By Char Grimm

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The Cool Cats will have a two game series against Miami University (Ohio) tonight and tomorrow night. Friday’s game will be played at the Lexington Ice Center and Saturdays contest will take place in Oxford, Ohio.

After falling to Akron twice last weekend, the Cats are 4-7-0 on the season. The RedHawks will come into Friday’s game with a record of 8-0-0.

“You can’t think of them as undefeated, you have to think of them just like any other teams,” said junior goaltender Aaron Tenfelde.

“It doesn’t matter the games they’ve played before,” junior defenseman Patrick Wittman said. “All that matters is who shows up to play this weekend, and we’re ready to play.”

Tenfelde added in that Miami’s undefeated record may work in the Cats’ favor.

“We may be able to surprise them a bit. The first game is at our house.”

The Lexington Ice Center is set up so it feels like the crowd is on top of the players. The midnight start time also attracts a bigger crowd than most teams coming in to play UK hockey are used to. These factors have the ability to send a visiting team back on their heels to start the game.

“We’ve been working on our defensive end, that’s been an issue when we’re at even strength,” Tenfelde said, adding that having speed and taking shots will also be crucial in the Cats’ contests against the RedHawks.

An issue UK faced during last weekend’s games against Akron was their loss of momentum following goals scored by the Zips.

“Hockey is a game of emotions. We have to learn how to bounce back after things don’t go our way,” Wittman said.

Sophomore forward Jacob Cohen added, “We have to get excited when we score. We have to get excited to play for UK.”

The puck drops at midnight tonight at the Lexington Ice Center. Admission is $7 at the door.