Miami University
Vermont
Miami Ice Hockey Completes Sweep of Vermont
10/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Oct. 13, 2007
OXFORD - Miami University's ice hockey team got single goals from four different players and topped the University of Vermont, 4-1, Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena.
The victory by Coach Enrico Blasi's fourth-ranked team improved its record to 2-0 before a sellout crowd of 3,642.
Four different players tallied goals for Miami as it ran its record to 18-0-1 over the last two seasons when scoring four or more goals.
Senior center Nino Musitelli put the RedHawks ahead, 1-0, at 9:25 of the first period, and sophomore right winger Gary Steffes extended that lead to 2-0 just seven minutes later.
Vermont's Jonathan Higgins narrowed the margin to 2-1 with a goal at 6:46 of the second stanza, but Miami struck back with two goals of its own later in the period. Junior defenseman Alec Martinez tallied his first goal of the season at the 13:30 mark and freshman right winger Tommy Wingels scored his first collegiate goal at 18:31.
For the second straight night, Miami goaltender Jeff Zatkoff allowed Vermont only one goal, deflecting 24 shots on goal.
Blasi praised his RedHawks' weekend performance, saying "We played six strong periods this weekend. Our young guys got their feet wet and contributed on a lot of plays. All in all, it was a great effort."
"We're a deep team. We're going to stress `team' all year and that's what you saw this weekend. If we're going to go all the way, we're going to go together."
Miami travels to play at Ohio State next Friday night, then returns to Oxford on Sunday to host the Buckeyes. With both No. 3 Michigan State and No. 2 Boston College losing a game this weekend, the RedHawks may move higher in the national polls come next week.
POST-GAME NOTES:
Miami's 4-1 victory on Saturday completed its series sweep of the 20th-ranked Vermont Catamounts. Prior to this weekend, the Catamounts had won the previous six games in the series between the two schools.
Miami now has an all-time record of 17-5-1 (.761) at Steve Cady Arena. The RedHawks are 9-1-1 (.864) in their last 11 games at home.
The three stars of Saturday night's game were: #3) Miami's Alec Martinez; #2) Miami's Jeff Zatkoff; #1) Miami's Gary Steffes
