Wingels Four Straight Goals Buoy RedHawks, Sink Buckeyes

The No. 1 Miami RedHawks continued their dominating play this season with their third consecutive shutout in a victory 6-0 over the Ohio State Buckeyes in front of a pro-Miami crowd in Columbus’ Value City Arena Friday evening.

Several school records were set for the RedHawks. Forward Tommy Wingels scored four goals in a row to start the game which was the first time in team history. Wingels also added an assist in a phenomenal individual effort. Friday was also the first time the RedHawks marked three consecutive shutouts.

“We got the win, that is what we came here to do,” Wingels said. “Whether I score or other guys score, all we care about is the three points we got tonight.”

“Our focus is on making sure that we are ready to go every day,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said about the team’s recent shutout streak. “There are certainly things we need to work on going into tomorrow night’s (rematch against Ohio State). This game is over with and we have to focus on getting ready for tomorrow night. That has been the culture here for the last 11 years we have been there.”

Miami finished the game 4-for-6 on the man advantage. Last Saturday, Ohio State lost a game due to two goals they allowed while killing off penalties. Ohio State coach John Markell said after Saturday’s game the Buckeyes needed to cut out senseless penalties. After Miami’s loss, he shifted the blame to his penalty-kill unit.

“It is the penalty kill, we’re just not getting it done on the penalty kill,” Markell said. “We’re not aggressive enough and we’re not all moving at the same time. We have got to get better at it. Right now, it is lack of confidence.”

“It has been on-and-off this year,” Wingels said about the power play. “It was going tonight. We knew it was going to be a battle of special teams. We worked well in practice this week and we carried it over to the game tonight. It is all about moving puck and shooting it when it is there and that was evident there.”

“I thought our special teams were pretty good tonight,” Blasi said. “Tonight happened to be Tommy’s night for sure. It seemed like he couldn’t do anything wrong tonight.”

Ohio State goalie Cal Heeter will sit-out Saturday’s rematch in Oxford as he allowed six goals on 33 shots against. Junior Dustin Carlson will get the nod according to Markell.

“(Heeter) is not too happy with himself,” Markell said. “I thought he had some freshman moments there… He made some saves in the second period just couldn’t sustain it.”

Miami’s Cody Reichard had a rather easy night between the pipes with a 17-for-17 effort. Most of the Buckeyes’ best opportunities came in the second period.

“The guys were blocking shots all night,” Reichard said.

Miami got a goal in the first and second periods on man advantages on classic grinder goals by Wingels. Curtis McKenzie and Carter Camper both got assists on the first two of Wingels’ goals.

Considering Miami outshot Ohio State 26-11 in the first two periods, the Buckeyes had numerous chances. Ohio State’s Zac Dalpe finished the contest with six shots on goal.

“I thought they had some pretty good scoring chances in the first and second,” Blasi said. “I thought in the third, once we got the third one and the fourth one, we kind of started to control play a little bit. But before that, it was up-and-down but I thought Cody played extremely well and made some great saves for us.”

Miami exploded for four goals in the third period with two goals from Wingels, followed by goals by Cannone and Jarod Palmer. The RedHawks scored four goals on just seven shots in the third period.

Ohio State has now played the top four teams in the latest USCHO.com top 20 poll. The loss drops them to 2-3 against the top four teams.