Terriers Lose To Miami University In Season Opener
October 8, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
DAYTON, OH-The Terrier hockey team opened its 2004-05 season on a losing note as it dropped a 5-1 decision to Miami University on the first night of the Lefty McFadden Invitational on Friday night, Oct. 8 at the Evan J. Nutter Center.
Special teams played a key role, as the RedHawks took advantage of their situations, while the Terriers came up short on theirs.
Ranked 15th in the nation coming into the game, Miami was 3-for-10 and had 12 shots on goal on its man-up advantages and added a fourth goal while skating a man-down. In fact, the RedHawks' fifth goal came while the teams were skating four-on-four.
In the meantime, the Terriers, who were 0-for-9 and had just four shots on goal on their power play, scored their lone goal on a five-on-five. And, the goal came at the 12:01 mark of the third period when they were trailing 5-0.
"They took advantage of their special teams, and we didn't capitalize on ours," said Terrier head coach Jack Parker, who is now 24-7-1 in his 32 previous season openers. "I thought we played well on the five-on-fives, but we weren't prepared to kill penalties. That is my fault that we didn't spend enough time on it this past week."
The Terriers had been in pre-season less than a week, and, that coupled with the fact that five freshmen forwards played, were reasons the Terriers had some problems on special teams.
The RedHawks opened the scoring just 5:25 into the game when Marty Guerin and Matt Christie finished a 2-on-1 situation while Miami was skating a man down. Guerin, who got the puck back from Christie, put his shot past goalie Stephan Siwiec (Calgary, ALTA), who was starting his first game since last January 17th.
A little more than 10 minutes later, at 15:37, Andy Greene's shot from just inside the Terrier blue line beat Siwiec, who appeared to be screened on the play. The first period ended with a 2-0 Miami advantage even though the Terriers outshot the RedHawks, 12-8.
Miami upped its lead to 3-0 at 12:43 of the second period when Guerin scored his second goal of the game. The shot came from the Terrier blue line, and it seemed to glance off Siwiec's glove.
"That third goal really hurt us," said Parker. "If we had been able to score earlier in the period, it would have made it 2-1 and that could have made a big difference."
Before the second period ended, Miami, which outshot B.U. by a 14-9 margin during that 20-minute span, scored once more to take a 4-0 lead into the second intermission. The goal came off the stick of Todd Grant, who nudged home the puck after collecting a rebound just to the right of Siwiec.
Geoff Smith, like Greene and Grant earlier, scored on the RedHawks' power play. His goal came at 9:08 of the third period when he picked up a loose puck that came off the boards just behind Siwiec.
Terrier senior Bryan Miller (Wayne, NJ) kept it from being a shutout when his shot from the top of the right faceoff circle found a little opening just to the left of Miami goalie Brandon Crawford-West. A pair of freshmen-Bryan Ewing (Plymouth, MA) and Peter MacArthur (Clifton Park, NY) earned the assists on the goal that came at 12:01 of the final period.
"In general, I thought we played too tentatively tonight," summed up Parker after the game. "We weren't as quick to the puck as I would have liked us to be. We were back on our heels, and I didn't think we were competitive."
The Terriers will try to bounce back at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon when they meet the University of Michigan. Ranked number one in the nation this week, the Wolverines were upset by Northeastern, 4-2, in the other first-round game on Friday. The Huskies will meet Miami at 7:30 p.m.
"We are going to start (freshman) Karson Gillespie (Mankota, SASK) in goal against Michigan," said Parker. "We want to see how he plays, and then we will go from there."
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