After going 3-28-3 and finishing winless in NCHC play last season, Miami Hockey needed a full roster reset.
It’s been one of the wildest offseasons in college hockey. The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) ban is gone, U Sports players are now eligible, and Miami took full advantage. Head coach Anthony Noreen and his staff used every tool available, adding plenty of newcomers across multiple levels.
They deserve major credit—not just for bringing in talent, but for doing it quickly, creatively, and with purpose. Now comes the hard part: proving it on the ice in the NCHC.
Building for the Fall
While the group on campus this spring was small, it laid the groundwork for what’s next.
“It wasn’t a very big group,” head coach Anthony Noreen said. “But we feel it was the right group of guys in that gym. They did a tremendous job of being intentional in their work and showing up with the right attitude and energy and attacking our spring workouts.”
According to John Lachmann of viewsfromtheglass.com, it’s confirmed that sophomore forward Casper Nassen, sophomore defenseman Michael Quinn, and senior alternate captain Blake Mesenburg will be back in Oxford this fall.
It is still to be determined if the six other players from last season’s team will be back.
Preparing for a Wave of Newcomers
As summer begins, the focus shifts toward preparing the incoming class.
“We’ve got a very large group of newcomers—freshmen, transfers, things like that,” Noreen said. “Just trying to get as much in line with them for their arrival. Same thing—what areas they’re going to attack in the summer. For us as a staff, it’s just making sure that we’ve got everything in order for when they arrive and continuing the recruiting process.”
However, the recruiting never stops for Noreen and his staff.
“A lot of what we do in these last couple of weeks is USHL camps,” Noreen said. “It’s different guys bouncing around different USHL camps—part looking for guys for the future. In a large part, touching in and showing face with our guys we’ve already occupied, whether they’re verbal commits or guys that are signed. We want to stay in front of those guys. We want to keep building those relationships, help them, give them advice, let them know that we care. Part of that is just being there.”
That presence will continue throughout the summer. “Coming up here, we’ve got USA Hockey Festivals in Buffalo, and between us, we’ll be at all those,” he added. “Other than that, it’s just kind of looking at some of our structural stuff, some of our schedule stuff, and just figuring out what things maybe we want to tweak. Obviously, we’ve got some staff positions to fill. That’s been a major part of it.”
Built with Intention: Miami’s 2025–26 Class
I am still unsure of the exact number of newcomers coming for the 2025-26 season, but it will be a lot, likely somewhere around 22 guys.
Miami’s recruiting class is getting noticed, with Neutral Zone ranking their 2025 recruiting class second overall in the nation.
The RedHawks are bringing in a highly talented mix of forwards, including skilled playmakers like All-USHL third team member Artemi Nizameyev, 2023-24 Hobey Baker Award nominee Matteo Giampa out of Canisius, and the leading Clark Cup Playoff goal scorer (10), David Deputy out of Muskegon.
They are also bringing in mobile defensemen like Ryder Thompson and Michael Phelan, along with physical blueliners like Shaun McEwen. Between the pipes, they’ve strengthened their depth with three capable guys: Clark Cup champion Shika Gadzhiev, Matteo Drobac (U Sports), and Benji Motew (NAHL). For a program looking to get back on the map, this is huge.
Related: David Deputy & Shika Gadzhiev Talk Joining Miami Hockey
“I think with the class as big as the one we’re bringing in, we needed a mix,” Noreen said. “We couldn’t bring in all freshmen; we wanted various experience levels.”
It took a lot of work to make it happen. “When it’s a class as big as ours, we had to get creative at where we were getting guys from,” he continued. “When you look at NCAA transfers, USHL players, CHL players, U Sports transfers—we had to explore all options. We had to use our relationships. We had to spend as many man hours on the road and build a trust and sell our program as possible.”
But throughout all the travel and evaluation, they didn’t shy away from their values as a staff.
“The overarching theme is we wanted high-character, high-compete guys,” Noreen said. “Didn’t matter where they were from, how big, how small, what league—those were the two things we were not going to bend on.”
The 2025-26 schedule includes two in-season tournaments (Friendship Four & Great Lakes Invitational)—a great move by the staff to give the roster a playoff-like experience long before March.
Related: Miami RedHawks Are Heading to the 2025 Friendship Four & Great Lakes Invitational
“I thought that was extremely important,” Noreen said. “We’re a team where our returning guys didn’t get a chance to play playoff hockey last year. For incoming guys, I think it’s an opportunity to feel what a playoff atmosphere and build-up… being a part of that experience. I just think it will be really good for everybody in our locker room to feel that and be part of that. Learn from it. Grow from it. Hopefully put it in the bank and make us better the next time we face it in the future.”
When speaking with a few recruits earlier this year, they pointed to Noreen’s enthusiasm and passion as a driving factor in their decision. That wasn’t accidental.
“I think it’s all the reasons that I said—of the place,” he explained. “And then, you know, at the end of the day, it’s the people you’re with and the relationships you’re going to have, the trust level you’re going to have… with the people you’re coming in with every day.”
He continued, “That’s just not something we take lightly—with the student-athlete, with a family, and trusting us with their development process in school and hockey and life. It is a passionate process. We believe in this place—like, we believe in this place. I believed in it wholeheartedly a year ago. We believe in it even more so now after having spent a year on this campus and in getting to know the people that support us.”
“All those things are great—you want to be someplace where everything you need to be successful is there,” Noreen added. “But at the end of the day, like I said, it’s the people you’re in there with. And I’ve yet to meet a player who doesn’t maximize what he’s capable of if he doesn’t trust and feel like the people around him have his best interests.”
“We didn’t have a lot to sell record-wise, but what we’re selling is what we believe in and where we believe this program’s going and how special it’s going to be for those people that are a part of it.”
Big News on Morozov
One of the most anticipated additions for the future is 2008-born 6-foot-3 two-way center Ilia Morozov, a highly skilled Russian forward who put up 22 points for Tri-City this past season.
When asked directly if Morozov was coming this fall, Noreen confirmed he will be joining the team. He will be 17 when joining the team, very young for a college hockey player.
He was originally tendered in 2023 by Noreen when at the helm of the Storm and is considered a top 2026 NHL Draft prospect by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (from ‘2026 NHL Draft prospects: Gavin McKenna headlines Wheeler’s early top 26 ranking,’ The Athletic, 4/1/25).
Three New Goalies, One Standard
The goaltending room was fully rebuilt this offseason—something Noreen saw as a must.
“I’ll go back to the same intangibles we were looking for in players,” he said. “All three are highly competitive and all three are high character and are loved by their teammates because of the way they work and because of the way they go about their business.”
“It’s clear to me it’s a position we need to be better at,” he continued. “That’s like your quarterback in football—it’s the most important position, hands down. And we think the mix of three is going to push each other. We think they’ll bring the best out of each other. And we think that with their experience from the given place they came from, they’ve all proven they’re capable of playing and performing on big stages, big games.”
Familiarity That Matters
Several of Miami’s new players have played in Tri-City, where Noreen previously coached for seven seasons and became the winningest coach in franchise history. Those past relationships were a huge part of the recruiting process, and they’ve helped make the transition smoother.
“That was a big part,” Noreen said. “You lean on your relationships. That was something I wholeheartedly believed coming in here—we have some relationships with some players from the past.”
“There are guys who know what they’re going to get from us. There’s a trusting relationship. There’s already that foundation to build on. Not only is that going to help them at their comfort level, but it’s going to help us push our message forward.”
One example is defenseman Shaun McEwen, who played for Noreen in Kearney and was the captain for Tri-City the past two seasons. That familiarity gives McEwen a head start on the culture Miami is trying to build.
“Like Shaun McEwen—he knows exactly what’s expected every single day that he walks in the rink, the weight room, on the bench for a game,” Noreen said. “Obviously, we’re going to build on that and have an even higher standard at Miami than previously.”
“That built-in trust is extremely important if you’re going to push guys to be their best,” he added. “They’ve got to trust that you’re pushing them. They’ve got to trust that you care about them. And they’ve got to trust that it’s for the right reason. It’s our job to hold them accountable and push them as hard as we possibly can.”
After spending years at the bottom of the college hockey landscape, it finally feels like Miami is back on the rise under Noreen. What the staff has managed to build with such little time has been nothing short of impressive—and now, with high-level talent coming to a hungry program, it’s time to back it up on the ice come October.
