Miami University hockey started off its 2007-08 season with back-to-back wins in the Steve Cady Arena against the University of Vermont this weekend. The RedHawks held the Catamounts to only one goal in each of the series' two games, winning game one Friday 2-1, followed by a 4-1 win Saturday.
One downside to the successful weekend was an injury to assistant captain and team standout Nathan Davis during the first period of Friday's game. Davis suffered a separated shoulder, and it is unsure how long he will be out.
Even though the team lost its leading point scorer from last season, the RedHawks made sure they continued to play strong.
"It'd be nice to say that we didn't think about it, but anytime a guy goes down, especially Nate who's one of our key players, you kind of think about it and I thought the guys did a really god job of picking up the slack," senior captain Ryan Jones said. "We were down a guy on the forwards, so a couple guys were double shifting and like I said, he's a great player so he was missed, but the guys did a great job."
The first two periods of Friday's game were scoreless, despite a high number of penalties for both teams. Miami finally lit the lamp less than five minutes into the third period as junior forward Justin Mercier scored the game's first goal by redirecting a shot from junior defenseman Ray Eichenlaub past Vermont goaltender Joe Fallon.
"We were pretty comfortable going into the third period," junior goaltender Jeff Zatkoff said. "You know, it's where you want to be, we felt we were outplaying them and we were at home. It came down to 20 minutes in our own rink and we knew if we worked hard we would get bounces eventually, and that's what happened."
Jones added Miami's second goal just seven minutes later, after knocking in the puck off a Kevin Roeder shot.
"I think we just kept working that was the main thing," Jones said. "We knew that the goals would come, we got in front of Fallon-he's a great goalie-and we just had to get the puck down low and keep working and we tipped a couple pucks past him. We know that those are the kind of goals we're going to score against him."
Vermont scored its only goal of the game after pulling the goalie with just under three minutes trying to get back in the game.
"(The puck) started out in front and it was really just kind of a scrum-I lost track of it and it went up in the air and back over, and the guy behind the net ended up getting it and banked it off my skate and it went in by a couple inches," Zatkoff said. "After it went over I didn't know where it was; I was just trying to take away the bottom. It was just a cluster and they ended up sneaking one in."
The RedHawks were able to hold off the Catamounts for the final 2:30 minutes of the game to capture the win. The final score was 2-1, but could have been a lot different if not for the great play of Fallon, according to Vermont Head Coach Kevin Sneddon.
"I thought Joe Fallon for us was the difference really; we could have been down a couple that first period, I thought he did a great job for us," Sneddon said. "I thought he was our best player tonight."
Miami used the momentum from Friday to get an early start on Saturday's game. Senior Nino Musitelli was able to give the 'Hawks a first period lead less than 10 minutes into the game, and Miami never looked back.
"I thought we came out strong," Miami Head Coach Enrico Blasi said. "Especially since this is the first time that both teams have been able to play back to back. I thought we really fed off our crowd and played with a lot of passion. We executed early and so any time you're able to execute early on a team that's really good defensively, it really puts you in the driver seat."
Miami's second goal came shorthanded in the first period, as sophomore forward Gary Steffes scored unassisted off an intercepted pass, giving the RedHawks a 2-0 lead.
Vermont answered back early in the second period to close the Miami lead to one, but the 'Hawks would regain a two-goal advantage with a five-on-three power play goal by junior Alec Martinez.
Tommy Wingels notched his first collegiate goal with less than two minutes remaining in the second period, to give Miami its fourth goal.
Friday night the RedHawks will travel to Ohio State University for their first CCHA matchup of the 2007-08 season. Friday's game will be in Columbus, with Miami returning to Oxford for a Sunday night game against the Buckeyes starting at 6:05 p.m.
"We just got to continue to do what we're doing, improve on every aspect of our game and just be ready for a war, because usually that's what it is with Ohio State," Blasi said.
