OXFORD, Ohio – The No. 6-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team stumbled to open its National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) road campaign with Miami up-ending the Bulldogs 3-1 on Friday night at Steve "Coach" Cady Arena.

A late third-period power play score by Derek Daschke gave the Redhawks the lead, and Miami (3-5-2, 1-2-0-0 NCHC) would tack on an empty-net score in the closing seconds to put the game on ice.

The two teams skated to a scoreless first period as No. 6 UMD (4-4-1, 1-1-1-0 NCHC) felt out the new playstyle of Miami under first-year head coach Chris Bergeron, with the Bulldogs taking a 7-5 edge in shots on goal to the locker room after one.

UMD earned its first chance on the power play just after midway through the second, but a broken Bulldog stick resulted in a short-handed score the other way when Karch Bachman took advantage of the lucky break and sneaking a score past Hunter Shepard. Gordie Green added an assist on the play at 13:28. 

The visitors would get another chance with the man advantage wrapping around the second intermission, and eventually made good as Tanner Laderoute scored his first goal of the year with just three seconds remaining in the man advantage, 0:43 into the third. Scott Perunovich and Cole Koepke each added a helper on the play.

Daschke's third-period goal came with 3:58 remaining, holding up after review when UMD argued that Shepard had potentially been interfered with on the play. Phil Knies and Monte Graham had the assists. Graham came out of the penalty box with 29 seconds remaining in regulation and tapped home the empty net score to claim the victory.

NOTABLE
UMD had won six-straight games against Miami entering the weekend … the Bulldogs continue to be winless when entering the third period trailing, now 0-3-1 on the second … Shepard made 14 saves on the night, while Ryan Larkin stopped 35-of-36 UMD shots … the Bulldogs finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage while the Redhawks finished 1-for-4 … Nick Swaney totaled a game-high nine shots for UMD.

UP NEXT
The NCHC  series continues Saturday night in Oxford with opening face-off set for 6:05 p.m. CT. The game can be seen locally on the My 9 Sports Network, heard on KDAL 610 AM/103.9 FM, and streamed from anywhere in the world on nchc.tv/umd.

Follow UMD Athletics all season long by connecting with the Bulldogs on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribing to the Bulldog Productions channel on YouTube. Tickets for all Bulldog home contests are available by accessing your My Bulldog Account, or clicking here.