The Miami RedHawks‘ comeback fell short on Saturday night, falling 4-2 to the St. Cloud State Huskies. After falling down 3-0 in the second period, the RedHawks were just unable to find the equalizer late in the third.
With the loss, their record dropped to 8-4-0, 2-4-0 in NCHC play. St. Cloud State improved to 7-7-0, 2-4-0 in NCHC play.
Related: Giampa Lifts Miami to OT Win in Front of Largest Goggin Crowd Since 2015
After winning 6-5 in overtime on Friday night, Miami took the series split; however, St. Cloud State left with four points in the standings, while Miami earned only two on the weekend.
Grant Ahcan scored twice for the Huskies, while Tyson Gross and Barrett Hall each scored one. Goaltender Patriks Berzins stopped 35 of 37 shots in the win.
Miami’s two goals came from Matteo Giampa and David Deputy, while Matteo Drobac stopped 25 of 28 shots in the loss. Deputy finished with two points, a goal and an assist, while Kocha Delic and Owen Lalonde each finished with an assist.
Game Recap
Just over halfway through the first, St. Cloud State’s Ahcan jumped right out of the penalty box and broke out on an easy breakaway off a Gross pass, then snuck one through Drobac’s five-hole for the 1-0 lead.
After two rather questionable calls from the refs, Miami was down five-on-three, one to Giampa for holding and the other to Ethan Hay for handling the puck with his glove off the faceoff.
It came back to bite Miami early in the second, as Hall one-timed a puck for a five-on-three power-play goal to make it 2-0 in favor of St. Cloud State.
Delic would later take an undisciplined interference penalty deep in his zone, and Gross made him pay for it, scoring on another power play to make it 3-0.
Giampa would later get Miami on the board on a five-on-three power play midway through the second. Deputy dished him a pass as he drove in towards the net and then roofed it to make it 3-1.
In his first appearance of the season, Lalonde laid a perfect pass to Deputy near the faceoff circle, who then sniped it home to trim the deficit to 3-2 late in the second.
In the second alone, Miami fired 19 shots on goal compared to just eight in the first. St. Cloud State fired a total of nine in the second.
Ahcan would later get his second of the game, closing it out with an empty net goal that hit Michael Quin, with less than a minute to go in regulation, which made it 4-2.
Miami finished with 37 shots on goal, compared to St. Cloud State’s 29. Miami also led in shot attempts at a 67-57 margin.
Special teams-wise, Miami finished 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill.
In the faceoff circle, St. Cloud State won 59.2% of the draws, while Miami won 40.8%.
Miami will now travel overseas to Belfast, Ireland, for the Friendship Four, the first NCHC program to do so. Game 1 comes next Friday at 2:00 PM EST against the RIT Tigers. Game 2 will come on Saturday, but it depends on Friday’s outcome. It will either be against Union or Sacred Heart.
