MILWAUKEE – MSOE Hockey began their 2020-21 season about two and a half months late this evening inside the Kern Center thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This did not stop the Raiders from making the most of the shortened season from the get-go though. The Red & White offense was red hot, firing up a total of 40 shots in their campaign opening victory over the Falcons of Concordia-Wisconsin.

RESULTS
Concordia Wisconsin – 2
MSOE RAIDERS – 3

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tonight's contest got off to a somewhat slow start as both MSOE (1-0, 0-0 NCHA South) and Concordia Wisconsin (0-3, 0-0 NCHA North) tried to get their playing legs underneath them in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Raiders still outshot the Falcons 10-6 in the period, but the game went into the first intermission tied at zero. It did not take the Red & White long to find the scoresheet in the second, however. A CUW penalty allowed the Raiders to put pressure on their opponents which led to Garrett Gintoli setting up Christian Sabin for the first tally of the game one second after the Raiders first man up opportunity ended. The scoreboard would stay locked at 1-0 in favor of the good guys until the Falcons found the back of the net less than two minutes into the final frame. MSOE answered back however with two straight goals. Jeff Makowski and Gintoli added to their stats with the assists going to Brendan Ferguson, CJ Kline, Matt Hanewall, and Gintoli once more. The Falcons drew within one on a power play goal, but they could not muster anything more as the Raiders win their season opener and take a 31-6-2 lead in the all-time series against CUW.

RAIDER REMARKS

• Normally divisional foes, MSOE and CUW see themselves grouped in different parts of the standings this year. While MSOE remains in the NCHA South division, St. Norbert's opt out temporarily moved CUW to the North to even out each with five teams a piece.
• The Raiders did not let up in the second period. Though they went 0-2 on the powerplay in the middle frame, MSOE still outshot the Falcons to the tune of 20-5.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Shots – CJ Kline & Kevin Paganini (5)
Goals – Three with one
Assists – Garrett Gintoli (2)
Points – Garrett Gintoli (3)
Saves – Logan Halladay (23)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raider and Falcons will square off once again tomorrow evening with the battle taking place in Mequon. The puck is slated to drop at 7:00 pm.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.go-raiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.