Miami vise squeezes out UNH
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- They were the gold standard in Hockey East during the regular season. They were the No. 1 seed for the NCAA's Northeast Regional and they were among the most prolific offensive teams in the nation, ranked fifth with an average of 3.63 goals per game.
All that meant little yesterday afternoon as the University of New Hampshire ran into a defensive buzz saw, dropping a 2-1 decision to No. 4 seed Miami University in the semifinals at
Miami (24-13-4) scored in the first two minutes, on its first shot, and potted the winner in the first minute of the third. Both goals were at even strength and both were scored by members of the same line. When they weren't generating offense, the RedHawks were thwarting the Wildcats at every turn, keeping them to the outside in the offensive zone, blocking shots (they were credited with 20 but it seemed like a lot more), and pressuring them all over the ice.
It was a far different outcome for the team that was ousted by Boston College in the Northeast semifinal in Worcester, Mass., last year. It marks the RedHawks' first victory in the NCAAs in five tries.
Miami coach Enrico Blasi said he didn't mind being the underdog to the local team.
"Obviously, everybody [in the media] here wanted a UNH-BC rematch," said Blasi. "So everybody is going to write that. Our guys have a lot of pride and they want to come out and play hard. This is not the first time we've been here. We lost a tough one last year with a pretty good team so we came in here confident, with nothing to lose. We're not supposed to be here and go out and play for 60 minutes, and that's exactly the approach we took. I'm really happy for the program. I'm happy for all the alums. I'm happy for our coaches and our administration."
UNH (26-11-2) peppered sophomore goalie Jeff Zatkoff with 44 shots, but could only get one past him.
Miami, on the other hand, was opportunistic. Its first goal came just 1:47 into the action when captain Ryan Jones dished a pass to Brian Kaufman at the right side of the net. Kaufman's pass to Nathan Davis hit the side of the net but then found its mark, and Davis backhanded a shot inside the right post past junior netminder Kevin Regan.
Zatkoff came up huge during a Wildcats' power play midway through the period when Jacob Micflikier fired a point-blank shot off a rebound of a left-point blast, but Zatkoff stopped it with his left pad. He used the left pad again when Brett Hemingway got Micflikier's rebound and fired again at 8:41.
At the 39-second mark of the third, Jones tallied the eventual winner when he attempted a backhanded centering pass to Kaufman but instead of reaching its target, the puck glanced off UNH defenseman Chris Murray's skate and through Regan's pads.
"I was coming around the net and I saw Kaufman going to the net hard and I was trying to hit him on the back door," said Jones. "I'm not exactly sure what it hit, I just saw it end up in the back of the net between the goalie's legs and I was happy."
UNH's only goal came at 15:15 of the third, which was the Wildcats' best period, when Mike Radja made a terrific individual effort with his team shorthanded. He deked a defender and while being hauled down, chipped the puck one-handed on his backhand up and over Zatkoff.
Despite calling a timeout to pull Regan with 1:21 left and UNH 18 seconds away from going on a power play, the Wildcats couldn't get it done. With about six seconds left, sophomore defenseman Jamie Fritsch passed on a shot from the blue line and opted to dump in the puck as time expired.
For the Wildcats, it was a bitter end to a season that started remarkably and stayed that way through mid-February, when they were 22-5-1. After that it was a mixed bag, with the team dropping four of its last 10, including a dreadful 5-2 loss in the Hockey East championship against BC.
"As I told them in the locker room, some nights the puck just doesn't bounce your way when you need it to bounce your way," said UNH coach Dick Umile, who was denied his 400th career victory. "As disappointing as it is, I'm proud of the way they played and competed. This is as good an atmosphere as we've played in. I'm just disappointed we can't come back here and play [today]."
Radja praised Miami.
"They competed really hard," he said. "Every time we had the puck down in their end, their defensemen and other guys working low, they were right on us. They were always putting bodies on us in the neutral zone. We had chances. Their goalie made a lot of big saves. He stood up for them when they needed him to and that can be the difference in the game right there."
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com. 
