It has eluded the Redhawks for the last several years: Advancing to the semifinals of college hockey was something Miami could taste, but never experience for themselves. Thanks to the Boston College Eagles, who knocked the Redhawks out of the NCAA College Hockey tournament in 2005, 2006, and 2007, Miami was never able to advance past the Eagles and onto the national stage.
2009 is a different year! These Redhawks are a young, scrappy bunch that no one in the college hockey media even considered as a national title contender. With a birth in the NCAA tournament and consecutive victories over the University of Denver Pioneers and The University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, the Redhawks now find themselves in the Frozen Four for the first time in school history.
The rise of the Miami University hockey program onto the national stage can be attributed to the likes of Steve Cady, the man who brought college hockey to Oxford, Ohio, and people like George Gwozdecky, who now coaches at Denver, and last but not least, Enrico Blasi, the man who took over the Redhawks’ mediocre program in 1999 and has now brought Miami to a Frozen Four.
Miami has a lot to celebrate this year. It is the school’s 200th birthday, making it the oldest and most prestigious university in the great state of Ohio. God Bless America and God bless Miami University!
