RedHawks have no fear of Providence
Lack of two top players no problem for No. 4 Miami.
— At this PROVIDENCE, R.I. stage of the season, nothing fazes Miami.
Not even the fact that the overall fourth-seeded RedHawks will face Providence College at 6: 30 p.m. today in an NCAA East Regional semifinal minus two of their top three scorers.
Not even the fact Miami (25-13-3) will face one of the nation’s top defensive teams in the Friars (21-133), who have arguably one of the best collegiate goalies in Jon Gillies.
As has been well-documented, Miami will be without forward Blake Coleman (20 goals, 37 points), who is suspended after being handed a third misconduct penalty in the NCHC championship game against St. Cloud State.
In addition, Miami will be without Riley Barber (20-20-40), who has a lower-body injury and who earlier in the week was listed as questionable but now has been ruled out indefinitely by coach Enrico Blasi.
“I think at the end of the day you have to play with what you’ve got,” Blasi said after Friday’s practice. “There have been times when we’ve played without both of them. We know what we need to do and we’ll make adjustments as we go, and just focus on the guys who are going to be in the lineup.
“Blake was out with an injury earlier in the year and ‘Barbs’ missed a game here recently. We just have to do what we’ve got to do.”
The RedHawks must find a way to score against a Friars defense that ranks fourth nationally with an average of two goals allowed per game.
Gillies ranks seventh in the nation with a 1.95 goals-against average and is tied for sixth with a .931 save percentage.
Noel Acciari recently was voted Hockey East’s best defensive forward. Among other things, Acciari tops Providence with a plus-20 rating and leads the forwards with 36 blocked shots.
“I think to start the game off we just need to get pucks in deep and go to work right away,” said Miami senior forward Austin Czarnik, who has nine goals and 43 points. “You’re not going to beat them on the first shot most of the time, so you need work at getting second and third efforts so you can get the puck in the net.
“That’s our game plan and we’re going to try to stick to that.”
Even though they play in different conferences, Miami and Providence aren’t exactly strangers. They’ve played each other over the previous three seasons with the RedHawks holding a 2-1-2 advantage — a series that has seen the last four games decided in overtime.
“The styles are similar,” PC coach Nate Leaman said. “Going into Miami two years ago we were really wondering what we had under the hood, so to speak. We knew it would be a great test.
“We have a lot of respect for their team and their coach. It will be fast hockey and physical hockey. It will be two teams going after each other.”
Blasi seconded that motion.
“They’re wellcoached,” he said. “They do things the right way. They play the right way. They don’t give you much.”