OXFORD, Ohio - One way to overcome past setbacks is to not have that past to overcome. That’s the case for most of the 2025-26 Miami hockey roster. Of the 28 players suiting up for the RedHawks this season, only seven were in Oxford for last year’s 3-28-3 campaign that saw MU go winless (0-25-1) in its final 26 games and finish last in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with an 0-23-1 mark that included three overtime losses.
 
With 21 newcomers, including 11 freshmen, in tow, Miami rattled off six-straight wins to open the season. On Nov. 1, the RedHawks rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the second period to triumph over Arizona State, 5-2, to pick up a split in the team’s first NCHC series of the year. The win over Arizona State was Miami’s first conference victory since Jan. 13, 2024, snapping a 41-game winless streak (0-39-2) against NCHC foes.
 
For second-year head coach Anthony Noreen, Miami’s early season success is a byproduct of the culture buy-in that the entire roster has shown from day one on campus. Despite holding a shiny 7-1 record, its best since going 8-0 to begin the 2007-08 campaign, the strides the RedHawks program has made go well beyond the on-ice results.
 
“We have a group of guys that bring out the best in each other,” Noreen said. “They came to campus with a chip on their shoulder. They believe in this place. They love this place and they are driven to get it to a better spot.”
 
A NEW ROSTER
 
From the moment he got onto campus, Noreen went to work building pipelines for talent to bolster Miami’s roster and push to get the team back to its previous glory when it made the NCAA Tournament 10 times in 12 seasons between 2004-15, making two Frozen Four appearances and advancing to the 2009 championship game. While establishing the hard-working culture he values on and off the ice, Noreen spent the 2024-25 season evaluating both his current roster for fits to the standard he was setting and scouring the country for players with the characteristics it takes to build a consistent winner in Oxford again.
 
“The situations coming into Miami was similar to when I started at Youngstown and Tri-City in the USHL,” Noreen said. “Youngstown had never made the playoffs before and the expectations needed to be changed and upgraded. Tri-City had finished last the year before as well. We spent the first year hitting the recruiting trail to find highly competitive and high character guys. This place checks every box. If it is my son or daughter, I don’t think it’s close when choosing where to go when it comes to Miami. We’ve found guys that want to get this program to where it could be, and where we feel it should be.”
 
One aspect that helped expand the pool of talent available on the recruiting trail was a landmark NCAA decision to allow junior hockey players under the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) governing body, which includes major junior leagues that consistently produce top NHL draft picks such as the OHL, WHL and QMJHL, to be eligible for NCAA competition.

 

Prior to this season, players in the CHL would face difficult odds to reach the NHL if not drafted and their draft eligibility expires (at age 20). Their most likely path would be playing out their final years in junior hockey before moving on to the minor leagues. Instead, five of Miami’s newcomers who cut their teeth in the CHL now had another option. For players such as freshman forward Kocha Delic, the RedHawks’ top scorer this season with 11 points (5g/6a), last year’s NCAA ruling offered a new path and Miami immediately became an appealing opportunity.
 
“I spent a lot of time on the phone after the ruling deciding what I would do,” said Delic, a native of Ottawa, Ontario. “One of the big things for my family and I was a good university. The most exciting part of college hockey is that it’s the best of both worlds. You get a good university degree mixed in with the best hockey you can play outside of professional.
 
“Being at a program that can blend the two for me with Miami being a great school and having an opportunity to restore their legacy to what it once was attracted me here. My first phone call with Coach Noreen, we talked about the run Miami had leading up to joining the NCHC. It would be so special to bring this team to a tournament appearance and eventually a national championship. I couldn’t be happier about where I am now.”
 
Delic, who was an assistant captain for the Sudbury Wolves last year and is the reigning NCHC Rookie of the Month, isn’t the only CHL product thriving in Oxford. Freshman forward Ethan Hay has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in eight games, freshman defenseman Ryder Thompson has three assists and a team-high 17 blocked shots, and sophomore goaltender Matteo Drobac has logged every second in net, while sporting a 2.61 goals against average, .911 save percentage and posting a 26-save shutout at RPI on Oct. 11. Drobac spent his freshman season playing Canadian college hockey after finishing his CHL career.
 
“When you look at the players we brought in (directly) from the CHL, there are similarities to each,” Noreen said. “All three (Delic, Hay, Thompson) were captains of their junior team. All three were all-academic team members. All three are extremely competitive guys. They have something to prove that they can succeed on the ice at the next level and it shows here.”
 
Elsewhere, the RedHawks freshmen have made impacts in different ways. Forward Ilia Morozov, the youngest player in college hockey (17 years old) and a projected NHL draft pick this summer, has nine points (4 goals, 5 assists) in eight games after playing for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, where Noreen coached prior to Miami, a year ago. Defensemen Shaun McEwen and Michael Phelan have suited up in every game and forward Justin Stupka has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) this season. Morozov and Stupka have each earned NCHC weekly awards already this season.
 
Beyond the freshmen, the Red and White have gotten impact play from the transfer portal, with former Noreen protégé in the USHL Ryan Smith transferring to Miami as a sophomore following a year at Quinnipiac. That has paid early dividends as Smith has a team-high six goals, the same as Alaska Anchorage transfer Maximilion Helgeson. Canisius transfer and junior forward Matteo Giampa is second on the team with 10 points. On the blue line, Michigan State transfer Vladislav Lukashevich has enjoyed his stint in Oxford as well, with a team-high seven assists. All told, the RedHawks’ top nine scorers and starting goaltender were not on the team last year, making this a whole new team from the one that struggled a season ago.
 
MATURING AND COMING TOGETHER FAST
 
One thing that has stood out to Miami’s core and to hockey fans watching this start take hold is how a team that is 75 percent new players has been able to gel so quickly. With nearly everyone on the team in unfamiliar territory, the experience of being in a new place with no prior relationships was by itself a unifying moment for several RedHawks.
 
“We had so many new players that you had to bond with everybody right away since you didn’t know anyone,” Smith said. “That helped us become a pretty good team in the summer. It started before we got to campus. We bonded over group chats and Zoom calls beforehand and that helped us pick things up quickly.”
 
Bucking tradition across hockey circles, no Miami player dons a C or A letter on their sweater so far this season. However, the RedHawks aren’t lacking in leadership on their roster, something that was instilled through the team’s regimen this summer.
 
In addition to the ice breaker that comes with a summer of captain’s practices, the RedHawks spent two days with a special forces unit in Oxford learning what it takes to be a leader and the different forms it can take.
 
“Anyone can step up and be a leader, whether it is a freshman or a fifth-year senior,” Smith said. “For me, I’m not as loud of a talker or vocal leader so much as a lead by example guy. Having an example to follow along helps everyone else see the standard and meet or exceed it.”
 
Since day one on campus for this group, the relationships blossomed through the shared purpose of developing on and off the ice. The healthy competition and seeing different approaches other players had created bonding opportunities to refine how they improve both individually and as a team.
 
“I started by connecting with the freshmen to build the foundation of everything to come,” senior forward Blake Mesenburg said. “It can be hard to build a relationship with 21 new guys, but guys picked things up fast. Everyone has gotten a chance to show leadership skills and set the tone for the team.”
 
Ultimately, the bond these 28 players have forged has been through the fires of competition from the start of summer skates. Each player has experienced success at previous levels of hockey and been leaders in their locker rooms as the wins rolled in. For Noreen, that competitive nature up and down the roster has driven noticeable camaraderie of these 28 players, which has positively impacted Miami far beyond the wins and losses of the young season.
 
“I love the way everyone interacts with each other,” Noreen said. “They see each other all the time, but every time they come together it is like they haven’t seen each other in forever, that’s the excitement they have. This has been a high tides raise all ships situation. The record has nothing to do with the culture and the atmosphere on the bench, in the locker room and in the community, and I would say that if we were 1-7 instead of 7-1. We are still far from where we want to get, but we are confident in the people we have here. We need to keep building that up and keep the culture high.”
 
A STIFF TEST AHEAD
 
Successful Octobers are nothing new to Miami, as even amidst last season’s struggles the team went unbeaten (2-0-2) in its first four games before winning only one more time in the final 32 games. While this team isn’t beholden to past year’s results, pulling off the Nov. 1 win over Arizona State was a triumph past a single game, as that win matched the RedHawks’ conference win total from the previous two seasons combined.
 
In a league that has crowned seven national champions since 2016, the RedHawks are aware of the difficult road ahead in their conference schedule. One such test is in store this weekend when Miami heads to Kalamazoo for a road series against defending national champion and Penrose Cup champion Western Michigan, its old rival from the CCHA. For the RedHawks, the Broncos can represent the path that is possible for the team as WMU struggled initially to compete in the NCHC after it formed and finished with just eight wins in 2015-16, the last year Miami finished above seventh in the NCHC standings.
 
“This is the biggest challenge we’ve had yet,” Noreen said. “It is allowed to have a high standard every day here. Our standard is high in practice and everywhere else. That level of consistency will push in the right direction. We’re excited for this, but we’re more excited for the day in front of us leading to everything.”
 
While not facing a single 2025 NCAA Tournament qualifier thus far this season, the Red and White have at least eight contests against postseason participants from last year in its final 26 regular-season games. For this group of freshmen, the spotlight that the quality competition the NCHC consistently provides is the reason they chose Miami for the next chapter of their careers.
 
“My whole hockey career, I’m not accustomed to losing. I hate losing,” Delic said. “A lot of the other guys have those same characteristics. We brought in a lot of guys that are winners and want to be winners. There’s no real mention of stuff from the past. We’re beyond turning the page and focused on showing up every day and competing as hard as we can to win some hockey games.”
 
There is a lot of hockey left in the 2025-26 season and much that is unknown about how this young Miami squad will respond to the adversity in store as the NCHC schedule stiffens up. If early showings are any indication, however, the road ahead will not deter the RedHawks from their rise back to national prominence.

Both of Miami's games this weekend at Western Michigan can be seen exclusively on NCHC.tv.