Oxford, OH - Two goals from UMD's leading scorer
Blake Biondi helped the No. 8 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to a 3-1 victory over the Miami University RedHawks on Friday evening. On the night, Minnesota Duluth outshot Miami 52-21. It's the second time this season that the Bulldogs have tallied 50+ shots against the RedHawks.
With his two goals on Friday night, Biondi now leads the Bulldogs with 15 goals on the season. Also finding the back of the net for UMD was defenseman
Matt Anderson, who buried his second goal of the season. After missing the previous four games,
Wyatt Kaiser returned to the UMD lineup and posted two assists.
Darian Gotz,
Quinn Olson, and
Dominic James also registered an assist each on the night.
Ryan Fanti made his second-straight start in net and stopped 20 Miami shots to pick up his fourteenth win of the season. Additionally, making his return to Miami,
Casey Gilling posted a game-high 12 shots on Friday evening against his former team.
UMD controlled play through the first twenty minutes, outshooting Miami 23-6 in the first period. Midway through the first frame,
Noah Cates found himself open in the Miami slot. Instead of trying a backhand shot, Cates dished the puck backdoor to Gilling who was positioned on the side of the RedHawks net. Gilling redirectly Cates's pass but a quick right-pad save from Ludvig Persson kept the game scoreless. Late in the first, UMD would get the first power-play of the night. While on the man-advantage, Olson took a pass from James in the right offensive corner. Olson would slip a pass to Biondi who was open in front of the RedHawks net. A beautiful backhand shot from Biondi went bardown and in past Persson to give UMD a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead. The goal for Biondi is his team-leading 13th of the season and also gives the Bulldogs power-play goals in back-to-back games. UMD took the 1-0 advantage to the second period of play.
The Bulldogs were awarded a 5-on-3 for 1:48 early in the second period. UMD would generate multiple high-quality through Gilling, but Persson would deny the man-advantage opportunity. Midway through the period, the Bulldogs would successfully kill-off Miami's first power-play opportunity. Moments later, Kaiser chipped the puck out of the UMD zone and sent Anderson on a clear cut 2-on-1. Anderson elected to shoot from the faceoff dot and beat Persson low blocker to extend UMD's lead to 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the second. The goal for Anderson is his second of the season and third of his Bulldog career. Just three minutes later, Miami converted on an odd man rush to cut the Minnesota Duluth lead to 2-1. Despite giving up the goal, UMD continued to pepper the RedHawks net. With under two minutes to go in the period, Kaiser snapped a shot on the Miami net from the middle of the blueline, forcing a rebound from Persson. Biondi cut to the Miami net and banged home the rebound for his second goal of the night. The Bulldogs would take a 3-1 lead and a 46-15 shot advantage to the third period of play.
Neither side would find the back of the net through the first half of the third period. With seven minutes left to play, Biondi would get a clean power-play look from the Miami slot. Trying for his first career hat-trick, Biondi snapped a shot that beat Persson high glove, but would ring off the post and out of danger. UMD held a 3-1 lead with five minutes remaining. In the dying minutes of the third, the RedHawks pulled Persson to try and tie the game. Solid defending from Fanti and the Bulldogs would deny Miami. UMD took a 3-1 win in game one.
Up Next
The Bulldogs and RedHawks will rematch tomorrow evening in Ohio. Puck drop from Oxford is set for 4:05 PM CT.
