Hockey falls twice over weekend to No. 4 Miami

By Adam Bouton
Western Herald

(Chyn Wey Lee / Western Herald) Bronco senior Steven Silver scored his first goal of the season, with help from sophomore Ryan Watson and freshman Ian Slater, against Miami on Sunday night at Lawson Ice Arena.

The number one team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association proved why it’s at the top of the standings.

Miami University of Ohio (10-3-3, 10-2-2-1 CCHA) overpowered the Western Michigan University hockey team (2-10-4, 1-7-4-1 CCHA) with victories both Saturday and Sunday.

The No. 4 ranked RedHawks came away with a 7-3 victory Sunday afternoon after defeating the Broncos 4-2 Saturday night.

“Their number one positioning in league play is obviously justified,” Bronco head coach Jim Culhane said after the 7-3 defeat Sunday. “They have a lot of depth, a lot of team speed and they’re big too. They’re pretty legit.”

Miami sophomore center Carter Camper tallied a hat trick and four points overall in leading the RedHawks to a 7-3 win Sunday evening. Camper had 11 shots on goal during the contest overall.

Miami got out to an early 2-0 lead in Sunday’s game, as both Miami goals came with the man-advantage.
WMU was able to score a power play goal of its own just 51 seconds into the second period, as sophomore center Max Campbell received a cross-ice pass from senior left wing Patrick Galivan for the easy goal.
Campbell’s seventh goal of the season came with Western Michigan on a 5-on-3 man advantage and it was just the sixth goal Miami’s gave up all season on the penalty kill.

Miami then put the game out of reach as the team scored three straight goals in the second period. Camper’s second goal of the game and ninth of the season ended the scoring stretch for Miami. The goal made the game 5-1.

Western Michigan’s Steve Silver interrupted the scoring for Miami, as he netted a shot from the blue line with just 1:23 left in the second period. The senior defenseman’s first goal of the season pulled WMU to within three goals.

Miami was not done scoring in the second, however. Junior right wing Gary Steffes got a shot past Bronco sophomore goaltender Jerry Kuhn with only 40 seconds left in the second period of play.

The Broncos and RedHawks each scored one goal in the third period as Miami came away with the 7-3 victory.

Galivan scored the lone third period goal for the Broncos. The senior stole the puck at center ice, went in on Miami freshman goalie Connor Knapp and fooled Knapp, as he dragged the puck across the crease and then flicked it into the net.

“Once I picked the pass off, I knew I had time because the [defenseman] fell down behind me,” Galivan said following Sunday’s loss. “It’s a move I’ve been working on in practice the last couple of weeks. It just worked out right.”

The Broncos, after allowing two power play goals in the first period, shut down the Miami special teams during the next two periods on Sunday. The Brown and Gold thwarted the next five
opportunities that Miami had with the man-advantage.

“We changed some things here this week,” Culhane said about focusing on improving the penalty kill unit. “We were a little more aggressive with the guys on the blue line.”

Kuhn (0-6-3) was credited with the loss after allowing six goals on 30 shots on Sunday.  Bronco junior Riley Gill played in goal in relief of Kuhn for all of the third period after Kuhn was pulled following the sixth goal. He stopped six shots and allowed one goal in the third period Sunday.

Gill also was in net for Saturday’s game against the RedHawks.

Like Sunday, Miami jumped out to an early lead.

Miami senior defenseman Kevin Roeder knocked a shot off the post and just over the line at 10:57 in the first period. The 4-on-4 goal gave the RedHawks an early 1-0 lead.

Campbell scored with just 1:41 left in the second period to tie the game 1-1. The even-strength goal by the sophomore was unassisted.

The Bronco momentum was short-lived as Miami netted a goal just 34 seconds later.  Sophomore right wing Tommy Wingels got a goal past Gill to give Miami the 2-1 advantage.

Miami did not waste any time following the break between the second and third period Saturday evening. Junior right wing Jarod Palmer’s wrister over Gill’s shoulder gave Miami the 3-1 lead. The power play goal came just 45 seconds into the third period.

WMU came right back, however.

Bronco sophomore right wing Travis Paeth netted his first goal of the season at 2:31 in the third as he tipped in a shot by defenseman Peter Kavaya.

Up 3-2, Miami added another goal when sophomore center Andy Miele scored his third goal of the season with just 7:36 left in the game. The goal gave Miami the 4-2 lead and it proved to be enough during Saturday’s contest.

Gill (2-4-1) made 27 saves during the game Saturday for the Broncos. The Broncos were out shot 31-25 overall in the game Saturday and 37-22 in the game Sunday.

The Broncos have a bye next weekend, but Campbell wishes he had the chance to get back out of the ice. The team does not have to be on the ice during finals week, but Campbell knows that several players will be setting time aside for practice.

“I think it’d be a good break for the guys, especially after the last stretch with all the big teams,” Campbell acknowledged. “At the same time, we have a lot to work on. We’re going to be out here without the coaches, trying to get better as a team.”

He also believes that the team needs to get in a rhythm.

“Consistency with everything,” Campbell said. “Our goaltending has been pretty solid.  We got to start scoring goals. We’re not scoring goals right now.”

“We’ve been coming with a good work ethic all the time.” Galivan added. “We’ve gone through a pretty tough stretch of games here against some of the top teams in the country.”

Galivan knows that even though the Broncos have had a rough period of games against ranked opponents, the season is far from over.

“Playing those teams six games in a row can only make you better,” Galivan said. “We can learn from our mistakes and just keep going from there.”

“It’s been an unbelievable stretch of games,” Culhane added. “We’ve had a pretty good test here of the teams in the top echelon of our league and nationally.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Dec 7 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com