Lindenwood shocked Division I with its opening-night win at then-No. 9 Wisconsin.
The Lions — playing in just their third Division I season — have dropped three straight since, but each loss has been by one goal.
This is the first-ever meeting for these teams.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Lindenwood Lions (1-3) at Miami RedHawks (2-2-2).
WHERE: Cady Arena (3,049), Oxford, Ohio.
WHEN: Friday and Saturday — 7:05 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: 0-0.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO STREAMING: Friday — MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell PxP, Drew Davis, color).
MIAMI RADIO: Saturday — WMOH-AM (1450), Hamilton, Ohio.
NOTES: Under new coach Bill Muckalt, Lindenwood began this season on a major high with that 4-2 win in Madison, and the Lions took the Badgers to overtime the next night before falling, 3-2.
LU was edged, 3-2 and 2-1 in its series at Air Force last weekend, so the Lions head to Oxford riding a three-game losing streak.
Muckalt, a six-year NHL veteran who played for Michigan and was associate head coach there the past six seasons, relieved former St. Louis Blue Rick Zombo, who put Lindenwood on the map and went 13-40-5 in the program’s first two seasons.
Goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz has logged every minute in net for the Lions and has been a key reason they have been competitive in all four of their games, recording a .925 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average.
Bartoszkiewicz, who logged six games with Minnesota in 2022-23, split time between USHL Youngstown and NAHL Oklahoma last season, but his save percentage was well below .900 at both levels.
Lindenwood is carrying four goalies, although Bartoszkiewicz has played every minute thus far this campaign.
Henry Graham has played in 11 collegiate games between UMass and Boston College and owns a careen .922 Division I save percentage in very limited action.
Graduate senior Alexandros Aslanidis is 14-10-4 in four seasons with Western Michigan and America International, and freshman Colin Ronan went 17-9 with a 2.35 GAA and a .907 save percentage with NAHL Maryland last season.
On defense, Jack Anderson leads the team in assists (4), and the hometown junior who has played 62 games for the Lions since they went Division I is tied for second in points.
Belarussian graduate senior Artyom Borshyov, who played his first four seasons at Lake Superior State, leads all Lindenwood blueliners in average TOI (21:12) and has a goal.
Aiden Yakimchuk, Joe Prouty and freshmen Noah Houle, Shawn Ramsey and Brady Yakesh have also logged significant minutes on the Lions’ blueline.
Up front, sophomore Ethan Zielke leads LU in goals and points (3-2-5), and senior David Gagnon has two goals and two assists in the Lions’ four games.
Jaeden Mercier (2-1-3) and John Evans (0-2-2) are the only other forwards with multiple points, as Lindenwood is averaging just 2.25 goals.
Bemidji State transfer senior Alexander Lundman has an assist and is expected to contribute up front, as is senior Mitch Allard, who has 17 points in two previous seasons with the Lions.
For Lindenwood, this weekend’s games are the middle portion of a 10-game road stretch to start its season.
Miami also enters this weekend on a skid, having lost two straight to Robert Morris in a home-and-home series last weekend.
Obscure trivia but the RedHawks are 2-3 all-time against teams from Missouri, and all five games were played in Miami’s first Division I season, 1978-79.
MU went 0-3 against St. Louis that season but swept a home weekend series vs. Mizzou. So the RedHawks’ last win against a Show Me state team was a 14-2 thumping of Missouri at Goggin Arena on Dec. 16, 1979.
This series is the beginning of a four-game homestand for the RedHawks, with RPI set to visit Oxford next weekend before Miami enters the NCHC portion of its 2024-25 schedule.
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