Light the Lantern!!!

After a long trip to Hamilton, NY early Thursday morning, the RedHawks have already made the trip worthwhile. Reilly Smith came off of his (now-apparent) 2 game suspension to start the year and put on a snipe show en route to a hat trick – the second of his career. Smith also had an assist on Austin Czarnik’s 2nd period goal, finished the night with 4 points, a +1 rating and scored on 3 of his 4 shots on the night.

A couple other notes to pass along from the evening:

–Austin Czarnik scored his first collegiate goal, assisted by Smith and Alden Hirschfeld.  A big thank you goes out from the Redskin Warriors to the Michigan State Spartans for allowing Czarnik to de-committ from MSU and come to Miami this season.
–Miami continued its slow start on the shot chart tonight. Miami’s had 20 and 26 shots in two games against Bemidji State and just 15 shots tonight.  Sure, that’s a great shot percentage on the evening, scoring on over 25% of the shots taken, but Rico Blasi’s offense is based on creating chances and hammering the opposing goalie with pucks.  We will have to continue to monitor the shot count each night.  Let’s not take the wrong impression, however, as the ‘Hawks came out on top in the one column that matters most.

Other “inside the box score” notes:
–Miami was 2 for 4 on the power play (Smith’s first and Czarnik’s goals), and 7 for 9 on the Penalty Kill.
–22 penalty minutes for the RedHawks – sounds about right for the physicality of the Miami attack.
–Cody Reichard got the win in net for the RedHawks, making 20 out of 23 saves on the night. Expect to see Connor Knapp in net Saturday night as is the usual from Coach Blasi.

Miami’s recap can be found here.
More stories to come.

Let’s break out the BROOMS tomorrow!