It might have been an exhibition hockey game, but that didn't stop Miami University from burying the visiting University of Windsor Lancers in an 8-2 route.
It was all Miami all evening, and the scoring started early. The RedHawks nabbed a pair of goals at 13:58 and 13:39 from sophomore forward Sean Kuraly and junior forward Jimmy Mullin, respectively. Junior forward and captain Austin Czarnik added a tally of his own at 17:12 of the second period, but it wasn't until the third period that Miami really poured it on.
Five third period goals accentuated the routing of the Lancers, and it was sophomore forward Alex Gacek that started the surge at 3:29 of the frame. Mullin joined in the fun with a couple of strikes himself - a nice start to the season after a so-so campaign last year. Mullin said he relishes the fact that he and his class are now the obvious leaders of the team, helping to bring up the younger players and inexperienced freshman.
"It's fun for us to be juniors and the older guys on the team," Mullin said. "But the juniors played a hell of a game ... everyone from the defense to the offensive freshmen played well and it can only get better from here, so we're excited to see what they can bring."
Indeed, freshman forward Justin Greenberg added two goals late in third period to lead his class on the night. Anthony Louis, Johnny Wingels, and Trevor Hamilton all added an assist each. Head coach Enrico Blasi said he was generally pleased with the results from Miami's new acquisitions.
"I thought it was important for them to have good games and they did," Blasi said. "They're good players, obviously, and we recruited them for a reason. I thought they handled themselves very well ... now we'll get better everyday and we'll be playing better hockey as the weeks go on."
Sophomore goaltenders Jay Williams and Ryan McKay (LINK 12) split time almost evenly for the RedHawks. The former had 10 saves in a perfect performance, and the latter held his own with eight stops despite allowing two goals on a late-surge by the Lancers.
Miami opens its regular season next week at The Ohio State University Friday, Oct. 11. The teams will then travel back to Oxford for a Saturday evening game. Both puck drops are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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