OXFORD — Anthony Noreen remembers what it felt like two years ago.
There were new coaches, new players and countless moving parts as Miami University hockey attempted to rebuild a program that had once been among college hockey’s most recognizable.
Last year brought another extreme — 21 newcomers and no guarantee all those new pieces would fit.
Now, as Miami prepares to open the 2026-27 season Friday at Northern Michigan, Noreen looks around the locker room and sees something he has rarely had during his coaching career.
Continuity.
Sixteen players return from a team that went 18-16-2 last season — Miami’s first winning campaign since 2014-15. Nine of the RedHawks’ top 12 scorers are back. Their starting goaltender returns. So does their leading goal scorer and a first-round NHL draft pick.
The RedHawks were picked fifth in the 10-team NCHC preseason media poll, their highest projected finish since the 2017-18 preseason.
And for the first time during Noreen’s tenure, Miami isn’t trying to introduce itself.
“I’ve never had 16 returners on a team I’ve ever coached before,” Noreen said. “Those guys know what’s expected here.”
That makes Year 3 different.
The rebuilding phase hasn’t necessarily ended. But Miami believes the foundation has finally been poured.
Miami’s transformation during Noreen’s second season was difficult to miss.
The RedHawks won 15 more games in 2025-26 than they had the previous season, finishing 18-16-2 overall and 9-13-2 in NCHC play.
They won the Belpot Trophy at the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland, beating RIT 4-0 before knocking off then-No. 20 Union 3-2 in the championship game. It was Miami’s first trophy since 2015 and first in-season tournament championship involving multiple opponents since the 2011 Denver Cup Classic.
Miami went 9-1 in nonconference play, returned to the national rankings and recorded four victories against top-20 opponents.
“Culturally, you said it, that was the key last year,” Noreen said. “When you bring in that many new guys, what it’s going to look like when the puck dropped … we didn’t know.
“We just knew it was going to look different. It was going to feel different.”
It did.
Even when the RedHawks lost, Noreen rarely questioned their effort or commitment. The next step is converting those traits into greater consistency.
“No one came here to be average and no one came here to just be good,” Noreen said. “I think our guys have very clear and very high aspirations.”
Miami’s players apparently didn’t wait until August to begin pursuing them.
Noreen saw returning players around the program throughout the offseason — working youth camps, taking summer classes, training and spending time together.
When preseason camp arrived, the coaching staff noticed another difference.
Players were correcting players.
Drills didn’t have to be stopped as frequently to reinforce details. Expectations involving practice habits, communication and preparation were already understood.
“We feel like it’s been player-led so far,” Noreen said. “They’ve done a really good job of just accomplishing whatever we’ve put in front of them.”
Junior goaltender Matteo Drobac noticed it, too.
Drobac arrived at Miami last year as one of those newcomers. Twelve months later, he doesn’t have to learn the people playing in front of him.
“I think just for team chemistry, on the ice, off the ice, it’s really good to have a lot of our tight group still around,” Drobac said. “I think it’s going to be really good for us moving forward.”
Noreen has attempted to keep the preseason simple.
Instead of talking constantly about Northern Michigan or the NCHC schedule ahead, Miami’s coaches gave the players what Noreen called a daily “mission.”
Complete the work in front of them.
Then move on.
“Practice execution leads to game reality,” Noreen said. “It’s our job to put them in every single situation they’re possibly going to see so that when the puck drops on Friday night, they get to just go out and play.
“I think when you walk in that room, you’ve got a team.”
Drobac gives Miami stability where it matters most
If Miami needed evidence last season that its rebuild was moving forward, it could find plenty of it at goaltender.
Drobac became one of the NCHC’s most dependable goalies during his first season with the RedHawks.
Drobac started 35 of Miami’s 36 games, going 17-16-2 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. He recorded three shutouts and was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week four times. His 982 saves were the second-most in a season in Miami history.
Drobac’s performance earned him third-team All-NCHC honors, making him Miami’s first All-NCHC selection since 2020-21.
Then came summer.
Drobac participated in the Dallas Stars’ development camp and returned to Oxford with another season of Division I experience behind him.
His offseason priority wasn’t complicated.
Take care of his body.
“You want to make sure you’re feeling 100% right off the bat,” Drobac said. “As the season goes, usually you can’t really go up anymore.”
There should also be more familiarity around him.
Miami returns Vladislav Lukashevich, who produced a team-high 19 assists last season, and a large portion of the group Drobac played behind throughout 2025-26.
That familiarity matters for a position built on communication and anticipation.
But Drobac isn’t approaching his job as if it belongs to him automatically.
Miami has three goaltenders competing for playing time.
“Three good goalies, good buddies,” Drobac said. “Obviously three guys want to start, only one can. Whoever gets the start, just be ready to back that guy up.”
Competition hasn’t softened practices.
It’s been the exact opposite.
Drobac described Noreen’s practices as perhaps the most demanding he has experienced.
“I would say it’s probably the hardest I’ve practiced my entire life,” Drobac said. “Noreen runs a tight ship out there, and it’s good for us.”
That intensity is intentional.
Miami’s next step will likely depend on whether it can reproduce its best stretches from last season more consistently, particularly once NCHC play begins.
Drobac should give the RedHawks a chance.
And there is more returning production in front of him than a year ago.
Kocha Delic led Miami with 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists last season. Matteo Giampa had 24 points despite playing only 29 games, while David Deputy scored a team-high 15 goals and finished with 22 points.
Deputy became Miami’s first player to score 15 goals in a season since Gordie Green in 2017-18 and earned NCHC All-Rookie honors.
Miami returns nine of its top 12 scorers.
Giampa is one of only two seniors on the 27-player roster, but his 89 career points between Miami and Canisius rank seventh nationally among returning players, according to College Hockey News statistics cited by Miami.
The combination gives the RedHawks something they largely lacked when Noreen arrived — proven college production.
“We wanted to make sure that we’re still improving from where we even were last year,” he said. “I think this program is on a really upward trend right now.
“With all the super-skilled guys that are coming in and everybody getting a year older, everybody’s getting better.”
