Among the questions is how could they replace the prolific offensive ability of a roster that lost Matt Berglund, Steve Zierke, and Blake Appleof? The three totaled 186 points which is massive. Defensively Tom McCarthy graduated and missing was fixture and four year starter Chris Student who added a devastating 59 points from the blueline. Add to that a player that acted as the glue to the club in Tom Knauff and the Red Knights saw a massive number of leaders and key players move on to turtle necks and frat houses.

A carry over from last season in Brett Patterson got things going early at 1:09 on the power play as he scored right off a draw to beat Tiger goalie Cole Lundell for the 1-0 lead. Newcomer Pat Steinhauser tallied his first goal midway through the period on a hard working effort where the Red Knights stormed the crease area and forced it to the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. The Red Knights skated out the period and outshot the Tigers by a 9-3 margin.

The goals came in bunches and in the early stages of the three periods and the second stanza belonged to the Tigers who would tie the score 2-2 in short order. First, Jon Mavetz scored from an odd angle, virtually behind the goal line as he worked the reach and stuffed a puck through the five hole on Red Knight goalie Jacob Myers at 1:48. Just :38 seconds later Jobe Peterson walked off the right boards and caught Myers with a goal to the blocker side stunning the Rec Center as the game was tied at two.

The Red Knights, who stopped moving in all three zones scraped an all important goal by Patrick Duda at 7:07 to recapture the lead at 3-2. None the less, it was an inspiring talk by head coach Ken Pauly who said after the game that he told his players, "If our skill players and roll players stop moving and stop working like you all have in this period, it is going to be a long season." For a team that is in its 50th year celebrating hockey at their school, that is not the start they were expecting.

The Red Knights responded in major fashion as they scored three goals in :37 seconds. There is no catch, that actually happened and at 1:15 of the period, it was Will Nelson who tipped a powerplay goal over Lundell to give his team a 4-2 lead. Pat Cron scored at 1:29 and it was Patrick Duda with his second as he was found open infront as the Tigers vacated the zone, and turned it over at the line. Duda had plenty of time to make two moves and score as he beat the prone Lundell for the 6-2 margin.

The Tigers were impressive throughout the game and save for a short period of time in the third, had a legitimate chance to win the hockey game. The Red Knights responded to their coaches requests and closed out their first game in impressive fashion as they outshot the Tigers (0-1) by a 33-20 margin.