Author Archives: Michael Napier

Catching the Game: at Minnesota-Duluth, March 1-2

uahvsumdAfter another three-week break, UAH finishes up the 2012-13 campaign at Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday. The boys will be looking to send the program into the WCHA on a high note.

The Chargers and Bulldogs met for the first time last season in Duluth. UMD was the defending national champion and top-ranked team in the country, but UAH played them close and lost 2-1 and 4-3.

Duluth isn’t ranked this time around, sporting a losing record (10-17-5) and holding ninth place in its last season in the WCHA. The Bulldogs, who will join the National Collegiate Hockey Conference next season, are winless in their last nine games.

The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. CT both nights. Live video, live stats, and live tweets will be available.

WCHA notes: Playoff format, travel partners

Some news about our new league from over the weekend:

  • WCHAlogoThe WCHA athletics directors have approved the league’s playoff format, according to the Mankato Free Press. No longer will all teams make the WCHA playoffs every year: Only the top 8 qualify. The top four seeds would host best-of-3 series in the first round with the winners going to a neutral site for the semifinals and championship. The format must be approved by the school presidents.
  • The league is close to finalizing contracts with Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. (2014 and 2016) and the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (2015 and 2017) to host the championship weekend.
  • The “Alaska Plan,” in which Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage would play each other in the WCHA playoffs every year to cut travel costs, was scrapped. According to the Marquette Mining Journal, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and UAH proposed travel subsidies for the first round as they will during the regular season.
  • The Bowling Green Sentinal-Tribune reports that teams have received lists of the schools they’ll be playing next season, but no dates yet as they try to get UAH a full 28-game conference schedule. Each team will have a travel partner to play four times (two home, two away) per season. UAH’s travel partner is its closest conference opponent, Bowling Green.

Penn State 4, UAH 3

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UAH came up with two equalizers in the third period, but Penn State’s goal with less than five minutes to go gave the Nittany Lions a 4-3 win Saturday and a sweep in the “Independent League Megabowl.”

The physical play that escalated throughout Friday’s game continued into Saturday. Eleven penalties were called on Penn State and seven on the Chargers as Sebastian Geoffrion continued to mix it up with the Lions.

Penn State started the scoring at 8:45 of the first period. Taylor Holstrom centered to Casey Bailey, who fired it far side past John Griggs.

Most of the action was in the UAH zone, including during a Penn State power play that saw Griggs make four saves. The Lions also had a couple of chances on the Chargers’ lone advantage of the period.

David Glen continued his hot hand at 10:45 of the second, scoring his fourth goal of the series with a wicked short-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle to give Penn State a 2-0 lead.

The Chargers finally got on the board as Michael Webley found Kyle Lysaght in the right circle, who slid it past Matthew Skoff to cut it to 2-1 with 2:26 left. It was Lysaght’s fifth goal of the season.

The Chargers started the third with a two-man advantage after two penalties late in the second: as Rich O’Brien got a indirect contact to the head roughing penalty for a hit on Geoffrion with :44 seconds left in the 2nd, followed by a slash by Connor Varley at the horn. UAH capitalized 54 seconds in, as Justin Cseter follows up a rebound on Jeff Vanderlugt’s shot to tie the game at 2. Lysaght got the second assist.

After Kenny Brooks put Penn State up 3-2 at 7:23, UAH tied it up again at 12:20 as Brice Geoffrion got his first goal of the season, tucking it past Skoff on the right post. Anderson White and Graeme Strukoff assisted.

But Mark Yanis, left all alone in the slot, one-times a blast past Griggs with 4:26 left for the game-winner.

UAH will be idle for another two weekends before finally finishing the season with two games at Minnesota-Duluth on March 1 and 2.

Penn State 4, UAH 0

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The first round of the “Independent League Megabowl” didn’t live up to the hype if you were expecting a competitive game (or a Charger victory). Penn State rolled 4-0 in the matchup of Division I’s two independent teams,  and the first meeting between the schools as varsity programs.

The Chargers, who hadn‘t played since January 12, came out of the gate sluggish. While they were able to apply more offensive pressure as the game progressed, the action wasn’t crisp enough to produce any goals in the first period. Penn State wasn’t much better, despite a 10-8 shots on goal advantage in the frame.

However, it was Penn State who found the groove in the second period. After a turnover behind the net, Kenny Brook made a backhanded pass through the slot, finding David Glen, who found the net to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead at 1:41.

After Graeme Strukoff was called for tripping, Penn State made it 2-0 on a 4-on-3 power play as Max Gardiner redirected a Mark Yanis rocket from the center point.

It didn’t get better in the third, as the David Glen Show continued. Glen’s spin-move shot from the left circle lifted past Johnny Griggs at 11:20 to make it 3-0. Glen completed the hat trick with a goal with 5:10 left.

Things got feisty with just under eight minutes to go. Lasse Uusivirta fired a shot on Penn State goalie Matthew Skoff after the whistle, which drew the ire of the Nittany Lions. A scrum ensued, drawing several penalties on both sides. Uusivirta received a 10-minute misconduct to go with his 2-minute minor, while Jeff Vanderlugt and Penn State’s Mark Yanis received coincidental double minors for roughing. UAH’s Justin Cseter and PSU’s Casey Bailey also got roughing minors.

Penn State outshot the Chargers 43-23 for the game. Griggs made 39 saves.

Round 2 is tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. Central.

Catching the Game: Independent League Megabowl! (at Penn State, 2/8-9)

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We’re still buzzing over the program’s admission into the WCHA, but this season goes on with four road games to go. The boys play for the first time in four weeks as the head to “Hockey Valley” to face Penn State in a battle between Division I’s lone (temporarily) independent programs. Or, as Nittany Lions forward Tommy Olczyk has dubbed it:

And yes, it is catching on:

https://twitter.com/Johnny_Griggs/status/299635348751929344

https://twitter.com/BriceGeoffrion/status/299378951162298368

Friday’s and Saturday’s games start at 6:30 p.m. with live stats, live audio and live pay-per-view video. We’ll also try to throw in some live tweeting as well (#IndependentLeagueMegaBowl).

PennStateHockeyThis is Penn State’s first season as a varsity program. Its creation made PSU  the sixth Big Ten school with varsity hockey, which made it possible for the Big Ten to have a championship in the sport. The creation of the Big Ten’s hockey conference essentially led to the birth of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the demise of the CCHA, and the reconstitution of the WCHA. And that gave UAH the opportunity to find its new home starting next season.

Of course, all that takes effect this fall. Right now, let’s look at UAH and Penn State, two programs with a some similarities and some history together.

The Nittany Lions’ inaugural varsity season features a schedule of opponents similar to UAH: a mix of Division I, Division III, and club teams, although Penn State’s strategy was intentional as they ease to the big leagues from club status.

While it’s the first time UAH and Penn State will meet as varsity programs, the two met six times as club teams in the 1980s.

The first was a 1982 National Club Hockey Championships quarterfinal. The Chargers battled to a 4-3 victory before cruising to their first national championship.

The 1983 rematch was in the championship game, and it was another thriller: 5-4 over the Lions as UAH defended its crown at the Von Braun (then Civic) Center.

Penn State visited Huntsville for a two-game series early in the 1983-84 season, and again the Chargers prevailed 6-3 and 4-3. The Lions finally got a win against UAH at Penn State later that season, beating the Chargers 5-4 after UAH won the first game 9-3.

UAH would still go on to win club national title No. 3 in 1984. However, Penn State, which wasn’t in the national club championship hosted in Huntsville, claims to have won a national title in 1984 as well. So what gives?

Apparently, by 1984 there was another season-ending tournament for club hockey called the National Invitation Tournamet. The Lions won that tourney while the Chargers won theirs. But that was the relative lack of organization in college hockey back then: It wouldn’t be until 1991 when the American College Hockey Association became the umbrella organization of club college hockey.

At any rate, it’s great to see these two schools meet again for the first time in 29 years. Hopefully Penn State will make a return to the VBC in the near future.

But for now, there’s a Megabowl to win.

For more about the Charger-Lion battles of 1983 and 1984, check out the Penn State blog Thank You Terry.

UAH Will Be in the WCHA for the 2013-14 Season

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The UAH Chargers hockey program has finally found its home. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association voted to accept UAH, which will start league play as soon as next season.

Here are the reports coming in:

Catching the Game: vs. Oklahoma, 1/11-12

It’s the last home series of the season! Note that the games against Oklahoma’s club team, which were scheduled after the season began, will have no online video. To copy from last week’s recap:

  • Friday is a 7:30 p.m. start at the Municipal Ice Complex (3185 Leeman Ferry Road Southwest, Huntsville, AL 35801 if you’ve never been).  Tickets are free on a first-come, first-served basis.  There is not much room at the Iceplex, so make the drive early.
  • Saturday is a 3:00 p.m. start at the VBC.  All tickets are free at any seating level on a first-come, first-served basis.  Sorry, season ticket holders, there’s no way to reserve those seats for you outside of you going to the box office and specifically requesting your seat, which shouldn’t be hard to do day-of.

If you can’t get to either game, there’s still live stats and live tweets.

Catching the game: vs. Adrian 1/4, vs. Vanderbilt 1/5

Only four home games remain in the 2012-13 season: this weekend and next. So get your Charger hockey fix while you can.

adrian-vanderbilt-logosI don’t think UAH has ever hosted a two-game series with two different opponents. Division III Adrian stops by Friday, and Vanderbilt’s club team is in town Saturday. You may recall that a conflict in Adrian’s schedule prevented the Bulldogs from playing two in Huntsville, and Vandy was added to the open date.

Both games are at 7 p.m. If you can’t make it to Propst Arena, the usual suspects are available: Live online video, live statistics, and live tweeting.

Recapping UAH at the Mariucci Classic

The boys had a rough couple of days at Minnesota’s Mariucci Classic, falling 5-2 against No. 1 Boston College and 6-1 to Air Force.

In both games, the Chargers were down 3-0 after the first period and couldn’t recover.

Saturday’s game against the defending national champions was historic in that it was BC coach Jerry York’s 925th win, a new all-time college hockey record.

Jeff Vanderlugt scored a goal in each game, giving him seven on the season. Craig Pierce scored UAH’s second goal against BC.

The Chargers are back at home next weekend, playing Adrian College on Friday and Vanderbilt on Saturday in the next to last series at Von Braun Center this season.