Sports

OXFORD — When the pressure in front of the net became extreme Sunday, Miami University goaltender Jeff Zatkoff kept the butterflies away with his tried-and-trusted technique, appropriately called the "relaxed butterfly."

Ohio State pummeled Zatkoff with shots on four power plays in the third period of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest, but Miami's defense held, and the RedHawks beat the Buckeyes, 2-1.

It was defense all the way for Miami, which improved to 18-8-2 overall and 13-5-2 in the CCHA.

Sophomore defenseman Ray Eichenlaub scored the winning goal on an assist from Jarod Palmer 1 minute and 38 seconds into the third period. And by the end of the day, a Miami penalty-killing unit that ranks second in the nation chalked up its 15th straight game without allowing a power-play goal.

"We did a good job of keeping them on the outside," said Zatkoff, who stopped 26-of-27 shots.

"When the game's on the line, it gets more intense, and when there is a power play, every mistake is magnified 100 times," the Miami sophomore said.

Some goalies deal with pucks deep in their end of the ice by crouching a bit, keeping their muscles tense.

Not Zatkoff.

"I rely on my angles. I make myself as big as possible and react to the shot," he said, explaining the relaxed butterfly.

"We stress to both of our goaltenders that at some point you're going to have to out-compete the guy at the other end," Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. "Our whole team played hard tonight, and that includes Zatkoff. I thought (goalie Charlie) Effinger played well Friday night. I like the way our team is coming along right now."

OSU finished the game 0-for-6 on power plays and 0-for-7 on power-play shots.

"We've been working hard at practice on penalty killing, to make sure it's up to par," Eichenlaub said.

Miami's Ryan Jones put the RedHawks ahead with his team-leading 17th goal (assisted by Dane Hetland and Nathan Davis) 2:57 into the first period, but the Buckeyes (9-10-5, 7-7-4) tied the score a little more than two minutes later on an unassisted goal by Tommy Goebel.

After a scoreless second period, Eichenlaub put Miami back on top in the third period with his fourth goal of the season.

The RedHawks will continue conference action Friday and Saturday with a crucial series at league-leading Notre Dame (20-5-1, 14-3-1). The puck will drop at 7:35 p.m. Friday and 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

The RedHawks trail the Fighting Irish by a point in the standings, but Notre Dame has played two fewer games than Miami.