ESTERO, FL. – As the saying goes “he w ho laughs last… ” The Saint Cloud State Huskies found themselves trailing Cornell University 3-0 late in the second period in the opener of the Florida College Classic. The Huskies dominated the early going out shooting Cornell 10-1 in the opening six minutes.
But a power play goal by Joe Devin at 5:59 gave Cornell the early lead and Mathieu Brisson added the only other goal of the period less than three minutes later.
“We were out skating them but we could not get anything to go in” Huskie Coach Bob Motzko said. “The guys kept working on and I felt like the first goal was a turning point.”  
Ben Hanowski’s goal at 17:52 of the second got the Huskies on the board en root to three unanswered goals of their own.
The Huskies had a 5 on 3 for 1:21 to open the third period when Brisson went off for tripping at the 30 second mark. But Cornell’s penalty killing unit has been one of their few bright spots so far this year and with the help of some key saves from goalie Michael Garman the Big Red killed off both infractions.
“I kept telling the guys we are going to win this game” sophomore forward David Eddy said.
The Big Red eventually got careless in their zone and Cam Reid brought the Huskies closer when he took advantage of a giveaway in the Big Red zone. Eddy tied the score on a tip at 1231 of the third and setup overtime.
“It was kind of a pass shot” Eddy said “all I had to do was redirect it.”
The Huskies dominated the overtime and Cam Reid brought the Huskies all the way back when he beat Garman with a shot from the high slot at 2:21.
The loss snapped Cornell’s three game winning streak and sent the Huskies to the tournament championship game.
“You would like to think a win like this could be a turning point” Motzko said.
“It would big a big left for us to beat one of the top ranked teams in the country” Eddy also said.
The Huskies will face either #6 Miami or #9 Maine in the tournament championship game pending the outcome of today’s second game.
Contact: joe.malta@prohockeynews.com

ESTERO, FL. – The second game of the Florida College Classic featured two of the top ranked teams in the nation and on this night at least it was the Miami Red Hawks of the CCHA who proved to be the dominant force with a 4-1 win over the Maine Black Bears of Hockey East.
The first period featured physical, defensive play; both teams had a flurry of chances in first three minutes but the game settled down after that.
Even though the Red Hawks out shot the Black Bears 17-4 in the first, most shots were from long range and easily handled by Maine goalie Dan Sullivan. Miami however, seemed to wear the Bears down as the first period wore on.
When Mike Cornell was whistled for Maine’s second penalty in the final six minutes of the period the Red Hawks capitalized with the only goal of the first 20. It was senior forward Justin Vaive, a fourth round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, who picked up a pass from Cameron Schilling deep in the Black Bear zone, walked in alone, and trickled a shot between Sullivan’s pads at 19:11 to give Red Hawks the lead. Miami would never look back.
Miami killed off a :50 second five on three Maine power play early in the second and added another goal at 12:47 when a pass from Alden Hirschfeld sent senior Andy Miele in all alone on Sullivan.  
Miele, who’s grandparents live in nearby Naples, Florida found himself in alone on Sullivan again when he picked up a loose puck at 3:22 of the third period to pad out the Red Hawk lead. It was Miele’s 10h goal and 33^rd point of the season, but more importantly it helped him make good on a request from his grandparents. “Last night at dinner they told me I needed to score two goals, one for each of them.” Miele said. Both coaches praised Miele, “In the tapes we saw of them against Notre Dame I thought he was their best player in those games.” Whitehead commented.
Maine capitalized from some undisciplined play by Miami and finally broke through at 7:50 of the final period. After Steven Spinnell took two penalties in just 2:10, Edmonton Oiler draft pick Robby Dee took a pass from Gustav Nyquist and beat Cody Reichard. It was Nyquist’s, (Detroit Red Wings), 15^th assist of the season giving him in a tie for the Maine scoring lead.
It spoiled the shutout bid but not the overall dominant performance by Miami who out shot the #9^th ranked Black Bears 34-15. Carter Camper the nation’s leading scorer set up Matt Tomassoni late in the third period to give the Red Hawks   a 4-1 lead and propel them into the Tournament Championship game and another meeting with Saint Cloud State.
“At all three positions they have elite players, two great goalies and some elite forwards.” Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “They outplayed us at every position except for goal, I thought both goalies had great games.” he added.
Miami coach Enrico Blasi said, “I thought we played a good solid game, our guys got into it right away.”  “We kept the pressure on them, you really never know how they are going to respond to the layoff. We have not had a game since December 4th (Notre Dame).”    
Miami picked up a 6-3 win, and skated to a 1-1 tie against the Huskies at Saint Cloud earlier in the year. “Saint Cloud is a fast team, they are a real good team even though their record does not show that. Miele said. “They like to run and gun and what we have to do is keep the puck in their zone so they don’t get a chance to do that.”
Tournament co-hosts Cornell and Maine will meet in the consolation game to kick off day two of the Florida College Classic.
Contact: joe.malta@prohockeynews.com
   

ESTERO, Fla    So much for the schedule favoring the co-host and returning tournament champion. For the second year in a row, two top 10 teams will meet on the first day of the Florida College Classic in Estero. This time it is 2009 Florida College Classic champ Maine ranked ninth versus the sixth ranked Red Hawks of Miami University. The tournament opener features Saint Cloud vs Cornell, last year it was the Big Red who had the feature match when they took on Colorado College on opening night. This year Cornell and Saint Cloud both come to Florida unranked and looking for some momentum going into 2011. The Huskies and Big Red were both ranked pre season but it has been a struggle for both teams so far this fall. This is only the second meeting ever between the two teams. Cornell beat the Huskies 3-2 in the 2008 Classic. The Big Red 4-6-1(2-4-0) is riding a 3 game win streak to Florida. Cornell features a balanced attack as sophomore forward Greg Miller leads the Big Red with only 8 points. Cornell does boast the 8^th ranked penalty killing unit in the nation, while freshman, Andy Iles and Junior, Mike Garman, have split the goaltending chores. Both Saint Cloud and Cornell have struggled to score goals. The Huskies 5-11-2(3-8-1) have 10 NHL draft picks on their roster, average only 2.5 goals per game. They are led by junior Drew LeBlanc who has 18 points in 18 games. Sophomore, Mike Lee and senior Dan Dunn have also split time in goal for the Huskies and are ranked 46^th nationally with a 3.33 GAA. It will be a matchup of two teams who have struggled to score and struggled to stop opponents from scoring. Whoever emerges from day one will be looking to turn their fortunes around against one of the nation’s top teams in the championship game. The numbers for Miami and Maine seem like a polar opposite. Miami and Maine are second and tenth respectively in scoring. Miami boasts the nation’s third best penalty kill and special teams may be the difference is this heavyweight matchup. Maine 8-4-4(6-3-2) has struggled on special teams ranked 34^th on the power play and 31^st on the kill. Junior, Spencer Abbott, leads the Black Bears with 11 goals and 21 points; freshman Dan Sullivan has led the Bears in goal with five wins and a 2.44 GAA. The Red Hawks 10-5-3(8-4-2) are led by Carter Camper, the nation’s scoring leader with 13 goals and 35 points. Miami platoons two juniors in goal. Cody Reichard sports a 2.60 goals against, while Connor Knapp is at 1.81 and a .918 save percentage. This is the 11^th edition of the Florida College Classic and while the numbers suggest that the winner of the Miami-Maine battle will be a lock to win the tournament crown, last year both Colorado College and Cornell lost on day two to finish second and fourth in the tournament. Contact Joe.Malta@prohockeynews.com