Rink and Run blog: Miami tries to forget about 2009

Miami University was a few seconds away from the 2009 NCAA Division I title before Boston University made a memorable comeback to win in overtime in Washington, D.C. Miami is back in the Frozen Four as the No. 1 overall seed this week and faces Boston College in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. semifnal in Detroit. Wisconsin plays Rochester Institute of Technology at 4 p.m. Both games on ESPN2.

     Has Miami been allowed to forget what happened a year ago? Here's a couple of Thursday stories from Pete Conrad with the Oxford Press in Oxford, Ohio, home base for the RedHawks.

     ALSO, the 2011 NCAA tournament will be at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, and Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting Thursday that the 2011 NHL Entry Draft will be at the Xcel Energy Center on June 24-25:

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:05 AM Thursday, April 8, 2010

DETROIT — One thing likely to pulse through the minds of Miami University’s hockey players in Thursday's Frozen Four semifinal game will be the brutal memory of last year’s loss to Boston University in the NCAA championship game.

It’s not that the RedHawks want to focus on that 4-3 overtime loss — especially the fact they led the Terriers 3-1 with a minute left in regulation. It’s just that nobody will let them forget.

Miami coach Enrico Blasi attended a press conference following his team’s practice at Ford Field on Wednesday and was asked if he has used that loss as motivation for his players.

“Congratulations,” Blasi said with a grin. “You are now the one millionth person to ask that question over the course of 12 months.

“We get asked that question every week, if not every day,” he said, “and to have the No. 1 ranking all year and continue to play at a high level and continue to get everybody’s best every weekend tells a little bit about the character of these guys.”

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:05 AM Thursday, April 8, 2010

OXFORD — The contrast in style is unmistakable.

Boston College’s hockey team is an unrelenting goal-scoring machine. Miami University is the proverbial wrench that gets thrown into the works of those goal-scoring machines.

“Something,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said, “has got to give.”

The Eagles will pit their second-ranked offense against the RedHawks’ top-ranked defense Thursday in the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four. At stake for Miami is a second straight shot at a national championship.

“You’re looking at a couple different styles of hockey,” Blasi said. “Boston College likes to play in transition. They’re very quick. If you’re not ready, they can get two, three, four (goals) in a row.”

“The ability to find the open man, move (the puck) and give- and-go is very important to us,” Eagles coach Jerry York acknowledged.

Boston College clinched a berth in the Frozen Four by beating Yale 9-7, won the Hockey East Tournament title with a 7-6 overtime victory over Maine, and since the first of the year has scored six or more goals in a game seven times.

The Eagles also have 10 players who have recorded at least 20 points this season, led by sophomore Cam Atkinson (27 goals, 23 assists, 50 points) and junior Brian Gibbons (16-30-46).

The RedHawks, on the other hand, rely on a defense that has held opponents to two goals or fewer 30 times this season.

Miami sophomore goalies Connor Knapp and Cody Reichard might be the talk of college hockey, but the team’s unsung heros are its defensemen.

Will Weber was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s Best Defensemen, Joe Hartman made the CCHA All-Rookie team, and Vincent LoVerde (who will likely not return to action after missing the last two games because of illness), Cameron Schilling, Trent Vogelhuber and Chris Wideman have been strong and steady.

Miami also ranks among the nation’s top 10 in offense. And Boston College has allowed 14 goals in its last three games.

“We’re a puck possession team,” Blasi said. “But it’s not that we can’t run-and-gun with them. We can if we have to.”

York dismissed the notion of making drastic changes to his defense.

“We’ll continue to do what we do,” he said. “We’re not going to change a thing. It’d be foolish.”

The RedHawks, meanwhile, will try to limit their mistakes against the Eagles.

“If you turn the puck over,” Blasi said, “they’re going to bury it.”

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