Oct. 26, 2007
Box Score
OXFORD - Senior Captain Ryan Jones netted a pair of goals and added an assist to put him over the 100 point plateau for his career at Miami, and junior forward Justin Mercier chimed in with two goals as well Friday night to lead the RedHawks to a 7-2 victory over Nebraska-Omaha, extending their winning streak to five games.
In his first action of the season, senior goaltender Charlie Effinger played very solid between the pipes, turning away 33 of 35 shots faced.
After a relatively slow start to the hockey game, junior Justin Mercier and the RedHawks drew first blood, by scoring on a shorthanded breakaway at the 18:23 mark of the first period.
The Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha evened the affair with a goal of their own scored by senior Mick Lawrence on the power play, 1:27 into the second period.
Mercier found the back of the net for a second time, nearly the same way he did on his first goal. After blocking a shot in the defensive zone, Mercier went in alone on UNO goaltender Jeremie Dupont and scored.
Jones reached his personal milestone by scoring the team's third goal of the evening, tipping a shot from freshman Pat Cannone into the back of the net. Jones is the 40th player in Miami history to score 100 points in his career. He said of his accomplishment, "It's a huge honor, just thinking about the guys that are in that club. I just worked hard and knew the bounces would come eventually, and it just happened to come today."
Moments later, Jones put his name on the score sheet again, scoring off of a one-time feed from freshman Vincent LoVerde.
Nebraska-Omaha forward Dan Charleston potted a goal with 4:31 left in the second period to make the score 4-2.
While the RedHawks were short a man, freshman Carter Camper picked up a pass from Jones at center ice, skated uncontested toward the UNO goalkeeper and scored his first career collegiate goal with 4:43 to go in the third.
Senior defenseman Charley Fetzer added a power play goal late in the third. His goal was assisted by sophomore Jarod Palmer and freshman Justin Vaive. For Vaive, the assist marked his first career collegiate point.
Capping the scoring was junior forward Brian Kaufman, whose goal with 1:13 left in the game put the final touch on a 7-2 score.
The RedHawks finish their home series with Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night, and then travel to Marquette, Michigan to face off against the Wildcats of Northern Michigan on November 2-3.
NOTES:
After their 7-2 victory over Nebraska-Omaha, Miami currently has the longest winning streak in the nation at five games.
With his two tallies, Mercier now has a three-game goal streak and has scored six times in five games.
GAME'S THREE STARS: No. 3 - Justin Mercier No. 2 - Charlie Effinger No. 1 - Ryan Jones
ATTENDANCE: 3221
