It was a back-and-forth affair in the championship of the Olentangy Orange Pioneer Classic on Sunday, but Miami was able to sneak past Perrysburg to take home the big prize. 

Perrysburg’s Carter Schaetzke got the scoring started midway through the first period. Five minutes later, Perrysburg captain Nick Callen took advantage of an extended five-on-three. Perrysburg went back to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.

Miami scored two quick goals to start the second period when Evan Ralph and Will Press scored before the two minute mark. 

Momentum continued to swing Miami’s way when Perrysburg’s Seth Haney took a slashing penalty. After the call was made, Haney earned an unsportsmanlike penalty when he shot the puck into Miami’s zone after the whistle. 

He was tossed from the game when he slammed his stick in the penalty box. Miami’s Triston Hamilton scored on the subsequent power play to give Miami the 3-2 lead.

Triston Hamilton’s second goal of the afternoon came in buzzer-beater fashion to put the Redhawks up by two goals at the end of the second. 

Nick Callen scored his second goal of the evening on a breakaway 3:10 into the third to cut the lead to one. 

Miami got its two goal lead back with 10:17 to go after Bryant Morton scored a breakaway goal of his own, but Perrysburg responded once again when a tipped shot popped back out in front and Noah Church put it behind Miami netminder Connor Hudak.

Hamilton finished off the hat trick, scoring his third goal to put the nail in the coffin, and Miami went on to win by a final score of 6-4.

“The first period we were flat. We kept going in the box,” said senior forward Will Press after the game. “In the second period, our attitude on the bench flipped. (Evan Ralph) got a big one for us, and it took off from there.” 

Miami moves on to 29-4-2 on the season with big matchups against Dayton and Xavier coming up on the 24th and 25th, respectively.

Click on this link for the full results of the tournament