Miami hosts Colgate to open season

WHO: Colgate Raiders (1-0) at No. 8 Miami RedHawks (0-0).

WHERE: Cady Arena, Oxford, Ohio.

WHEN: Friday—7:35 p.m.; Saturday—7:05 p.m.

TV: None.

RADIO: WKBV-AM (1490) Richmond, Ind., both nights

NOTES: Quick trivia question: In the past 30 years, who is the only opponent Miami has scored more than 12 goals against?

Answer: It’s Colgate, and in one of the team’s more ridiculous ‘modern-era’ (post 1982) stats, Miami scored nine goals in the second period of that 14-2 win on Nov. 29, 1996.

(To show my age, I remember listening to that game while I was delivering pizzas during my college years and remember going to a house to drop one off and when I returned to my car Miami was scoring its third goal since I got out of my car to make the delivery).

The Raiders got off to an excellent offensive start with a 10-2 win in their 2012-13 debut vs. Niagara.

Senior forward Robbie Bourdon scored two goals and set up two others, and he has posted more than 20 points in each of his collegiate seasons.

Senior forward Kurtis Bartliff added two tallies and a helper in that win on a Colgate team that loses the nation’s top scorer in Austin Smith, who joined the Dallas Stars organization along with RedHawk Reilly Smith (no relation).

Senior forward Billy Rivellini, junior forward Mike McCann, freshman forward Kyle Baun and freshman forward Tylor Spink also recorded two points in the Raiders’ win.

Colgate boasts two drafted defensemen in seniors Thomas Larkin and Jeremy Price. Larkin, a Columbus Blue Jackets draftee, has 12 goals and 32 assists in 112 career games.

Price, who was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, has recorded 13 goals and 44 assists in 114 games with the Raiders.

Junior Eric Mihalik, from Avon Lake, Ohio, logged the majority of Colgate’s minutes in net the past two seasons and he was 18-for-20 in the Raiders’ season-opening win over Niagara on Tuesday.

Mihalik has a 2.88 goals-against average and .900 save percentage in 54 career games with the Raiders. Miami will likely face him both games this weekend, since backup sophomore Steve Estep only logged one game last season.

If Miami coach Enrico Blasi keeps the JAR Line II together (Jimmy Mullin, Austin Czarnik, Riley Barber), it should be entertaining. Actually the entire offense should be enjoyable to watch.

Miami lost all of its penalty-killing forwards, except for Czarnik who is much more useful on offense, so the RedHawks will be auditioning players for that role.

Defensemen freshmen Chris Joyaux, Taylor Richart and Matthew Caito are all college hockey rookies, and it will be interesting to track their development.

And Blasi said Williams and McKay will alternate initially, so we’ll see who emerges as the starter, or if the rotation remains.