60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Miami

Miami

2018-19 Record: 11-23-4 (5-17-2, T-7th in NCHC)
Head Coach: Chris Bergeron, 1st Year
Top returning scorer: Gordie Green (11G-14A)
Top returning goaltender: Ryan Larkin (Sr.)

I'd be lying if it wasn't sad and difficult to watch the bottom falling out on Miami's season. No team was worse in its final 20 games. The RedHawks went 2-17-1, had a -2.25 goal margin, were outshot by an average of 12.05 shots per game and found ways to lose several games that Miami looked to be on its way to winning.

Enrico Blasi's last chance reached a point only former UW coach Mike Eaves hit in recent years where, as much as it saddened me to see happen, not firing Blasi would speak more to Miami's commitment to hockey than letting him go. Firing both assistants the previous year didn't seem to be the difference. Bringing in top tier recruits didn't either.

Injuries and early departures aside, the RedHawks - a program so highly thought of to begin the decade to where Blasi was linked to every top college job - struggled since realignment and joining the NCHC. Something needed to change.

What's New: Enter Chris Bergeron.

Bergeron, an assistant at Miami under Blasi for 10 seasons, was seen as the top choice before and after Miami officially fired Blasi on March 19th after 20 years. The Bowling Green head coach previously took the Falcons back to the NCAA Tournament after a 29-year absence, turning around a program that appeared to be on death's doorstep. After some an attempt by BGSU to keep him, Bergeron took the job April 4th.

Getting Bergeron aboard is by far the biggest change for the RedHawks. (He brings with him former St. Cloud State women's hockey head coach Eric Rud and Bergeron's longtime BGSU assistant Barry Schutte as associate head coaches.) His first season will happen without John Gruden (no, not that one), who signed a pro contract with Ottawa after his freshman year and will play major junior next season.

However, the RedHawks will get Holy Cross transfer Matt Berry at midseason. Berry, who was leading the Crusaders in scoring at the time of his departure, has to sit out the first

Closing Thoughts: The situation in Oxford shares similarities with the one in Minneapolis last offseason, down to Bergeron being an Ohio Motzko in the eyes of Bowling Green faithful.

Miami closes the book on the Enrico Blasi era - nearly 400 wins, two Frozen Fours and about as close to a national championship as one team can get - by bringing back to Goggin Ice Center a Blasi assistant from those golden years. Bergeron returns with the task of turning around Miami's fortunes just as he did for BGSU.

As strange as it may be to say a decade ago when the team was a regular NCAA Tournament fixture and national championship contender, the RedHawks have dropped below both Ohio's other two teams and the rest of NCHC. Ohio State reached the Frozen Four and won the Big Ten regular season in its past two seasons. Bowling Green came within two minutes of winning the WCHA conference tournament and took the eventual national champion to overtime.

Bergeron returning Miami to that level will take longer than a single season. It will take a commitment, one game at a time, even if it doesn't happen this year.

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