Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio -- The Western Michigan hockey team fell to No. 5 Miami 8-1 at Steve Cady arena on Saturday night.
The Redhawks scored early in the first period on a shot by Andy Miele. He had the puck in between the circles and fired it into the upper left corner of the net. Nathan Davis and Jarod Palmer each picked up assist on Miele's fourth goal of the year to put Miami up 1-0.
MU extended their lead 1:28 later on a goal by Pat Cannone. Jutin Mercier and Nino Musitelli assisted on the goal and the Broncos were in a 2-0 hole early.
The Broncos had two good chances on an early power play. A shot by senior Jeff Pierce was blocked by a MU defender and a shot by Max Campbell was stopped by MU goaltender Jeff Zatkoff. The rebounds squirted away and Jeff LoVecchio took a whack at it but could not get it past Zatkoff.
A power play for the Broncos followed minutes later. Campbell laid a perfect pass to Patrick Galivan and Galivan just got a stick on it and tried to go between Zatkoff's legs, but it did not have enough force to get through.
WMU was awarded a 5-on-3 chance a minute later but was unable to capitalize and went 0-3 on the power play in the first period.
Miami added a third goal late in the first period on the power play. A shot by Musitelli beat Kuhn on his glove side, with assists by Brian Kaufman and Cannone.
Less than a minute later the Redhawks went up 4-0 on a goal by Ryan Jones, the nation's leading scorer. Tommy Wingels picked up an assist on his 29th goal of the season.
Riley Gill took over in net after MU's fourth goal but the Redhawks added their fifth goal of the game with 1:24 remaining in the first period. This tie the goal was scored by Davis with assists to Miele and Brad Robbins.
Miami pushed their lead to 6-0 5:19 into the second period. Miele got a pass from Davis and was directly in front of the net and beat Gill on his lower right side. Davis and Palmer each picked up assists on the goal.
The Redhawks went up 7-0 with 5:27 remaining in the second period. The power play goal was scored by Kaufman with assists to Wingels and Robbins.
The Broncos finally knocked the zero off the board with 50 seconds remaining in the second period. The power play goal was by Jordan Collins, the first of his collegiate career. Collins got the puck on a centering pass by Cam Watson after Brian Bicek cleared the buck from the boards. Bicek picked up his sixth assist on the season Watson tallied his fourth on the goal and the Brown & Gold went into the locker room after two periods of play down 7-1.
The Redhawks pushed their lead to 8-1 with just under seven minutes remaining in the third period. Kaufman put the puck in the net for MU and Wingles and Jones each picked up assists.
Western Michigan will host Notre Dame on Friday night for Senior Night and their final home game of the season.
