Last night, Will and I met with Coach Luongo, and he asked that we start an official Facebook fan page for UAH Hockey. Being the willing and capable folks that we are, this is now up and running. If you’re on Facebook, we’d encourage you to Like us there to show your support for your Chargers. You can find links to find us on Facebook over in the sidebar.

We’ve separated this from the Save UAH Hockey page on Facebook, because that’s been more of a national effort of college hockey fans in general to keep our now-independent program afloat.

If you’re a Twitter user, @UAHHockey is us, too.

37 days until the Ferris State game!

When Chris Luongo was announced at the new head coach of UAH Hockey, UAH Athletic Director Jim Harris indicated that UAH would be playing a series against former College Hockey America foe Robert Morris in the Birmingham, Ala. area. This series has since been re-scheduled to happen in Huntsville.

The full 2010-11 UAH schedule should be released soon.

6:00 p.m.: The full UAH 2010-11 hockey schedule is now released. The press release announcing the schedule is below:

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Highlighted by a number of perennial powerhouses and a series at Bridgestone Arena, the home of the Nashville Predators, in Nashville, the Alabama-Huntsville Charger begins the Chris Luongo era with the toughest schedule in recent history.

“I am very excited about the 2010-11 schedule,” noted Luongo. “It is unprecedented in that we play multiple weekends against every league. We will compete against some of the biggest names in college hockey as well as welcome some old friends back to the VBC. Our Student-Athletes will have the most unique experience in NCAA Division I hockey this season.”

UAH opens the season at home welcoming CCHA foe Ferris State to the friendly confines of the Von Braun Center on October 7th and 8th. Following the opening series against the Bulldogs, the Chargers hit the road for four straight series starting off with a two-game set at 2010 national runner-up Wisconsin on Oct. 15th and 17th followed by an Oct. 22-23 series at Bowling Green. Luongo returns to his alma mater on Oct. 29th and 30th for a series at Michigan State before the Chargers wrap up the road swing at Ohio State on Nov. 5th and 6th.

The Friars of Providence make their first return to the “Rocket City” since 1989 for a two-game set on Nov. 11th and 12th. UAH wraps up the month of November at the 60th Annual Rensselaer Holiday Tournament in Troy. N.Y. The Chargers take on Bowling Green in the opening round of the event and will take on UConn or host RPI in the second round.

Former CHA foe Robert Morris comes to the Von Braun Center on Dec. 11th and 12th in a battle of the two former conference mates. A Dec. 16-17 trip to Mercyhurst wraps up the first half of the season before the Christmas break.

The Chargers return home to welcome in the New Year hosting RPI on Dec. 30th and 31st before welcoming long-time rival Bemidji State on Jan. 7th and 8th continuing the series between the two institutions.

Jan. 14th and 15th will see the Chargers take a trek up I-65 to take on Merrimack in the “Music City” at Bridgestone Arena. It marks the first meetings between the Warriors and Chargers since the 1993-94 season. A six-game swing finishes the road portion of the schedule for UAH with a Jan. 21-22 set at WCHA foe Colorado College followed by a Jan. 28-29 series at Nebraska-Omaha. The Chargers then finish the regular season how they began with a pair of contests against Ferris State. This time, on the Bulldog’s home ice in Big Rapids, Mich.

UAH wraps up the 2010-11 home slate on Feb. 25-26 hosing the US National Development U-18 Team for a pair of contests at the Von Braun Center.

Season tickets go on sale in September and may be purchased by calling 256-824-6144

See you at the VBC!

At a press conference today at Spragins Hall at UAH, the university has named assistant coach Chris Luongo as the new head coach of the program.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – After spending the last two seasons as the top assistant coach with the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers hockey program, Chris Luongo has been named the fourth head coach in school history.
“I am extremely excited about this opportunity and I want to thank Mr. Harris, and Dr. Williamsfor entrusting UAH Hockey to me,” said Luongo. “This is something I take very seriously and I am committed to our student-athletes, The University, and to the Huntsville community.”

A former NHL defenseman, Lungo joined the Charger program in 2008 following two seasons as assistant coach at Wayne State.

“Chris has done an excellent job with our student-athletes both on the ice and in the classroom the past two seasons and there is no doubt in my mind that he’s the right guy for our university to lead the UAH hockey program,” noted UAH Director of Athletics Jim Harris.

An All-CCHA defenseman at Michigan State under legendary hockey coach Ron Mason , Luongo was part of the Spartans program from 1985-1989 including MSU’s 1986 national championship team. Following his collegiate career, Luongo, a 5th-round selection by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, played with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the IHL and the Adirondack Red Wings of the AHL before making his NHL debut in Detroit in the 1990-91 season.

“The University of Alabama in Huntsville has had a proud tradition of coaches from Coach Ritch to Coach Ross to Coach Cole and I look forward to putting my mark on Charger Hockey,” remarked Luongo. “Having been here for two years, I have become well aware of the amazing support that UAH Hockey receives from the University, the Alumni, and the Huntsville community and look forward to building on that support in the coming years.”

A Fraser, Mich., native, Luongo along with his wife Cheryl and two sons, Anthony and Christopher live in Madison. Luongo replaces Danton Cole, who resigned in June to take a head coaching position with USA Hockey.

In conjunction with this announcement, UAH Athletic Director Jim Harris announced that the team would play Merrimack in Nashville this season as part of a double-header with the Nashville Predators. This series will take place Friday, January 14, 2011 and Saturday, January 15, 2011, with the Saturday afternoon game as the double-header. The Predators will host the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Saturday night game.

Harris also announced that the Chargers had entered into a home-and-home agreement with The Ohio State University. The Chargers will travel to Columbus, Ohio for a two-game series on November 5-6, 2010 with the return date as-yet unreleased.

The Chargers will also face off with former College Hockey America foe Robert Morris in Birmingham during the 2010-11 season.

The new UAH head hockey coach will be announced in a press conference at UAH at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. The position became available when Danton Cole left UAH to work with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.

More news as we have it. Official UAH press release below:

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Alabama-Huntsville athletics department has called a Friday afternoon press conference to announce the next head coach of the storied UAH program.

Hosted in the “Varsity Room” of Spragins Hall on the UAH campus, the press conference will begin at 1:30 p.m. to announce the successor for Danton Cole, who resigned last month to take a head coaching position with USA Hockey.

The Huntsville Times has the scoop:

“An opportunity for me and my family with U.S.A. Hockey presented itself and as a professional chance to work in their program it is a great situation for us,” Cole said. “I would like to thank everyone at UAH for all of their kindness and friendship. Dr. (David) Williams, Joe Ritch, Jim Harris, all the coaches and especially the hockey alumni and boosters have made Huntsville a home for me and my family.

“The former and current student-athletes have been like sons to me and I am very proud of how they represent Charger hockey. I also could not ask for better friends and coaches to work with than Chris (Luongo), John (McCabe), Dennis (Williams), Keith (Rowe) and Tyler (Eaves).”

Cole’s replacement should be announced later this week.

Welcome to UAHHockey.com. We’re partnering with the fine folks at UAH Athletics to create a site focused around Charger hockey like UAHHoops.com does with Charger basketball.

Obviously, we’re just getting started, but we have some really big news coming this week.