Originally posted by HockeyRef
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The season will really hinge a lot on whether Miami gets a jolt under a new coaching staff or takes a while to adjust to that staff’s new system. Miami opens the season this weekend with a single home game against Bergeron’s old team, Bowling Green. So we should learn a lot from how that game goes...
Goaltending should be a strength. Ryan Larkin returns as a SR and is more than capable of stealing games, while racking up huge save numbers. He can also get caught kicking too many juicy rebounds into the slot on occasion. Freshman Kraws is a future starter and a week two debut against UNH doesn’t seem unlikely on one of those two nights in order to at least get his feet wet...
The defense returns everyone but Hutton and adds twointriguing FR, particularly Alec Chapstick. The group regularly skated three FR and two SO, last season, (I do really like returnees, Dashke, Crowder and Rourke) so if there is a group on this team that could take a real step forward it’s this one, but we will see...
Offense will be a challenge. Geordie Green is the team’s best forward and he is otherwise surrounded by a group that seems to have the potential to produce (Gilling, Bachman, Knies, Lown) but has, at least of yet not shown an ability to do so on a consistent basis. A flash here, a flash there and long disappearing acts in between...
The top incoming option is Holy Cross transfer Matt Berry - but he won’t be eligible until second semester. After that Ryan Savage (son of long-time NHLer and Miami legend, Brian Savage) seems to be the most likely to jump into the top-six. In another defection, promising SO to be Johnny Gruden bolted for MJ over the summer. Scoring could be a problem...
UNH should head out there expecting to win games. A split may seem like a safe bet, but UNH took 3 of 4 points from what I expect was a better team (at least early on) last fall. A failure to at least split would be a bad sign...
Miami’s non-conference schedule is manageable - so depending on how they handle that they could help UNH in the PWR (assuming a Wildcat win or two) just by being in the NCHC. However, the NCHC schedule could be a real grind for Miami and a last-place finish is not out of the question (with sixth seemingly the ceiling)...
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