Miami RedHawks Preseason Notebook: Practice Takeaways, Recruiting News, & More - The Hockey Writers - NCHC

We are now less than three weeks away from puck drop at Goggin Ice Center, and my preseason coverage of the Miami RedHawks continues. I had the chance to watch another practice last week and made plenty more notes and observations about this team.

A few more of the big-name newcomers for this season made their way onto the ice this practice, including Vladislav Lukashevich, David Deputy, and Shika Gadzhiev.

Here are my practice takeaways:

Forwards

Youngster Ilia Morozov continued to show strides since I last saw the team. He showed the defensive side of his game in this practice, consistently getting on the backcheck, breaking pucks out, and disrupting passes. He also carried the puck well up the ice through the neutral zone. He looked solid in the faceoff circle and has a heavy, accurate one-timer. In the offensive zone, he used his body and long reach to keep pucks in and on his stick, similar to Aleksander Barkov. I think he will see average minutes to start this season, but I’d imagine ice time will increase as the season rolls along.
Deputy is elite with the puck on his stick and looks like the playmaker he was last season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He drew defenders in and dropped pucks back for one-timers, showed great hands when finishing in tight, and ripped quick, accurate one-timers on Wednesday. He has the makings of playing important power-play minutes and being a top-six forward this season as he adjusts to this level.
Kocha Delic had another great practice, this time showing up in my notes for his defensive game. This is an area he improved over the offseason and showed it in a five-on-three drill, where he was not afraid to get in deep to clear pucks out. He was also solid at keeping players away from the net, boxing them out from rebounds. His offensive game looked solid, too, dropping pucks back for one-timers, shifty with the puck on his stick, and his wrister looked nasty again. After this practice, I think he has the makings of playing both the power play and penalty kill.
Freshman Ethan Hay had a solid practice, playing sound in the defensive zone and forechecking hard offensively. He scored a nice one-time goal and appears to be a versatile forward who I think can play anywhere in the lineup at the center position. He definitely has the makings of being a leader in the locker room, given his past experience as captain for the Saginaw Spirit.
Matteo Giampa had a solid practice, scoring two goals over multiple drills, one a snipe wrist shot and another a goal in tight. His long reach and ability to dangle around defenders and in tight on goalies are his weapons.
Ryan Smith had another solid practice, showing off his heavy wrist shot and ability to cause traffic around the net despite his 5-foot-10, 180-pound size. I still think he would make a solid penalty killer and fits the description of a third or fourth line winger.

Miami RedHawks Practice (Photo credit: Miami Hockey Twitter/X)

John Emmons had a solid practice on Wednesday, scoring a couple of goals over multiple drills. His wrist shot and one-timer both look solid, while the defensive side of his game has shown improvement, as mentioned in my first practice report. He is pushing for minutes once again.
Casper Nassen had a solid practice, playing well defensively, and looks to be skating faster this season. He used his big frame to screen goaltenders a lot more in this practice. He also went bar down on a beautiful wrister in a five-on-five drill.
Brayden Morrison is back for his junior season and appears to have made strides on both ends. On Wednesday, he scored a one-timer on a breakaway but also seemed solid in the defensive zone during other drills. He seems to fit the description of a depth forward who can slot in and out of the lineup, and one who is nice to have when injuries occur.
Max Helgeson had another great practice. His ability to screen goalies, cause traffic in front, and tip in pucks showed up on Wednesday, something the RedHawks lacked a lot of last season. He has the makings of a versatile forward who can adapt to whichever line and can move around the lineup.

Defensemen

Ryder Thompson once again impressed with his compete level and full effort throughout the entire practice. He was defensively sound, cleared pucks when down a man, showed a great stick, was not afraid to block shots, and deflected passes well. He looks like an asset for this d-core this season. One area he seems to lack is his one-timer off the pass, which could use some work, but I still think he can provide offense for this team. I think he is for sure going to play on the top penalty-kill unit like he was for the Portland Winterhawks last season.
Freshman Charlie Michaud showed off his shutdown defenseman capabilities on Wednesday, through his positioning and ability to play physical, an area he has grown in since last season with the Madison Capitols. At practice, he was not afraid to lay bodies into the boards at all. He now weighs 195 pounds at 6-foot-0 and seems like a smart defenseman who is usually in the right spot. He projects as a depth defenseman who can push for minutes on the penalty kill with his shutdown abilities, but I also think he can tap into his offensive side a little more as he develops this season.
Sophomore transfer Lukashevich is an offensive-minded, puck-moving defenseman who saw little ice time at Michigan State last season. On Wednesday, he showed off his heavy one-timer and ability to break pucks out up the ice. I definitely see him getting a good number of minutes this season playing on any of the three pairings, and maybe even on a power play unit due to his offensive upside.
Michael Quinn had another solid practice, scoring a nice wrist shot goal in one of the drills.
Graduate transfer Kyle Aucoin looks like he is pushing for depth minutes after spending four seasons at Harvard. In his final college season, he is aiming to make an impact and has shown early signs of doing just that. He projects as a depth option who will see minutes this season, but he has also displayed some offensive upside, moving pucks well and scoring a one-timer on Wednesday. He has added more physicality to his game, too, putting on seven pounds over the offseason and now checking in at 6-foot-0, 187 pounds.

Goaltenders

This was my first time seeing Gadzhiev on the ice this season, and he was making highlight reel saves not even 10 minutes into practice. Parts of his game that I instantly picked up on were that he is not afraid to play the puck, is quite talkative to his defenders, is a supportive teammate, smothers rebounds effectively, has a great stick, and is extremely athletic. He made a few great blocker and glove saves this practice, but also let in quite a few as well, but I still think he is definitely in the running for number one goalie this season.
Benji Motew looked solid in goal again after I last saw him a week before. He once again showed off his athletic capabilities, getting across the crease quickly, closing gaps on shooters, and this time, showed off his great stick. Coming out of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), I think the level of competition during a live game is going to be a tougher jump for him, but I totally think he will still see minutes sometime this season. I have him third on the depth chart, however.
Matteo Drobac once again looked solid in one-on-one breakaways on Wednesday. He is solid at smothering rebounds, has a solid glove, and comes out aggressive to shooters, closing gaps well when one-on-one. He also hugs the post well with his 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame. I have him as the number two goalie in my depth chart, as he can very much play in tandem with Gadzhiev.

I think all three goalies can push for playing time this season, given their experience and the way they have looked at practice in my two days observing. Obviously, Gadzhiev is the favored number one for this season with his championship pedigree, but Drobac and Motew both look like they can play, too. I would not be shocked to see all three of these guys play across the non-conference slate.
When speaking with assistant to the head coach Jimmy Spratt back in early August, this is what he had to say about the goalie trio:
- “Gadzhiev is athletic, smart, competitive, and has a championship pedigree after winning in Muskegon.”
- “Drobac looks calm and technical.”
- “Motew is also a technical goalie, maybe a little undersized, but very sound, positional, and not all over the place.”

Observations

There are a lot of highly competitive guys on this team. They may not all be the highest point scorers, but they practice with full intensity.
This team is playing considerably faster, and the passing/cohesion looks much improved so far. Obviously, not too much stock can be put into practice, but it appears the culture is shifting in the right direction with the way this team has gelled together.

It is not common to have three younger goalies with the amount of experience they have, which is going to help out that room tremendously.
This team seems to have a lot of leaders, consisting of players who have all had past leadership roles on junior and college teams (Hay, Shaun McEwen, Michaud, Helgeson, and Delic).

More News

NCHC Media Days run from Sept. 23-24. Media will speak with Anthony Noreen on the 24th and hear from Commissioner Heather Weems on the 23rd. This will be the first-ever virtual media days.
I will have a takeaways article from Media Days out next week, so stay tuned for that.
Miami opens the season in October with two home series and two road series.
- Home: Ferris State (season opener) and Arizona State (end of October).
- Road: RPI and Lindenwood. Miami split with Lindenwood last year and was swept by RPI. The RedHawks will face former Miami goaltender Bruno Bruveris, who transferred to RPI this offseason.
Miami has recruits across all the major junior leagues: Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and United States Hockey League (USHL).
For the 2025-26 season, OHL, QMJHL, and USHL games will stream on FloHockey. WHL games will stream free on Victory+.
Noreen recently added a second player to the 2009 class in Mitchell Mars, a 6-foot-0, 199-pound forward. He has started this season strong with Fox Motors 16U AAA and holds USHL rights with the Youngstown Phantoms and OHL rights with the Erie Otters. He is rated a 3.75-star prospect by Neutral Zone.
I will have recruit interview articles coming out over this season, including conversations with several of the top commits.
A full season preview article will also be coming after I speak with Noreen, taking a closer look at the schedule, standout players so far, and the upcoming Ferris State series.

Stay tuned as the preseason winds down. It is almost game time for the new-look RedHawks, for what is looking to be an important season in turning this program around.