For the first time, the NCHC will conduct its entire postseason on campus sites. After the quarterfinals, the remaining four teams will be re-seeded with single-game semifinals March 14 and the championship March 21 hosted by the highest remaining seed.
The winner will hoist the newly named National Cup and receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Miami clinched its postseason position Saturday night with a 4-2 victory at Omaha in the regular-season finale.
McEwen’s breakout
Shaun McEwen scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, including an empty-netter, as Miami closed out Omaha to secure the No. 7 seed.
Matteo Giampa and Ilia Morozov each added a goal and an assist, and goaltender Matteo Drobac made 21 saves.
McEwen opened the scoring with a power-play goal six minutes into the first period, knocking home a rebound in front after Giampa set up a close-range chance.
Omaha answered later in the period, but Giampa restored the lead just 47 seconds after the equalizer, diving to swat home a give-and-go with Morozov.
After the Mavericks tied it again in the second, Miami seized control late in the period with a short-handed strike. David Deputy won a race to a loose puck and fed Morozov, who finished with a backhand move around goaltender Simon Latkoczy to make it 3-2. McEwen sealed it with an unassisted, short-handed goal into the empty net in the final two minutes.
The RedHawks scored two short-handed goals in the same game for the first time since March 7, 2015.
McEwen, who entered the weekend with four points in 31 appearances, matched that total with back-to-back two-point efforts in Omaha. Giampa recorded his seventh multi-point game of the season in his 100th collegiate appearance, while Morozov reached the 20-point mark for the year. Drobac moved into third place on Miami’s single-season saves list with 918.
Commitment down the stretch
Miami coach Anthony Noreen said the RedHawks approached the finale with a postseason mindset.
“That was as committed as this group’s been all year,” Noreen said. “It was a playoff hockey game. It was physical. It was intense. There wasn’t any space. I thought they were completely committed the entire game.”
The pivotal moment came late in the second period after a heated sequence led to penalties on both sides and an Omaha power play in a 2-2 game.
Instead, Miami flipped momentum with Morozov’s short-handed winner.
“For (Deputy) and Ilya to go out there and make a play — good for Ilia,” Noreen said. “I don’t know there’s a kid in college hockey more deserving of getting back on the score sheet than him. Big-time goal, big-time finish. I thought the momentum got on our bench and never left.”
Miami was outshot through two periods before limiting Omaha to three shots in the third.
“It was just complete commitment to win a battle, chip a puck, win a race,” Noreen said. “There was nothing pretty about it. That’s the way hockey needs to be played this time of year.”
Program resurgence
The RedHawks’ 18 victories are their most in a single season since 2015 — the last time Miami won the Frozen Faceoff and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Miami improved by 15 regular-season wins from a year ago, matching the largest non-COVID single-season jump by any Division I men’s hockey program this century.
This marks Miami’s highest seed in the NCHC Tournament since 2020.
The RedHawks now turn their attention to Denver, one of the league’s perennial powers, with an NCAA berth on the line.
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