Oct. 8, 2004
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio -- Everything fell into place at the Lefty McFadden Invitational last night for the Miami hockey team as it rolled to a 5-1 season-opening victory over the Boston University Terriers. Five different RedHawks scored multiple points in the affair as sophomore Marty Guerin (Lansing, Mich.) led the squad with two goals.
Guerin silenced any worries about scoring for the Red and White early on in the first period when he and classmate Matt Christie (Ajax, Ontario) worked together to net a shorthanded goal at 5:25. Freshman defenseman Mitch Ganzak (Redford, Mich.) broke up BU's power play and chipped the puck out of the zone to Christie who worked a give-and-go with Guerin to give Miami the 1-0 lead.
The RedHawks upped that lead to 2-0 a little over 10 minutes later at 15:37 when junior captain Andy Greene (Trenton, Mich.) scored a power-play goal. Greene scored right off the faceoff when junior Chris Michael (Glenview, Ill.) won the draw to Christie who dropped the puck back to Greene at the point for the slapshot.
Midway through the second period after he was dropped by a hit in BU's zone, Guerin got up off the ice and retaliated in the best fashion by launching a pin-point shot into the corner of the goal for his second marker of the contest. Christie recovered a BU turnover in the neutral zone and found his fallen teammate at the blueline with a pass that set Miami up with a 3-0 lead at 12:43 in the second period.
Senior Todd Grant (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored Miami's second power-play goal of the contest at 17:17 in the second stanza to make it a 4-0 game. Greene's shot from the right wing was saved by BU netminder Stephan Siwiec, but the rebound went right to Grant on the opposite post for the easy goal.
The Red and White added one more goal to its tally at 9:08 in the final period when sophomore Geoff Smith (Toronto, Ontario) scored in similar fashion to Grant's goal on the power play. This time, Grant missed wide with a shot from the point but the puck ricocheted straight back off the boards to Smith on the post for another easy Miami goal.
All the while on the other end of the rink, sophomore goalie Brandon Crawford-West (San Diego, Calif.) was making his case for a season-opening shutout. Crawford-West made 21 saves in the first two periods and made four more in the third period before the Terriers finally got the better of him. In the Miami zone, center Peter MacArthur won a faceoff which eventually went back to Bryan Miller at the blueline for a shot through traffic. Miller's shot found the top corner of the net to bring the game to its final tally at 12:01, 5-1.
Miami finished the contest 3-for-10 on the power play while its PK unit held the Terriers to zero goals on eight chances.
Even though the Lefty McFadden Invitational is not adhering to "tournament format" this year, the RedHawks and Northeastern faceoff on Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. as the two unbeaten teams.
