The #19 Miami (OH) RedHawks (10-5-0, 2-5-0 NCHC) are not the same bottom-dwelling RedHawks that NCHC fans have gotten used to over the past half-decade. After their Friendship Four championship in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last weekend, gone are the days of two to four scheduled victories when Miami showed up on the calendar. But in game one of their two-game series with the visiting RedHawks, the #6 Denver Pioneers (10-5-1, 6-1-0 NCHC) certainly made it seem like the sickly RedHawks of old are still around with their 4-0 victory at Magness Arena. Denver scored three times in the second (a fourth was called back for goaltender interference), and goaltender Quentin Miller notched his third shutout of the season as DU successfully turned the page from last weekend’s overtime letdown at Ball Arena.

For at least the first 20 minutes, the RedHawks did their level best to show the first-place Pioneers that they could hang with the winners of two of the last four national championships. DU’s Rieger Lorenz opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game after a careless Miami turnover in their defensive zone, but the visitors carried the play for much of the opening period. They killed off both of DU’s opening-period power plays (though that’s not exactly saying much against the country’s 37th-ranked power play) and held the nation’s #1 team in terms of shots on goal per game to just 10.

Early in the second period, though, Garrett Brown broke the Matteo Drobac dam as the Pioneers exploded for three goals, including a rare power play goal – already Eric Pohlkamp’s 12th goal of the season – in the waning moments. Kieran Cebrian appeared to score a fourth soon after Brown’s marker, but it was called back after Miami challenged the play for goaltender interference. DU outshot MU 21-9 in a second period that closely resembled many of the Denver-over-Miami blowouts at Magness Arena over the last five years. From there, Miller cruised to the shutout victory, stopping all six of the RedHawks’ third-period shots on goal.

DU will look to keep its NCHC wagon rolling right along tomorrow night in game two. Puck drop is set for 7pm MT, and the game will be televised on Altitude.

Highlights