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 33rd 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), 15th 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 #9th 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
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