Miami University
Lake Superior State
RedHawks Bring Winning Ways Home, Drown Lakers, 6-1
1/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Jan. 18, 2008
OXFORD - Miami saw its winning streak grow to four games Friday night, as the RedHawks knocked off Lake Superior State by a 6-1 score. Senior goaltender Charlie Effinger, starting just his fifth game of the season, stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced, improving his record on the year to 5-0. Effinger earned first-star honors for his performance.
By scoring once and assisting on another goal, freshman forward Carter Camper extended his point streak to nine games. Camper is now tied for second place in the nation with Boston College's Joe Whitney for points scored by a rookie.
Sophomore Jarod Palmer continued his terrific start to 2008 when he opened the night's scoring five minutes in to the first period. For Palmer, the goal was his fifth point (1 G, 4 A) since the calendar turned over.
Roughly five minutes later, newcomer Andy Miele made his presence known, chipping a puck past Lakers netminder Pat Inglis, his first goal as a RedHawk in his first career collegiate game.
Junior Justin Mercier extended the Miami lead to 3-0 with a power play tally late in the opening stanza. The goal was unexpected to say the least, as senior defenseman Mitch Ganzak dumped the puck from his own blue line down the ice, and tipped off of Mercier just before reaching Inglis, beating him on his stick-side. Effinger made an appearance on the score sheet, adding an assist on the goal.
Just 4:10 into the second period, senior captain Ryan Jones wrapped a puck around the Lakers cage and netted his third goal in as many games, putting Miami up by a 4-0 margin. The score was Jones' 20th of the season, tying him briefly with Michigan's Kevin Porter for the most goals in the nation. Later in the evening, Porter was credited with his 21st of the year.
With eight minutes remaining in the second period, Carter Camper pushed the MU lead to five goals after being awarded a penalty shot for being hauled down while he was skating into the LSSU zone on a breakaway. The penalty shot attempt was the first for Miami since January 6, 2006, when Marty Guerin failed to score with his chance.
Capping the Miami offensive outpouring with the team's sixth goal of the evening was junior defenseman, Kevin Roeder. For Roeder, the goal was his first of the season, and third of his career.
With just 48 seconds remaining in the game, while on a 5-on-3 power play, Lake Superior's Josh Sim broke Effinger's shutout. The score was only Sim's second of the season.
The RedHawks and Lakers will do battle once again Saturday night, with a puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Fans are reminded that Saturday night is autograph night, and a limited number of tickets are still available for this game.
NOTES:
Friday night was a milestone night for junior forward Justin Mercier, as he skated in his 100th game as a RedHawk. He is the third Miami player to reach that plateau this season, with senior Nino Musitelli and junior Alec Martinez also playing in their 100th game during the 2007-08 campaign.
Freshman Carter Camper saw his point streak reach nine games Friday night, scoring on a penalty shot and assisting on Jarod Palmer's first period goal. Camper has scored six goals and added eight assists for 14 points over that span.
After adding four more penalty minutes to his season total, senior captain Ryan Jones needs just 17 more PIMs to reach 300 for his career.
With Justin Mercier scoring his eighth power play goal of the season, Miami has netted a man-advantage score in each of its last six games. Mercier is now tied with two others for the third most power play tallies in the nation.
Of the 14 power play goals Miami has given up this season, four have come while the team was down two men.
QUOTES:
COACH RICO BLASI "I thought out second period was strong. Effy (Charlie Effinger) played well in net. He stopped some good opportunities by Lake State in the second period."
(On playing at home for the first time in several weeks) "It's been a long time. It was nice to be home for four days of practice. To be able to sleep in your own bed on Thursday night and Friday night is a big plus."
(On getting ahead early) "Any time you can play with the lead means that you don't have to come out of your game plan, and you can execute your systems. If you're down, sometimes you tend to press."
Carter Camper (On the penalty shot) "You have an idea what you're going to do. If the goalie stays in the net, you're going to shoot it. And when he came out like he did, I was able to get it around him. I tried to get him to bite on a shot, and went he went down a little bit, I had to move it to my back hand. He put his pad down, so I had to get the puck up. The crowd was going crazy. It was pretty neat."
ANDY MIELE (About the transition from juniors to college hockey) "It's definitely a little bit faster, and everyone's strong, playing against these older guys. It's a step up, that's for sure. It's hard being the new guy, but the guys have taken me in like I've been here all year."
(About his first goal) "It was a pretty good way to start off my college career."
GAME'S THREE STARS: No. 3 - Ryan Jones No. 2 - Carter Camper No. 1 - Charlie Effinger
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