The Miami RedHawks fell 5-2 to the No. 9 Western Michigan Broncos on Friday night at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This was their first road loss of the season and dropped their record to 7-2-0 (1-2-0 in NCHC play).
Related: Miami Picks Up First NCHC Win in 658 Days Over Arizona State
Miami jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an Ilia Morozov goal, but after that, it was all Western Michigan, with goals from Liam Valente, Theo Walberg, Zach Nehring, Zach Bookman, and Sam Huck. Morozov later scored his second of the game (sixth goal of the season) in the third period.
Miami’s Matteo Drobac was peppered with shots all game, stopping 35 of 40 shots, but many came off of bad defensive lapses from his team.
Western Michigan’s Hampton Slukynsky was back to himself on Friday night, stopping a number of grade-A chances for a total of 20 saves on 22 shots.
Game Recap
After killing two early penalties and spending most of the opening 10 minutes in their own zone, Miami found the first goal. Morozov carried the puck in, drove the net, and forced it home with his long reach to give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead.
After one period, Western Michigan led 10-7 in shots. Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play despite getting quality chances.
Miami had a golden opportunity on a five-minute power play early in the second, but could not capitalize, and after this, the momentum flipped to the home team. Miami got only one shot on goal during that five-minute power play, a one-timer from Casper Nassen.
Valente evened things up on a power play midway through the second period, absolutely sniping it past Drobac.
Defensive breakdowns continued for Miami, and it finally cost them, as Western Michigan continued the onslaught with two unanswered goals from Walberg and Nehring. Walberg wristed one past Drobac and then, only a few moments later, Nehring cleaned up a rebound off a shot from Grant Slukynsky.
Through 40 minutes of play, Western Michigan had more than double the number of Miami shots on goal at a 31-14 margin.
Miami’s power play struggled yet again to start the third period, and then two more unanswered goals came from Western Michigan: Bookman and Huck, which sent the Lawson Lunatics wild.
Morozov would later score a power-play goal to make it 5-2 late, but it didn’t matter by that point.
Miami finished 1-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-6 on the penalty kill. There were 12 penalties in total, with a lot of stick infractions throughout the night. Miami blocked nine shots compared to Western Michigan’s six, but the Broncos dominated the faceoff circle, winning 43 draws to Miami’s 25 (36.8%).
It was a tough night for Justin Stupka in the circle, winning just 1-of-13, while Ethan Hay and Morozov were about even. Slukynsky controlled things for Western Michigan, winning 14-of-20.
Broncos Forecheck Too Much
Miami just couldn’t handle Western Michigan’s forecheck all game and was simply outworked in all areas. The defensive pressure at the blue line was tough for the RedHawks to manage, and the offensive spark for Western Michigan really took off after killing that five-minute power play. Miami didn’t have that same jump throughout the lineup, as only the top line showed any consistent offensive zone time.
This is the same final score as Miami’s first loss of the season to Arizona State two weekends ago. They bounced back the next night in that series, and they’ll hope to do the same again on Saturday.
Game 2 comes Saturday night at 6:05 PM EST, when Miami looks to finally earn a win at Lawson Arena for the first time in a long time.
