The Miami RedHawks outshot the Windsor Lancers by a margin of 42 shots, 56-14, and the shots on goal pretty much summed up the game as the RedHawks won 4-1.
“It was a good test for us, just to get out there and play against somebody else other than in the CCHA,” said head coach Enrico Blasi.
The Lancers used two goalies in the contest and the momentum seemed to shift after senior Reese Kalleitner was taken out in favor of senior Jay Ewasiuk in the middle of the second period. Kalleitner stopped all 28 shots between the pipes before Ewasiuk came in and allowed all four RedHawk goals.
“Their goalie stood on his head for the first period-and-a-half and played a great game,” said RedHawk captain Andy Greene.
On the other side of the ice, freshman goaltender Jeff Zatkoff played all 60 minutes stopping 13-of-14 shots on goal. Zatkoff started his first college hockey game Sunday night.
“He only saw 12 shots, but three of them were really good and the one backdoor goal is going to be a goal on anybody,” Blasi said.
Along with Zatkoff, the RedHawks used six freshmen because of some injuries to key players like Nate Davis and Nino Musitelli.
The Lancers started the scoring at 12:06 in the first period when Kyle Trudell hit a one-timer off a pass from Jordie Preston to make the score 1-0. The lone power-play goal would be the only one Miami gave up all night.
Throughout the first period, Miami brought a physical attack, but could not get any goals past Kalleitner. The momentum would shift at 10:56 of the second period when Windsor coach Vern Stenlund switched goaltenders and the RedHawks scored right off the faceoff. Chris Michael won the face-off and the puck slide right to Marty Guerin’s stick to bang in the equalizing goal past Ewasiuk.
“That first goal that Marty Guerin scored would have been a goal on anybody and anytime you get 56 shots, some of them are bound to go in,” Blasi said.
The RedHawks would not look back as they would score three more unanswered goals off the senior goaltender. Just three minutes later on the power play, Greene shot a backhand past Ewasiuk to give the RedHawks the lead for good. Greene’s goal was unassisted as he skated alone while being held by the Windsor opposition.
As the game wore on the penalties seemed to hurt the Windsor offensive. The Lancers had 13 penalties during the game and two game misconducts that removed defenseman Chris Shaen and forward Matt Best from the action. On the other side of the ice, the RedHawks worked very well on special teams as they scored two goals on the power play and killed 12 out of 13 penalties.
“Usually in the last few years we’ll notice we have a real good power play and we take a lot of pride in it,” Greene said.
Two more goals in the third period put away the Lancers. At 7:13 in the third period, Geoff Smith banked in a rebound off a Matt Christie wrist shot to make the score 3-1. Towards the end of the third with just 33 seconds left in regulation, Christie added some fireworks of his own when he fired a slap shot past Ewasiuk on the power play to make the score 4-1 and close the book on the Lancers.
The RedHawks will begin their regular season at the Lefty McFadden Invitational as they face off against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux on Friday October 8 at the E.J. Nutter Center.
“This week in practice it will be good for us to work on special teams in preparation for North Dakota,” Blasi said.
As for the Windsor Lancers, they will play the Bowling Green Falcons on October 3 in another exhibition match with a CCHA foe.
