A month ago, the Miami RedHawks were reluctant spectators. Having lost their second-round CCHA playoff series on their own ice in Oxford in three games to Northern Michigan, the RedHawks watched the CCHA championship — and their NCAA tournament fate — from a disagreeable distance.

“I can tell you the mood wasn’t very good,” said head coach Enrico Blasi.

It wasn’t the first time that the RedHawks sat out the CCHA championships before going into NCAA play. At the end of the 2006-07 season, Miami finished third behind Notre Dame and Michigan, earned a first-round CCHA playoff bye and lost its second-round home series to Lake Superior State in two games.

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