Indiana Club Ice Hockey played a two-game series against Miami University on Friday and Saturday, splitting the matchups. Indiana won the first game in Indianapolis but lost the second game in Oxford, Ohio, in a rematch of last season’s Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League Championship.
On Friday, the club managed to win a narrow 3-2 game, scoring a highly contested goal to put the Hoosiers up in the final minutes of the game. The young players on the team had another stellar night to give the Hoosiers the series lead against their rival.
The game opened in Indiana’s favor, with sophomore forward Will Gerami scoring a rebound goal — his third score of the season. A couple minutes later, traffic formed in front of the net and Miami freshman forward Erik Miller was able to sneak it past sophomore goalie Sammy Bilis to tie things up at one.
[Related: Indiana Club Ice Hockey splits weekend series against Concordia University Wisconsin]
Six minutes into the second period, the Hoosiers get back on top thanks to a pair of sophomore forwards making an impact. Andrew Chambers slid a pass right in front of the net and Aiden Simoneau took full advantage of the opportunity, ripping one right past RedHawk sophomore goalie Colt Hanks.
Despite the third period starting with a pair of Hoosier power plays, they were unable to take a two-goal lead and effectively put the game away. With just over six minutes left in the game, Miami once again got past Bilis when sophomore forward Hunter Wallace scored his third of the year to tie the match at two.
With time crunching towards the final minutes, Hoosier freshman defenseman Jack Hawkins was called for holding, and the Redhawks went on a two-minute powerplay. The Hoosiers were able to kill the penalty and used the momentum to score their third goal of the game, giving them a one-goal advantage. It was freshman forward Matt Spears’ first goal of the year, and it couldn’t have come at a more important time.
It took until the final minutes, but the Hoosiers won 3-2 Friday in nail-biting fashion to take the early lead in the weekend doubleheader.
In the first period of Saturday’s road game, RedHawk sophomore forward Michael McCormick succeeded on a passing play to get by sophomore backup goalie Jack Thompson, putting the Redhawks up one. The Hoosiers responded when freshman forward Henry Whitliff was able to wrist one past Hanks.
More than halfway into the second, Simoneau scored a crowded goal to put Indiana up 2-1 with the momentum swinging their way.
After taking the lead, Indiana held on for a while, even stopping Miami from scoring in a 5-on-3 situation. However, Miami ended the second period with a backhand goal from Wallace to tie things up heading into the last period.
Once again, the third started off slow, but it went in the RedHawks’ favor as sophomore forward Henry Froass scored the team’s third of the game, which would end up being the winning point. The RedHawks tacked on one more at the end of the period, and they took the game with a 4-2 finish.
The Hoosiers had a chance to sweep their rival but once again made a switch at goalie and throughout the lineup. For the second time in two weekends this season, Indiana split another series in which it took the first but couldn’t close out the second.
Indiana will look to continue building on the season next weekend when it takes on Michigan State on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in East Lansing, Michigan.
