>A racuous crowd of 3,515 at the Goggin Ice Center saw one heck of a season opener on Friday night, as Miami defeated the visiting St. Cloud State Huskies 3-2. Oh, and they needed overtime to do it. More on that in a minute.

Both teams were slow to get going on this night. The neutral zone play of either team wasn’t particularly good, the RedHawks had trouble skating the puck into the zone (and keeping it there), but there were a few good scoring chances for each side peppered about the Cady Arena ice early on. Miami netminder Cody Reichard was great in the first period, making a spectacular save on a breakaway and taking a hard shot off of the mask as well. St. Cloud had quite a few rushes that Reichard had to fend off and his play kept his team in the game. The Huskies though, drew first blood at 17:42 of the first when defenseman Oliver Lauridsen, a 6’6, 228lb sophomore from Denmark, found the back of the net on a slapshot from the left point. Good traffic in front of Reichard never gave him a chance to see it and the visitors took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room.

The second period, however, was a study in contrast. It became an end to end game and the physicality picked up as well. Both teams were finishing checks and making big plays and, as was the case all night, there was a flurry of activity around each team’s goalcrease. That activity paid off for the RedHawks, when freshman Curtis McKenzie knocked home an Andy Miele pass off of a rebound just 1:36 in to the second frame, to tie the game at one. It was Miami’s first tally of the season and “C-Mac’s” first of his Miami career. Both schools were very good on the penalty kill tonight. Miami killed off 5 of 5, but it was the one that St. Cloud couldn’t kill that came back to haunt them. Exactly seven minutes after Miami lit the lamp, they did it again. Carter Camper made a nice play with the puck and found a waiting Pat Cannone, for a one-timer past the blocker side of St. Cloud goaltender Dan Dunn. That goal was as pretty as they get, folks. Camper and Chris Wideman drew assists and the RedHawks had in their posession, a 2-1 lead. St. Cloud finished 4 of 5 on the kill tonight and Cannone’s power-play goal was the only one on the man advantage for the home team.

The Red & White would hold that lead for 18 minutes in the third period. The game would once again become tied when Miami had issues clearing the zone…again. With Huskies on the doorstep, Reichard did all he could to stop the trickling puck from going past him, but it did just that…trickled past him, and the game was tied late in regulation. Junior Brian Volpei was credited with the goal.

Miami was clearly the better team in the overtime period, which only lasted 1:52. Carter Camper was the hero of the night, coralling a Tommy Wingels rebound, taking it behind the net and putting it over Dunn’s shoulder to give the good guys the win.

Other notes/observations:

– The McKenzie-Miele-Palmer line was very good tonight. Jarod Palmer is so good with the puck, (as is Miele most of the time) and really provided some nice chances for McKenzie to bury. These guys are able to create a lot of offensive chances, as was evident on McKenzie’s goal early in the second period.

– Lots of shuffling around tonight on the RedHawks bench. Obviously Rico is still trying to find chemistry in his lines and it didn’t take him very long to start doing it. The defensive pairing of Tomassoni/Hartman was split almost half way through the first period. Hartman moved up to play with LoVerde (a great pair, in this blogger’s opinion) and Steve Spinell dropped down to play with Tomassoni. The Schilling/Wideman pairing was untouched. The mixing and matching was more so on the forward lines. Justin Vaive started with Gary Steffes and Brandon Smith, but eventually moved up to play with Camper and Wingels. Steffes eventually played with Reilly Smith and Pat Cannone and Brandon Smith with Miele and Palmer. Whew. Confused yet? Good, me too.

– The potential on the defense is astronomical. Cameron Schilling appears to have filled out a bit and Spinell and Hartman are both very physical players. Tomassoni played very well tonight, too. Hartman is a gem though. He handles the puck very well, posesses a great shot, takes good angles, and is suprisingly quick for his size. One can only imagine the player he’ll be in three more years.

– I long for the day when Justin Vaive will use his size to his advantage. He needs to fill out more and plant himself in front of the net. He did so, sparingly tonight and had a really good scoring chance result from it.

– Hartman and Wingels were the best players on the ice. Gary Steffes was very good too, as always, showing great hustle.

– I’m not one to normally judge officials, but the interference call on Vincent LoVerde in the second was bogus. LoVerde’s feet became tangled up with a St. Cloud player’s and both men fell to the ice, trying to get posession of the puck. How that merits an interference call is beyond me.

– St. Cloud is a very quick team, with a solid one-two goaltending tandem. Wouldn’t surprise me to see freshman Mike Lee get the nod on Saturday night. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Connor Knapp, for that matter, either.

– Dane Hetland, Will Weber, Devin Mantha, Steve Mason, and Garrett Kennedy were the Miami scratches tonight.

– Game two of the weekend series begins at 7:05 on Saturday night.

>Is it just me, or was that the longest offseason in recorded history? After a bittersweet finish to the 2008-2009 season, Enrico Blasi returns an energetic, battle tested team with big game experience to the ice, with three tough series’ to open the season. New Hampshire and a “not to be taken lightly” Michigan State team loom on the horizon for the Miami hockey squad, but the Hawks’ focus rests on the task at hand this weekend…the St. Cloud State Huskies.

>**Note**

>- The “RedHawks In the Pros” section on the left side of the page is updated to the best of my ability. Still trying to track down a few guys. Brian Kaufman is one of them, as is Taylor Hustead. He’s (Kaufman) not listed on the Houston Aeros roster, so if you know his whereabouts, please drop me a line! Same for Hustead.

– Miami Alum Dan Boyle was selected to be an alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks this season.

– Goaltender Charlie Effinger has joined the Allen Americans of the CHL. That makes three former RedHawks (Nino Musitelli and Bill Loupee are the others) to be a part of the expansion organization.

– Former RedHawks blueliner Alec Martinez will make his NHL debut on Saturday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.

– I sometimes post things on the Twitter account that don’t make the blog. Follow the hockey page at twitter.com/muhockeyblog, or my personal account @alexmmcdaniel.

– I won’t be able to attend the Miami exhibition on Saturday, against Windsor. I’ll be in Columbus for the Blue Jackets opening night game. If you’d like to send in an account of the exhibition, please e-mail me.

– Realized I left off Joe Cook’s name from the “All-Time Defenseman” voting. Pretty big name. E-mail me your case for him to make the team, if you so desire.

>6. Alaska Nanooks
2008-2009 Record: 17-16-6 (4th overall)

5. Ohio State Buckeyes
2008-2009 Record: 23-15-4 (5th overall)

4. Northern Michigan Wildcats
2008-2009 Record: 19-17-5 (6th overall)

3. Michigan Wolverines
2008-2009 Record: 29-12-0 (2nd overall)

2. Miami RedHawks
2008-2009 Record: 23-13-5 (3rd overall)

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2008-2009 Record: 31-6-3 (1st overall)

>It’s finally here.

With the RedHawks kicking off the 2009-2010 season tomorrow night against Windsor (albeit an exhibition), here are a few things to keep an eye on for the upcoming campaign. Feel free to add more of your thoughts in the comments section.

Goaltending
Given the way that Coach Blasi likes to divvy up the the goaltending duties, will Miami have a solidified number one ‘tender this season? In somewhat of a surprise move last season, Blasi gave the reigns to Cody Reichard for the NCAA tournament. It paid off. Will we see more of Reichard this season? Is confidence an issue perhaps, even though he now has that “big game expierience”? Will Connor Knapp’s recent knee injury (although not serious) stunt his development or limit his time in net? As we all know, Knapp has impressive mobility for his size and a wicked glove hand. Competition breeds excellence. Who will step up?

Defense
Chris Wideman’s work last season was very impressive, as he led the ‘Hawks in assists with 26. Stepping in to quarterback a Division I powerplay as a freshman is undoubetly no easy task, but he proved worthy to the task. To what extent can the RedHawks continue this success with a man advantage? How will the newcomers to the blueline transition their games to the college level? There are big shoes to fill with the loss of Kevin Roeder, but there is some great talent coming in. Like the situation in net, who will step up and take that role? Another player to watch is Will Weber. As a freshman last season, Weber posessed a large amount of raw talent. How will his game improve? Miami also has a solid group of sophomore defenseman. Guys like Schilling, Tomassoni join Weber on that corps. Their development is something to keep an eye on.

Offense
Two words. Carter Camper. Okay, maybe two more. Pat Cannone. Oh…and Andy Miele. Well, we’re up to six now, but the core of the offense is hinged on these three guys. Sans Justin Mercier this season, can Miami fans expect to see a jump in performance from these top three scorers? Dangerous on the power play and receiving some early Hobey Baker attention, Camper will look to improve on his team best twenty goal season from a year ago, as he inches his way into the 100-point club. Cannone and Miele are big point producers too, finishing behind Camper for second and third in total points, respectively. Who will be the next offensive standout from a talented group of freshmen?

Leadership
No doubt new captain Tommy Wingels has learned from the best. While not having crossed paths with former captain Andy Greene, there was one man who did- Ryan Jones. We all know that Greene was a great leader and posessed traits that molded Ryan Jones into a great captain, which poses the question- how will Wingels lead the team who holds the preseason number one ranking in the country? There is a lot of pressure that comes with the letter “C” sewn on the sweater; how does he mold himself into model captain? How will other guys like Vaive, Steffes, and LoVerde mentor the newcomers? There are a lot of watchful eyes on the RedHawks this season. How does the team, as a whole, deal with the pressure of being a national contender and making a trip to Detroit in April?

Hardware
Is this the year Miami finally captures a Mason Cup? A National Championship?

Scheduling
How does Miami handle a tough schedule early on in the season? St. Cloud, New Hampshire, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, and Michigan right out of the gun provides an intriguing challenge. Will the dreaded post holiday swoon be avoided this season?

>Folks, we’re three weeks away from hockey now. I apologize for the lack of updates and interviews over the course of this off season, but please believe me when I say that it isn’t because I haven’t been trying. I’m always open to ideas for the site here, so please, drop me a line by clicking on the envelope at the top left of the page.

Now, onto business. Over the next several days, I will put together a short “CCHA Preview” of sorts, revealing the order in which I believe the teams to finish in the standings this season. Please, do not take these odds in Vegas. Lots of guesswork goes into this, believe me.

12. Bowling Green Falcons
2008-2009 Record: 11-24-3 (12th place)

11. Lake Superior State Lakers
2008-2009 Record: 11-20-8 (10th place)

10. Ferris State Bulldogs
2008-2009 Record: 12-19-7 (9th place)

9. Western Michigan Broncos
2008-2009 Record: 14-20-7 (7th place)

8. Michigan State Spartans
2008-2009 Record: 10-23-5 (11th place)

7. Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks
2008-2009 Record: 15-17-8 (8th place)

Part two will soon follow. What are your thoughts on the bottom half of the CCHA?