 11 points behind next-to-last Illinois-Chicago. But that's where the terrible seasons ended for Miami and their soon to be well-known coach: George Gwozdecky.

The turnaround got underway the following season, as the Redskins finished with their first winning season in nine years at 18-16-6, accompanied by a fifth-place showing, the team's best ever finish in the CCHA to that point. In 1993, just two years removed from a below-the-basement finish, the Redskins had completed the worst-to-first turnaround, putting together an amazing 27-9-5 record, clinching the school's first ever CCHA regular season championship, and earning the school's first ever NCAA tournament bid. Miami fell to Wisconsin, their coach's alma mater, 3-1, but the program was certainly on the rise at that point.

After a second straight 20-win season in 1994, Gwozdecky left Miami to become the head coach at Denver. To replace him, the Redskins selected Mark Mazzoleni, who had led Wisconsin-Stevens Point to a Division III dynasty in the late 1980s with three consecutive national championships. Unfortunately, Mazzoleni was unable to translate his D-III success or the strong seasons Gwozdecky had built at Miami into continued success. 1995 was a step back for the Redskins, and 1996 saw the team picking up just 10 wins.

Mazzoleni's best season at Miami was certainly in 1997, when the team bounced back up into the top reaches of the CCHA with a second-place finish and a second-ever NCAA bid, but once again national glory was elusive as the Redskins - in their final game with the moniker - lost to Cornell, 4-2. The school adopted its present day RedHawks name for the 1997-98 season.

Another middling season in 1998 was followed by another dismal year in 1999 as Miami again fell off the CCHA radar. Following that year, Mazzoleni left Miami to take over the head coaching job at Harvard in late July, leaving the RedHawks scrambling to find a replacement in time for the upcoming season. They found former team captain Enrico Blasi, who'd played under Gwozdecky as a part of the 1993 NCAA team and captained the 1994 squad. At the time, he was the youngest head coach in the nation, and he was about to become the most successful at the school.

Blasi certainly did the best he could with what he had early in his coaching career. After two losing campaigns in his first three seasons, Blasi started the RedHawks off on a path to heights of college hockey, although the road was certainly rocky early on. 2003 saw Miami earning 21 victories, and the following year Blasi's charges finished 2nd in the CCHA, just a point behind ever-dominant Michigan. It was enough for a third-ever NCAA bid, but this one ended the same as the first two, this time with Miami losing to Gwozdecky and Denver, 3-2.

The 2004 appearance, however, was the first in what would become regular NCAA appearances as Miami established itself as one of the leading programs in the nation under Blasi. The RedHawks had an unsatisfying losing year immediately following the loss to Denver, but a 1st place finish in the CCHA in 2006, their first since 1993, touched off eight consecutive seasons of NCAA bids.

2006 ended with a 5-0 loss to Boston College, but in 2007, on their fifth try, Miami finally broke through with a 2-1 win over New Hampshire - in Manchester, no less. The Frozen Four was not in the offing that year as BC again crushed Miami's hopes with a shutout, 4-0. BC again blocked the Frozen Four in 2008 with a 4-3 overtime victory in the Northeast final in Worcester.

2009 brought another breakthrough, and in a big way that almost sent the RedHawks directly to the top. Finally sent west after three straight appearances in the Northeast regional (where, ironically, Boston College didn't lurk that season), Miami dispatched Gwozdecky and the Pioneers in the first round, then earned their first Frozen Four appearance by defeating Minnesota-Duluth, the regional favorite in Minneapolis, 2-1. At the Frozen Four in Washington, the RedHawks took down a Cinderella Bemidji State team, 4-1, to earn a showdown for the national championship against Boston University.

The moment simultaneously became the proudest and the most heartwrenching moment in Miami's hockey history. As the third period started, the teams were tied 1-1. Miami took the lead with 7:29 left, and gave themselves an insurance tally with just 4:08 left on the clock, making it 3-1. It looked as though the RedHawks were about to be crowned champions for the very first time. But BU wasn't finished. With the goaltender pulled, the Terriers got a goal back with 59.5 seconds left, and then equalized with the extra attacker as Miami was 17.4 seconds away from celebrating the title. The crushing collapse was eventually completed just under 12 minutes into overtime as BU scored again to win the national championship, 4-3.

Arguably, Miami's 2010 campaign was even stronger than the one that saw them get so tantalizingly close to winning it all. They absolutely stomped the competition in the CCHA, winning the regular season crown by 20 points with a 21-2-5 overall record in the conference. While the ever-elusive CCHA championship after a semifinal loss to Michigan, the RedHawks still looked primed to do some damage in the NCAA tournament. Avenging their CCHA loss with a double overtime victory over the Wolverines, Miami reached the Frozen Four for the second straight year, but found their NCAA nemesis, Boston College, waiting for them there, and the script remained the same. The Eagles pummeled the RedHawks 7-1.

In 2011, Miami finally picked up two very important pieces of hardware: their very first tournament success in claiming the CCHA championship after so many years of coming up just short. The RedHawks bumped off Western Michigan 5-2, but fell in the NCAAs to New Hampshire (again, in Manchester). That second bit of hardware was an individual nod, as Andy Miele won Miami's very first Hobey Baker Award.

With the CCHA about to take a big hit in prestige as the Big Ten schools departed, Miami was part of a core group of programs that set up the new NCHC - but they still had noise to make in the CCHA. 2013 saw Miami pick up the final regular-season championship, their fourth, but it came with a semifinal loss to Michigan in their last shot at the CCHA title. Their eighth straight NCAA appearance ended just shy of the Frozen Four after falling to St. Cloud State, 4-1.

Last year, the first in the NCHC's existence, Miami didn't look like they were going to be one of the struggling teams early on. They kicked off their season with 6-2 and 6-3 thrashings of former conference-mate Ohio State, then went 5-3-1 in their next nine outings. But once the thick of the NCHC schedule got started, defense became much harder to come by.

It was almost like flipping a switch. After a 2-0 shutout of Wisconsin made the RedHawks 7-3-1 on the season, the next night's 3-2 loss was the first six consecutive outings in which Miami gave up three or more goals. After the New Year, 11 of their next 13 games, all in-conference, featured the same defensive showing. At the same time, the offense dried up. Only four of those games saw the RedHawks lighting the lamp three or more times.

But even after a last place finish, the RedHawks managed to complete the season on a high-note. They won their last game of the regular season at Denver, then shocked the conference by sweeping first-place St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals, and then taking down second-place North Dakota 3-0 in the semifinals to earn a highly improbable shot at extending their NCAA streak to nine seasons. It was not to be as equally surprising Denver (who'd finished seventh out of nine) managed a 4-3 victory, but Miami definitely went down fighting as they nearly pulled the same trick BU had laid on them in 2009 in the national championship game, scoring an extra attacker goal late to pull within one, but they simply couldn't find the second.

There was one element that was not shocking at all about Miami's struggles - they were very young last year, with only one senior dressing all season. The RedHawks return five players from last season that notched 12 or more goals last season, four of which will be juniors and seniors - Czarnik, Barber, Kuraly, and Coleman. Meanwhile, a blue line contingent that had only one player last year who wasn't a freshman or sophomore last season (Paulides) will be a year older and a year wiser. They add to that a solid freshman in Belpedio, a third-round draft selection of the Minnesota Wild who faced the Engineers last season with the US Under-18 team.

McKay was part of a freshman troika in 2012-13 that were not just the best freshman goaltenders in the nation, they were three of the best goaltenders period - the other two being UMass-Lowell's Connor Hellebuyck and RPI's Jason Kasdorf. Unfortunately, of that group, only Hellebuyck was able to repeat his sensational numbers last year. Kasdorf, of course, missed basically the entire season due to shoulder surgery, and McKay saw a significant statistical drop-off, giving up almost a goal and a half per game more last year than in his freshman year, and seeing his save percentage drop from nearly 95% to about 91%.

The numbers would indicate that although Miami's team defense was not as strong last year as it was in 2013, McKay also was not as strong as he was as a freshman. Still, it does take a serious amount of talent to put up a 1.39 GAA across a whole season of work - he split time with classmate Jay Williams as a freshman and had about half-a-goal per game less in GAA.

Miami's most recent two-year series with RPI came in 2007-08 and 2008-09, with all four games won by the RedHawks by multiple goals, outscoring the Engineers 22-6 in those games. The gap between the programs at the time was pretty wide, though. Miami isn't quite on the level they were back then, and RPI is an improved team from the ones that struggled through the late 2000s. The key matchup this year is going to be between Miami's outstanding offensive ability and RPI's decent defensive front. If McKay and Kasdorf can put on the show that they would have commanded as freshmen, it should be an exciting pair of games in Troy this season, and it'll put some pressure on the Engineer offense to perform.

Tsunami Watch: CCHA

In the words of Bob Dylan, "the times, they are a-changin'" and nowhere are the times changing more than in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

A minor conference when it was created in the 1970s, the CCHA got a huge shot in the arm when Michigan and Michigan State joined the conference from the WCHA in 1981 and ever since, the league has been one of the major players on the national scene. But those schools, along with Ohio State, will be departing for the new Big Ten conference, and a league currently sitting at 11 programs will be down to eight, with two powerful programs that will almost certainly be looking for something more firm (and more prestigious) and six less powerful programs who face a difficult future.

It wasn't long ago that some were talking about the CCHA possibly being the first conference to stretch from coast to coast (from Alaska to New York), and that may yet be in the conference's future, but minus the Big Ten schools, there's an unsure future not only for many of the CCHA's D-II programs, but also for the conference itself.

Notre Dame: At the end of the day, the Fighting Irish are really the program most likely to be the one making the next move, and they are easily the program with the most options. Why? Because they're Notre Dame - the school with enough moxie when it comes to college athletics (specifically, college football) to command their own national television contract. As Adam Wodon has said, they're probably already looking around and realizing that without the Big 10 schools, they're in a conference with nothing but Mid-American Conference and D-II schools. That's not how the Fighting Irish roll.

If Notre Dame comes calling, what established conference in their right minds would turn them down? The two most likely destinations are the WCHA (where the Irish resided in the 1970s) and Hockey East (where an institutional rival in Boston College resides, not to mention that the league isn't totally geographically similar to the Big East's core). The WCHA is home of some large buildings, but Notre Dame's new digs will be big enough to fit in.

Expect the Fighting Irish to be the next team to make a decision on their future, probably within the next year. Will they look east? Will they look west? Or will they take a leading role in trying to attract new teams (and potentially, new programs) to the CCHA? The decision they make will likely set the rest of the carousel in motion.

Miami: Perhaps the single CCHA program with the most questions. They're quickly becoming one of the best programs in college hockey - like Notre Dame, missing only the national championship - but the uncertainty surrounding the CCHA could have lasting consequences on the Redhawks' immediate future. Consider Miami's position. They are, as soon as the Big Ten schools leave, one of two powers in a significantly weakened conference and, as we just mentioned, Notre Dame almost certainly isn't long for that weakened conference. What, then, is the solution?

The WCHA is unlikely to be interested in Miami for a couple of reasons. Their arena, while new (and, might I say, awesome), would be very small by their standards. It's also significantly outside of the league's footprint and, especially by comparison to Notre Dame, Miami doesn't bring with it much gravitas other than through their recently lofty position as a college hockey power.

Hockey East also probably wouldn't be terribly interested in Miami, even as a package with Notre Dame, given its status as a regional (yet powerful) conference. They might be willing to branch out for the Irish, but probably not so much for the Redhawks.

Miami's best route, therefore, is probably in bolstering the CCHA through adding additional programs - and yet, no matter what schools possibly get added, the Redhawks are still in the precarious position of being head and shoulders above the rest of the league. That might bode well for making the national tournament every year, but if the CCHA is significantly weakened, it might make for a tougher route to their goal of a national championship.

Bowling Green and Western Michigan: The other MAC schools, each with very different hockey histories but similar recent results. The Falcons won a national championship in 1984, but have had a rocky recent past, including a threat a few years back to have their program folded due to difficult economic times. The Broncos, meanwhile, have floundered for many years but are coming off a remarkable comeback season last year under their new coach despite the school's long-term commitment to the program slightly in question.

These are schools that, like Miami, are among in the top level Division I (as defined by the D-I split in college football), but unlike Miami are unattractive to other high end conferences - neither has a prayer of being invited to a currently existing league. They will certainly miss the effect that regular visits from Michigan and Michigan State have had on home turnout, and if the CCHA doesn't grow, they may find the quality (and stability) of their programs diminishing rapidly as time goes by, further imperiling the league and their own existence.

Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan: The CCHA's Division II schools in the Midwest. The latter two are also former national champions, with the Lakers enjoying a dynasty during the late 1980s and early 1990s. These programs have not been in trouble as BGSU and WMU have been, but they will be taking a big hit with the Big Ten schools leaving the conference. They are not currently in danger, but the longer the CCHA exists in a weakened state, the more their future in Division I could be in jeopardy. At the very least, their ability to field competitive teams could be in jeopardy.

NMU is a former WCHA program and they were rumored to be in the mix to jump back to the WCHA during its last expansion, a slot that eventually went to Nebraska-Omaha. They could try to spring back (maybe even with Notre Dame), but it's entirely possible that the WCHA ship has sailed. Ferris and LSSU have fewer reasonable options.

Alaska: The CCHA's lonely outpost in the Last Frontier. The Nanooks have had the appearance of being a serious outlier in the Great Lakes-centric CCHA since they joined the conference in 1995, but it has been a necessary matter for their program to be able to have a secure place in the college hockey world. It is difficult at best to schedule an independent schedule, and even more difficult to entice teams to come to Alaska, even with the schedule exemption that teams who do so receive (teams who travel to the 49th state don't have to count those games toward their schedule limit). So Alaska will also be looking to keep the CCHA soluble.

One thing that almost surely will not happen is a combination of the two Alaska schools into the same conference, whether that's the Nanooks moving the WCHA as has been suggested or Alaska-Anchorage moving to the CCHA (where it has been argued they could be more competitive). Both schools cherish the ability to play each other on a yearly basis to account for some of their non-conference games (taking up the remainder with pre-season tournaments). If they were forced to play each other within a conference schedule, it would make filling their schedule all the more difficult, perhaps requiring them to travel to the Lower 48 for some of their non-conference games, which neither team currently does.

Expansion?

The CCHA's path to survival as a conference almost certainly rests in adding new programs, since we've seen how tenuous survival can be with eight or fewer teams. Fortunately, there are a number of viable options out there, including the possibility of adding new programs (which again, we won't speculate on specific schools here).

Atlantic Hockey: We'll touch more on this when we get to discussing the growing divisions in college hockey's lone minor (but improving) conference, but there are a number of teams in Atlantic Hockey that would likely love to join the CCHA, even in a weakened condition, than stay in the cost-contained AHA. First and foremost, there's Niagara and Robert Morris, both dealing with scholarship restrictions they'd prefer not to have. There's also RIT, which has been dominant in AHA and is clearly yearning for a bigger challenge, though they'd prefer the ECAC. Mercyhurst wouldn't be too far away and has been trying to improve their position. The bottom line is, there are a number of opportunities for AHA teams, especially western AHA teams, who might be interested in improving their station through the CCHA if they're up for the challenge of competing with a full slate of scholarships.

Alabama-Huntsville: Let's not forget the lone current independent in hockey's southern outpost. The shuffling that the Big Ten's arrival represents is welcome news in Huntsville not because it opens an obvious spot for the Chargers, but because it breaks the status quo, which is what has left them on the outside looking in. Could there be a spot for them in the CCHA? Certainly. Is it a sure thing? Far from it. By all reports, the schools that were warm to the idea of the Chargers joining the conference the last time they looked to join were, by and large, the bigger schools, and most of them are leaving. UAH would help stabilize the league on numbers alone, but it would also increase travel costs for a league that is not going to have as much money to play with once the heavy hitters hit the road.

Michigan Tech: Here's an interesting possibility that's probably more rampant speculation than anything, but... what about Tech? They bolted the WCHA for three years in the early 1980s for the CCHA and their local rivals from NMU currently play there (with non-conference games between the schools continuing on a yearly basis). Tech is starting anew with a new coach next year and haven't finished in the top half of the WCHA since 1993 - since then, they've finished last nine times, including each of the last three years. Might the program be better suited to grow in what will be a weaker league, one in which they would lend a bit more gravitas to in the process? It's absolutely nothing but speculation since Tech seems to be happy in the WCHA (and the reverse is probably true, since they're the trustees of the MacNaughton Cup, the league's regular season championship trophy), but... maybe something to think about as a possibility.