CHICAGO— The Club Ice Hockey program at Indiana University picked up right where they left off last season. 

Coming off a program-best 17-7-3 record in 2018-19, the cream and crimson notched a 6-4 win in their season opener against the DePaul Blue Demons at JIH West on Friday.

Indiana 6- DePaul 4

Indiana opened the scoring in the first period on a Jack Kissell goal at the 6:11 mark. The freshman forward gave Indiana a 2-0 lead, nearly three minutes after scoring his first collegiate goal. 

Kissell, 19, is the first freshman since Indiana reclassified to D2 play in 2014-15 to register a multi-goal game to begin a season. 

Socrates Raftis, one of 15 freshman on the Indiana roster recorded the primary assist on both of Kissell’s goals. He is one of three Hoosiers to record multiple assists over the last five seasons in a season opener. 

IU took a 3-0 lead on a Vladislav Khrushch goal at the 10:48 mark in the 1st.

DePaul struck for their first goal while on the man advantage with 7:03 remaining in the first. 

Indiana, while on the power-play, tacked on their fourth goal of the opening frame when Everhett Grimes netted his first goal of the year with under nine minutes remaining. 

The Blue Demons added another goal with 2:43 remaining in the first.

IU freshman Christian Tschampel racked up his first career goal in the opening minutes of the second period, giving Indiana a 5-2 lead with 17:38 left in the middle frame.

DePaul scored their lone goal in the second with 4:55 remaining in the period highlighted by penalties.

Both teams combined for 10 minors in the second period, (6 DePaul, 4 Indiana).

The Blue Demons struck for their third goal of the night with 12:28 remaining in the final period, cutting the Indiana lead in half, 5-4.

Khrushch sealed the game for IU with his second goal of the night at the 14:03 mark in the third.

Indiana held on by a final of 6-4.

Netminder Joseph Stebbins registered the win on Friday. Dating back to last season, Stebbins has won his last four starts, with three coming on the road. 

Indiana goes for sweep on Saturday:

IU looks to sweep their opening series of the season on Saturday against the Blue Demons. 

Game time is set for 3:30 PM.