“It’s a huge honor to win the league championship, but we have bigger aspirations to come,” said MU defenseman Steven Spinell, who was honored before the Senior Night affair along with Marc Hagel, Garrett Kennedy, Joe Hartman, Steve Mason and Curtis McKenzie.
“That’s where the whole living-the-moment thing comes into play,” Spinell continued. “You can sit back and be like, ‘Oh man, that’s our Senior Night.’ But we take every day and try to get better and actually live in the moment and get the job done.”
“There’s definitely a part where (you think) these four years, how do they sneak up on us so quick?” McKenzie said. “It was crazy, but still not even close to over. We’ve still got two more championships to go out and get.”
McKenzie, Riley Barber, Blake Coleman and Cody Murphy provided the goals — and goaltender Ryan McKay totaled 28 saves — for the RedHawks, who improved to 22-9-5 overall and 17-7-4 in the CCHA. The regular-season crown is the fourth in school history.
Barber, the conference point leader, is part of a highly regarded freshman class that has played a key role in Miami’s fortunes all season.
“Coming in as a freshman, you’re always nervous about the hazing and stuff like that,” Barber said with a smile. “But they took us right in, and we were brothers right away. That’s why we play so hard for each other because all of us just love each other so much. It’s kind of cliché to say you love your brother, but it really is true.”
MU will be the top seed in the CCHA tournament and have a bye next weekend. The RedHawks will host a yet-to-be-determined opponent March 15-17.
“The regular-season championship is a difficult one to win because you have to be good consistently for six months and play in different buildings, long road trips, sometimes through sickness and some injuries,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “If you’re fortunate enough to be in a position to win one, it’s pretty amazing.
“As far as this team is concerned, I don’t think anybody would’ve picked them to do anything,” he added, with MU taking fourth in the preseason coaches poll and fifth in the media poll. “I’m so proud of them and the way they’ve conducted themselves on and off the ice. This is all about the players. The players go out and do the work. They buy into the program. They buy into the culture.”
McKenzie opened MU’s scoring with a power-play goal midway through the first period. Barber scored in the second stanza, and Coleman and Murphy found the back of the net in the third period.
The Buckeyes got goals from Craig Dalrymple and Alex Szczechura in the last three minutes before falling to 14-15-7, 13-10-5.
“Obviously I give credit to (Miami),” OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. “It was a hostile environment. It was a playoff environment. They played well after losing last night.”
Miami was 5 of 6 on the penalty kill and had the crowd rocking after killing off a five-minute major penalty early in the third period. Sean Kuraly picked up the major and a game misconduct, and Kennedy picked up a two-minute charging penalty 2 1/2 minutes later.
The RedHawks came through all of that unscathed, though, and Coleman made it 3-0 with 12:46 left when Ohio State goalie Brady Hjelle got caught out of the net.
“I thought our PK did a great job blocking shots,” Blasi said. “Anytime you kill 5-on-3 for that long, the chance of you gaining some momentum is increased. I thought the place went crazy as soon as we killed that penalty.”
Coleman, Barber, Austin Czarnik, Spinell and Hagel notched assists for MU. Ryan Dzingel, Max McCormick, Clark Cristofoli and Dalrymple had assists for OSU, and Hjelle made 27 saves.
A cluster of fights broke out with 3:20 remaining, filling the penalty boxes and sending the Buckeyes’ Sam Jardine to the locker room with a game misconduct. Ohio State would add two goals from there, one being a power-play tally, but the contest had already been decided.
OSU, which blanked Miami 3-0 on Friday, finished fourth in the CCHA and will host Ferris State in the second round.
“It’s one step for our program,” Osiecki said. “I think it was something that we set as a goal, and now we have to find a way to win two games.”
Blasi liked the way his troops reacted to the dramatic atmosphere, particularly after Friday’s humbling defeat.
“All year we’ve been trying to send a message to our guys that once the game’s over, we’ve got to move forward,” Blasi said. “Certainly we were upset with some of the things that we did last night and we addressed those things, but we also addressed the fact that we needed to move forward.
“Today we got to the rink and had a good morning skate. Guys were upbeat. I’m pretty sure everybody as a kid has played this game, this Game 7 for the Stanley Cup or for whatever championship, and that’s the way we approached it today. Just go out and have fun like you would with your buddies. Maybe you score the goal and maybe you don’t, but at the end of the day, let’s just go out and leave it all on the ice.”
The veteran coach said it’s been a pleasurable year coaching a group that has a good mix of youth and veterans.
“I think I can count on one hand the practices we’ve had where I’ve gone home and actually been kind of upset with them,” Blasi said. “The effort’s been there. The teaching has been there. It’s a little bit different managing this team because of the youth, so it was more teaching, more being dad.
“It’s been a lot of fun. They have a lot of energy. Hopefully we can continue to run with it.”
The RedHawks will play in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference next season. Blasi said being the final CCHA regular-season champions is a big deal.
“We can say that we won the last one,” he said. “I’m sad that the CCHA’s going away, but everybody had to make a decision in the best interest of their programs, including Ohio State, including Miami. It just so happens that we have to put an end to it.”
Saturday’s crowd was the biggest of the season at Cady Arena. It fell 24 fans short of being a sellout.
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