#16 North Dakota (7-7-1 overall; 2-2-0 NCHC) will travel to Oxford, Ohio this weekend to take on the unranked Miami Redhawks (3-11-2 overall; 0-6-0 NCHC)
Miami has played the 57th-toughest schedule in the country and is winless in November, going a combined 0-8-0 against Rensselaer, #9 St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, and Omaha. MU was outscored 34-9 in those eight games. SCSU is the only ranked opponent that the Redhawks have faced to this point in the season.
The other result from the first half that jumps off of the page is that the Redhawks were swept 5-1 and 4-1 by Robert Morris back in October, one week before UND defeated the Colonials (4-3 in overtime and 1-0).
By contrast, North Dakota has played the tenth-toughest schedule to this point of the season. Over the first thirteen games, UND has faced #10 Providence (home win), #15 Minnesota State (road split), #11 Boston University (home split), #12 Cornell (two road losses), unranked Minnesota Duluth (a road sweep), #2 Denver (two home losses), unranked Robert Morris (home sweep), and unranked Bemidji State (a loss and a shootout win).
The hard reality is that North Dakota needs two victories this weekend to start climbing in the Pairwise rankings, and bench boss Brad Berry will be without a handful of players as he tries to secure a road sweep:
Junior goaltender Kaleb Johnson looks to be sidelined for an extended period of time; the team brought in Aleksi Huson to be the third goaltender on the roster. Huson backstopped Shakopee High School last season, serving as team captain while posting a record of 20-5-1 with a goals-against average of 2.13 and a save percentage of .934.
Junior defenseman Bennett Zmolek remains out of the lineup; Zmolek has missed the last fourteen games.
Forward Louis Jamernik V – the team’s captain – was injured two weeks ago but has begun skating in practice. His return to the lineup is questionable.
And finally, forward Cameron Berg, who had returned to the lineup at Duluth after missing both games against the Big Red, was injured in practice three weeks ago and has missed the last six games. Berg leads the team in points per game (4-4-8 in seven games played).
Even though UND has played a much tougher schedule to this point in the season, the Fighting Hawks still far outpace the RedHawks in two key puck possession statistics:
Miami: 46th in Corsi (46.9%) and 46th in Fenwick (46.0%)
North Dakota: 22nd in Corsi (52.1%) and 27th in Fenwick (51.4)
Corsi measures the share of shot attempts for each team at even strength, while Fenwick measure the share of unblocked shot attempts for each team at even strength.
As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 5th-best team on draws (55.0%), while the Beavers clock in at 50.3% (31st).
North Dakota has five drafted skaters among its eight first-year players, including a pair of highly-touted recruits:
Forward Sacha Boisvert: 2024 Round 1 #18 overall to the Chicago Blackhawks
Boisvert last played with the Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL).
Defenseman E.J. Emery: 2024 Round 1 #30 overall to the New York Rangers
Emery spent the last two seasons with the U.S. National Development Team in Ann Arbor.
Other North Dakota freshmen who were drafted by NHL teams over the past three years include:
Defenseman Andrew Strathmann: 2023 Round 4 #98 overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets
Forward Mac Swanson: 2024 Round 7 #207 to the Pittsburgh Penguins
Forward Cade Littler: 2022 Round 7 #219 overall to the Calgary Flames
The three freshman forwards listed above have combined for ten goals and eleven assists in 43 games played this season, while Emery and Strathmann have each picked up an assist while playing heavy minutes for the Hawks (Emery 20:52, Strathmann 11:05). Strathmann was averaging nearly thirteen minutes a game before being injured early in last Friday’s game at Cornell.
According to College Hockey News, North Dakota’s freshman class ranks #4 in the country.
Last season, these two teams met six times, including a March NCHC playoff series in Grand Forks. North Dakota won all six games, with only one close contest among them (a 5-4 overtime victory at Miami in February). The other five scores: 6-4, 5-1, 4-1, 5-1, and 7-1.
Remarkably, when North Dakota traveled to face to RedHawks back in January of 2023 (two seasons ago), the two teams were both at the bottom of the league standings. Last year, UND and Miami were at opposite ends of the spectrum: the Fighting Hawks were Penrose Cup champions, while the RedHawks won just ONE conference game all year (a 4-3 home victory over Western Michigan on January 13th, their last win of the season). Let me say that again: over the past seven weekends of hockey (one series each against every league foe), MU did not win a game (0-13-1, with a shootout loss at Denver the only bright spot). Over those fourteen games, Miami was outscored 58-26, an average margin of defeat of 4.14 – 1.86.
The common thread? Miami is and will continue to be at the bottom of the league standings.
Over the first eleven completed regular seasons of the NCHC, Miami has averaged a seventh-place finish among the eight conference teams (8th, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 8th, and 8th), with a combined league record of 63-168-33 (.301).
By comparison, North Dakota has finished 2nd, 1st, 1st, 4th, 4th, 5th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 5th, and 1st, for an average finish just under second place, with a combined league record of 154-81-29 (.638). No other league member has collected as many conference wins as UND.
This season, Miami is 0-6-0 in league play, but may have found a way out of eighth place. The solution? Arizona State has now joined the league, so MU will move down to ninth.
When the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was formed, Miami appeared positioned to be a dominant program. Prior to the 2013-14 season (their inaugural campaign in the NCHC), the RedHawks had made eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, with consecutive Frozen Four bids in 2009 (2nd) and 2010 (3rd). Since joining the NCHC, Miami has just one NCAA tournament appearance (2015), and that ended quickly with a first-round loss to eventual national champion Providence.
Long-tenured head coach Enrico Blasi was fired after posting a fourth consecutive losing season in 2018-2019. Over that stretch of time, the RedHawks were 47-81-19 (.384). There was reason for optimism in Oxford when Chris Bergeron was hired; Bergeron took over the program after leading Bowling Green to six consecutive winning seasons, five consecutive years with twenty or more victories, and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018-2019.
Bergeron was fired after last season; he compiled a record of 35-116-16 (.257) in his five years at Miami and never won more than eight games in a season.
New head coach Anthony Noreen takes over behind the Miami bench; he played his collegiate hockey at UW-Stevens Point.
After this weekend’s series, UND will host #9 St. Cloud State in NCHC action to close out the first half of the season. A record of 3-1 (or better) over the final four games of 2024 would put North Dakota in position to make a run to the NCAAs.
Miami Team Profile
Head Coach: Anthony Noreen (1st season at Miami, 3-11-2, .250)
National Rankings: NR/NR
Pairwise Ranking: 59th
KRACH Rating: 16.8 (59th)
This Season: 3-11-2 overall; 0-5-0-1 NCHC (9th)
Last Season: 7-26-3 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 1-19-0-4 NCHC (8th)
2024-2025 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 1.94 goals scored/game – 58th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 3.63 goals allowed/game – 58th of 64 teams
Power Play: 17.7% (11 of 62) – 39th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 88.3% (53 of 60) – 12th of 64 teams
Key players: Graduate F Matt Choupani (5-7-12), Graduate F Colby Ambrosio (3-8-11), Junior F Johnny Waldron (2-6-8), Graduate F Christophe Fillion (2-4-6), Freshman D Michael Quinn (1-4-5), Senior D Conner Hutchison (1-4-5), Sophomore G Bruno Bruveris (2-6-1, 3.66 GAA, .876 SV%)
North Dakota Team Profile
Head Coach: Brad Berry (10th season at UND, 213-111-34, .642)
National Rankings: #16/#17
Pairwise Ranking: 26th
KRACH: 180.2 (21st)
This Season: 7-7-1 overall, 2-2-0-0 NCHC (6th of 9 teams)
Last Season: 26-12-2 (NCAA tournament appearance), 14-4-1-5 NCHC (1st)
2024-2025 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.07 goals scored/game – 16th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.80 goals allowed/game – 32nd of 64 teams
Power Play: 27.9% (12 of 43) – 6th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 78.0% (39 of 50) – 43rd of 64 teams
Key Players: Graduate F Louis Jamernik V (4-5-9), Freshman F Sacha Boisvert (6-6-12), Junior F Owen McLaughlin (1-8-9), Junior F Dylan James (5-2-7), Sophomore F Jayden Perron (3-5-8), Freshman F Mac Swanson (2-4-6), Senior F Jake Schmaltz (2-6-8), Sophomore D Jake Livanavage (1-11-12), Sophomore D Abram Wiebe (2-6-8), Freshman D E.J. Emery (0-1-1), Graduate G T.J. Semptimphelter (6-5-1, 2.69 GAA, .905 SV%)
By The Numbers
Last Meeting: March 16, 2024 (Grand Forks, ND). Normally it is difficult to end a team’s season in the first round of the NCHC playoffs, but UND made quick work of Miami, besting the RedHawks 5-1 and 7-1. MU put plenty of pucks on net (56 in the two-game series), but North Dakota netminder Hobie Hedquist was up to the challenge, allowing only a single goal each night. UND’s Jackson Blake and Riese Gaber both scored on back-to-back nights.
Last Meeting in Oxford: February 3, 2024 (Oxford, Ohio). North Dakota cruised to a 4-1 win over the homestanding RedHawks to earn five of six league points on the weekend. UND defenseman Logan Britt scored twice in the victory to notch a three-goal weekend and nab NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors, Britt had two goals on the season coming into the road series at MU. In the opener, Miami took Friday’s game to overtime before falling 84 seconds in on yet another Jackson Blake overtime tally. UND netminder Ludvig Persson, who struggled to feel comfortable in his return to Goggin Ice Center (four goals allowed on 31 shots), assisted on the game winner in overtime.
Most Important Meeting: March 6, 2015 (Oxford, OH). North Dakota claimed the Penrose Cup with a 2-1 road victory over Miami. UND fell flat the following night, losing 6-3 in the final game of the regular season.
Last Ten: UND has picked up nine wins (9-1–0, .900) in the past ten contests between the teams, outscoring Miami 53-18 over that stretch of games.
All-time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series 31-8-4 (.767), including a sparkling 15-3-2 (.800) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first played in 1999 (Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI).
Game News and Notes
MU has not made the national tournament since 2015, their second season in the NCHC. Brad Berry is 24-4-3 (.823) in his coaching career against Miami. Green Hawks are preferable to RedHawks.
The Prediction
Despite its injury concerns, the Fighting Hawks are deeper, more talented, and are getting better goaltending. Specialty teams can be the great equalizer, and UND’s penalty kill is suspect. I expect North Dakota to blow the doors off Miami in the opener, with a tighter contest in the rematch. UND 5-1, 4-2.
Broadcast Information
Both games this weekend are available via webcast at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m. Central Time each night.
As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!