Rinkside: Central Indiana opens season with 8-0 win over Brebeuf.
Seven different Knights scored as Central Indiana outshot Brebeuf 46-13 Saturday at the Fuel Tank at Fishers.
FISHERS — Central Indiana opened its season Saturday with balanced scoring and sustained offensive pressure, defeating Brebeuf Jesuit 8-0 at the Fuel Tank at Fishers.
Seven different players scored for the Knights, who put 46 shots on goal and scored three times in each of the first two periods before adding two more in the third.
"I thought the kids worked hard at practice and did a pretty good job of executing what we asked them to do," Central Indiana head coach Rob Pozzebon said. "Some stuff to clean up, but overall very happy."
Ryder Carpenter opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the game, immediately putting Central Indiana in front.
Zachary Hsiao made it 2-0 later in the first, with Parks Lindley and Charles McNary assisting, before Joseph Rues scored his first of the game to give the Knights a three-goal advantage heading into the first intermission.
For Pozzebon, the performance reflected much of what Central Indiana had emphasized throughout the preseason.
"We’re really working hard on making solid, quick, good-decision passes," Pozzebon said. "We’re working on players being open. It’s a skill that’s necessary that we don’t talk about so much, but a lot of our drills and a lot of the things we’ve been doing at practice have been focusing on that."
Pozzebon said working without the puck has been just as important.
"Getting yourself open, working without the puck is super important for this team," he said.
That work showed up again in the second period.
Nicolas Cash Miramonti scored with assists from Owen Seaman and Benjamin Peck before McNary pushed the lead to 5-0. Rues then added his second goal with five seconds remaining in the period, sending Central Indiana into the third ahead 6-0.
Rues said the opener gave the Knights an opportunity to see how their work in practice translated into game situations.
"It feels really awesome to come away with a victory like that as our season opener," Rues said. "I think it helped us get to know each other a little more in game situations."
He said much of the team’s preseason work has centered on play below the goal line and puck movement.
"In practice we’ve really been working on down-low play, just getting our heads up, making really good passes and our systems and stuff so we can combine more together," Rues said.
With scoring spread across the lineup, Pozzebon said the balance was one of the more useful takeaways from the opener.
"One of the things I really liked about today’s game was we had seven different goal scorers," Pozzebon said. "I think that’s something that we need to impress upon the team going forward with all the teams we play against."
He said that depth could become more important as the competition gets tougher.
"We know now that we’ve got some guys that can put the puck in the back of the net," Pozzebon said. "I think having some balanced lines and multiple scoring lines is super, super important and very helpful to have."
Noah Hiott and Seaman completed the scoring in the third period.
Carpenter, playing his first game with the group, said the opener gave him a chance to begin learning how his new teammates play.
"It was a lot of fun, just good connection with the boys," Carpenter said. "It’s my first game with all of them, so figuring out tendencies and stuff like that."
He also pointed to the Knights’ energy throughout the game.
"I think it helped just having high energy with all the boys," Carpenter said. "It was a lot of fun out there, and I think that fun translated into our play. Just high energy, a lot of volume, just creativity was flowing."
Asked about the team’s goal for the season, Carpenter was direct.
"We want to win state," he said.
Rues said the Knights will try to carry the same trust and cohesion into the rest of the season.
"If we keep trusting our teammates like that, and we saw a little bit out there how we stayed together as a team, I think we can really just keep carrying that forward, keep growing together as a team," Rues said.
Connor Hillary earned the shutout in goal for Central Indiana, stopping all 13 Brebeuf shots. Graham Goodrich faced 46 shots for the Braves.
Brebeuf entered the matchup facing a size and experience difference against Central Indiana’s A team. Assistant coach Mac Perkins said the Braves knew that would be part of the challenge.
"Size was something we were thinking about coming into it," Perkins said. "They’re an A team, so they’ve got a lot of older guys, a lot of bigger guys.”
Brebeuf, meanwhile, is working with several younger players.
“We definitely have some smaller, younger guys coming in their first year,” Perkins said. “We really wanted just to emphasize not backing down, trying to take every hit as you can, play to the body, stuff like that."
Perkins said the game plan centered on continuing to compete even as the score moved against the Braves.
"The game plan going into it was just not folding in the face of adversity," he said. "It’s a tough game to play against, but I feel like our guys for the most part kept working hard, they kept moving, and that’s all you can really ask for when you play a team like that."
The next step for Brebeuf, Perkins said, will be raising the intensity level in practice.
"Leading up to this, our practices and summer skates, we’ve been working hard and competing against each other with pretty good intensity," Perkins said. "But I think that game really showed us that there’s a whole other level that we can get to within practice competing against each other."
He said that includes becoming more comfortable with physical play even among teammates.
"I know the guys like each other, they get along well, so you don’t want to hit your buddy and then be in math class with them the next day," Perkins said. "But there is a certain level of intensity and physicality that we can achieve in practice going forward that I think will make all the difference."