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| Miami University (Ohio) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
This weekend, the University of North Dakota plays Miami
University in the first ever National Collegiate Hockey Conference game between
the two teams on October 18-19, 2013 in Oxford, Ohio. All-time, UND is 2-0-1
against the Miami RedHawks, but the two teams haven’t played on the ice since November
11-28-2009, when UND and Miami skated to a wild 5-5 finish at the Ralph
Engelstad Arena.
Recently, UND head coach Dave Hakstol talked about the
upcoming series with the Miami RedHawks. There’s a building excitement
surrounding the new league and the match-up with the RedHawks.
“We will be starting off the NCHC in mid-October,” Hakstol said. “Out in Miami, that should be a
heck of series. We’ll generate an instant rivalry (with them), in my opinion.
So, Miami is currently an unknown to the UND hockey team
and their fans. Nobody on the 2013-14 UND hockey team, except senior goalie Clarke Saunders, has played against
the Miami RedHawks.
This should be a good matchup, Miami and UND were picked
to finished first and second in the NCHC Media Poll. According to UND head
coach Dave Hakstol, UND is a balanced team, and this is one of the more
balanced teams that UND has had in his 10 years as head coach.
“We got tremendous balance within our
team’” Hakstol said. “That’s the one thing that we know, we don’t know a lot of
specifics, but we do know that we have a tremendous amount of balance on our
hockey team.”
UND Top Line
UND Top Defense Pairing
Dillon Simpson (0g-0a—0pts) and Jordan Schmaltz (0g-1a—1pts)
UND Top Goalie
Zane Gothberg 1-0-1, 1.21 GAA, .0955 save percentage.
Prediction on the weekend
I predict that this series will end in a split. That’s my
best guess. But, any result other than that won’t surprise me either.
