By: Craig Mertz (Examiner.com) -

A late second-period goal by Sergio Somma goal and 40 saves by Cal Heeter led streaking Ohio State to a 1-0 victory over No. 7 Miami (Ohio) in CCHA play on Friday in Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes (11-8-1, 6-6-1-1) have win five straight while the RedHawks dropped to 11-7-3, 8-5-2-1.

Miami had connected on 30 percent of their power plays in the previous 10 games but could not contain on a 57-second two-man advantage midway through the third and had just one shot.

Miami had six power plays for the game and pulled their goalie in the last minute to no avail.

Ohio State had two quality odd-man rushes in the first 7 minutes of the third but Sergio Somma fired high on the first and Alex Szczechura being denied by Cody Reichard on the second.

Meanwhile, Heeter kept the Buckeyes up and at one point defended the net without a stick for a moment before his teammates cleared the zone.

The Buckeyes took a 1-0 lead into the third period – barely.

Sergio Somma scored on the power play with just 9 seconds left in the middle stanza to provide the slim margin in the taut game.

Goalie Cody Reichard couldn’t be blamed. He made a point-blank save on John Albert but had no time to corral the rebound. Somma swooped in front the right side and emphatically delivered his team-best 12thgoal on the Buckeyes’ 13thshot.

Cal Heeter was even better in the OSU net. He made 24 saves through two periods and helped thwart four RedHawks’ power plays. He had made five stops on two Miami man-advantage situations in the first as the RedHawks had a 13-5 lead in shots.

It wasn’t that Heeter made spectacular saves as much as he had flawless positioning through 40 minutes. That was important because the talented RedHawks, fourth in the nation in scoring (3.8 average), moved the puck so well and liked to clog the space in front of Heeter.

Despite the disparity in records, the game was an example of the intense rivalry that unfortunately has been curtailed because of changes in the CCHA schedule necessitated by Nebraska-Omaha jumping to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Buckeyes and RedHawks were in the same cluster and used to play at least four times a season in two home-and-home series. Saturday’s game at 7 p.m. will the last of the regular season.

It also marks the first time since Dec. 2002 that Miami will have played two consecutive nights in Columbus.

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