Last season — let’s not talk about last season any more. We all know how it went.

The new season is here. It starts Friday with the first of two games at Colorado College, followed by the home opening series against Bowling Green on Oct. 17-18.

Here’s what to look for with the 2014-15 UAH Chargers:

Forwards

Jack Prince led the Chargers with eight goals last season. Photo Credit: Timothy Burns

The top three scorers for UAH last season were two sophomores and a freshman. Their continued growth will be a factor in whether the Chargers will start lighting the lamp with more frequency.

Jack Prince was the team’s leading scorer in his second season, scoring eight goals and 13 points. Matt Salhany notched five goals and seven assists in his first campaign, exhibiting the speed and puck-swiping techniques that were the origin of the term “Stealhany”. Chad Brears tallied six goals as a sophomore, three on the power play.

From the upperclassmen, Jeff Vanderlugt hopes to rebound in his senior season after scoring five goals in an injury-shortened 22 games. Captain Doug Reid and Craig Pierce are the other two senior forwards.

Three other sophomores return after pitching in a couple of goals as freshmen last season: Regan Soquila, Brent Fletcher, and Cody Marooney. Marooney played in all 38 games for the Chargers last season, setting a school record.

While the returnees look to their year of WCHA experience to improve, an intriguing crop of incoming forwards look to make their mark on the program early.

UAH has four freshman forwards trying to inject some energy into the offense. Max McHugh is one of SBN College Hockey’s freshmen to watch in the WCHA, coming off of a 21-goal campaign with Dubuque of the USHL last season. Continuing a focus on adding speed to the lineup, Brennan Saulnier joins the Chargers after a 49-point season with Fort McMurray in Alberta. Josh Kestner, after scoring 41 goals with Sarnia of the GOJHL, reminds Mike Corbett some of another Huntsville native, Nic Dowd.

“It was funny watching those two guys (Kestner and Dowd) skate together this summer,” Corbett said at last week’s WCHA coaches’ media teleconference. “Hopefully he can become somewhat of the player Nicky Dowd has become as a college player. [McHugh, Kestner, and Saulnier] are three guys we want to throw into the fire.”

Where will the scoring come from?  First, the Chargers have to see if Fletcher and Salhany can keep their groove going, or if 22 is better suited to be on McHugh’s wing.  Second, Brears and Soquila need to see if they can find the chemistry that seemed promising from their junior careers.  Third, Vanderlugt needs to be healthy, and he and Prince probably need to be on opposite lines from a speed perspective.  Finally, we have to see if Kestner can make the huge leap and live up to Corbs’s hype.

Defensemen

Ben Reinhardt is one of two seniors on the blue line. (Credit: Todd Pavlack, BGSUHockey.com)

Graeme Strukoff and Ben Reinhardt are UAH’s two senior defensemen, both blocking more than 70 shots last season. Anderson White and Frank Misuraca, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime at Bowling Green, are the juniors. Sophomore Brandon Carlson was second on the team in blocks with 75 in his rookie year.

Corbett brought in some size with Richard Buri, a 6-5, 215-pounder from Slovakia. He and goaltender Matt Larose are the first Chargers to be listed at 6-5 since Steve Borko in the 1995-96 season.

Speed was also brought to the blue line with Cody Champagne, who comes from Topeka of the NAHL to boost the power play. Brandon Parker, from Brookings of the NAHL, will also be key in improving the Chargers’ special teams.

The key on defense is to be getting the puck out after the blocked shots.  The Chargers really struggled in transition last season, and the only thing that will help the blocks and GAA numbers will be for the ice to not be so tilted towards the UAH end.  Corbett was very high on White going into last season, and the Chargers could use a re-emergence from him.

Goaltenders

UAH goalies Matt Larose and Carmine Guerriero (photos by Chris Brightwell)

Matt Larose and Carmine Guerriero were the MVPs of last season’s squad, and with good reason. Both received about equal playing time in their freshman season. If there’s a true No. 1 job to be hand, who will grab it?

Larose (4.72 goals against average, .888 save percentage) had the greater share of rough outings, but started to come on at the end, stopping 40 of 41 shots in the late-season road win at Bemidji State.

Guerriero (3.90, .905) showed more consistency throughout last season, and set a UAH Division I-era record with 61 saves at Minnesota State.

Jordan Uhelski, a 6-1 netminder coming to UAH from Muskegon of the USHL, will be pushing for playing time and provide added depth.

“There’s no better place to start building your program than in net,” Corbett said. “We have two sophomores in net who will continue to battle for a No. 1 position, but we believe we have a 1A and a 1B.”

In the end, the likely winner of the goaltending battle among 30 and 35 will be who put in the work this summer to get in better physical shape.  We’ve never met a freshman goaltender (or a coach of one) who didn’t talk about the need to get stronger and have more stamina even halfway into their freshman campaign.

Schedule

The Chargers will play a 36-game schedule, with 14 at home plus two exhibition matches against the USA Under-18 development team.

The WCHA slate will be book-ended with series against travel partner Bowling Green. Among the expected top contenders, UAH will play home and home with Ferris State and will travel to Minnesota State. This season, the Chargers will travel to Alaska once, at Fairbanks in December. Only two games will be played against Bemidji State, in Minnesota in January.

Non-conference play includes two series at NCHC foes — the season opener at Colorado College, which finished seventh out of eight teams and is predicted to finish last, and at Nebraska-Omaha, which finished third. The Chargers visit WCHA mate Northern Michigan in a non-conference series to complete a contract signed before UAH joined the league. UAH also visits former CHA foe Air Force, where Corbett coached as an assistant for a decade before coming to Huntsville.

“[The WCHA] is a fast league,” Corbett said. “It’s a high, competitive league, and every game is entertaining and up and down. We believe our biggest key to be able to compete was to pick up a step, and we feel we’ve picked up a step, and those freshmen will definitely help as well as our other guys getting a year bigger, a year stronger, and a year more experienced in this league.”

We’ve got UAH pegged for somewhere between five and eight wins and a tenth-place finish in the WCHA.  This season will be about bringing in the next wave, consolidating our gains, and relying on senior leadership — and boy do we have some leaders in Reider, Reino, Pierce, Struky, and Vandy — to set the tone of where this program needs to be going forward.  This will be another season of watching the playoffs from the outside, but it’s pretty clear to us that you’ll see the development that we need to see to reward our belief in #TheHerd.

Another Friday night, another slow start, another deep hole the Chargers can’t afford to dig.

Ferris State, one of the favorites to challenge Minnesota State atop the WCHA this season, scored four first-period goals en route to a 5-0 win over UAH at the Von Braun Center on Friday night.

It’s the third straight Friday that UAH was blown out in the first game of the series. In the first two series, the Chargers played better the second night and were competitive, and they look to do the same in the rematch Saturday night at 7:07.

But in game one, it was decided early. Dominic Panetta got the Bulldogs on the board with a goal at 1:40.

After that, it appeared the Chargers would not let things snowball this time as they put pressure and shots on goal on Ferris goaltender C.J. Motte, who made 21 saves in his shutout.

Then the penalties came, Ferris State made the most of just about every opportunity.

Anderson White was called for tripping at 13:04. Thirty-six seconds later, Garrett Thompson puts in a rebound on the right side and the Bulldogs lead 2-0.

Jeff Vanderlugt went off for slashing at 15:42. UAH technically killed the penalty, but Kelly Babinski on a breakout scored five seconds after it expired. 3-0 Bulldogs.

Brandon Carlson was sent off for roughing at 18:12. Kyle Schempp converts to make it 4-0 with 20 seconds left in the first period.

For the game, Ferris State scored three power play goals on five opportunities. Meanwhile, UAH went 0-for-2 as it suffered its second straight shutout.

The second period was more even — each team got eight shots on goal — but Scott Czarnowczan tallied the lone goal of the frame for the final 5-0 score.

Ferris State outshot UAH 37-21. Guerriero made 32 saves.

Saturday night, the first 500 fans receive a UAH Chargers puck courtesy of SportsMed. — Michael Napier

Are you frustrated yet?  Sure.  I can guarantee you that the players are more frustrated.  This is a young, young team.  Combine that with a new head coach and a new assistant coach and things are just plain different.  What I saw tonight was a lot of hard effort that wasn’t always coherent.  Coherence will come with time and trust, and I’m quite sure that the Chargers will have that taken care of soon enough.

Penalties killed the chances for a win tonight.  Three power play goals and a fourth goal that came six seconds after a penalty expired made all the difference in the world.  If this is a slow-down game where the guys aren’t taking as many penalties, maybe things are different.  That said, the boys haven’t had their 5-on-5 breakthrough just yet.

Some have said that Carmine Guerriero is the clear #1 goalie based on his first two efforts.  While the above paragraph goes to explain why he perhaps wasn’t to blame for tonight’s loss, I think that the greater story there is that Matt Larose is better than some people have given him credit for being.  I expect that we’ll see Larose in net tomorrow, and I think that he will benefit if the trend line continues for bad-Friday, good-Saturday.

Rome was not built in a day.  — Geof Morris

Much like the Northeastern series two weeks ago, the Chargers turned a blowout in the first game into a tough, one-goal loss in the second.

Carmine Guerriero had another solid start between the pipes, but Bemidji State’s Andrew Walsh made all the saves as the Beavers beat UAH 1-0 on Saturday.

The first period had a lot of back-and-forth, but few scoring opportunities. BSU did take the lead at 9:38 on a tally by Cory Ward, assisted by Danny Mattson and Brendan Harms.

After that was a spike of penalties. Graeme Strukoff went off for holding at 10:42 to give Bemidji State its first power play, followed by two sets of coincidental holding minors.  UAH was able to kill the penalty.

UAH’s best scoring chance of the first was a centering pass from Chad Brears to Craig Pierce, but Pierce couldn’t control the pass in front of Walsh with 2:17 to go.

Not many pucks were put on net in the first two periods. Bemidji State held a 15-7 shots advantage.

The Chargers had a great chance to even the score thanks to two late-period Bemidji State penalties in the second. First was a high-sticking penalty on Ruslan Pedan at 18:24, followed by too many men on the ice at 19:25.

The Beavers would withstand the power plays, and would attack the UAH net to give Carmine Guerriero a couple of tough saves.

UAH stepped up the pressure in the final five minutes, but couldn’t tally the equalizer. Joakim Broberg was alone in front of the Bemidji net, but his decision to pass to Doug Reid on the doorstep went wide. Jeff Vanderlugt passed to Brandon Clowes, who’s chance went through Walsh’s leg and wide.

The Chargers pulled Guerriero for the extra attacker for the final 1:30, but Walsh stood up to the challenge to earn the shutout.

Bemidji State outshot UAH 24-13. Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.

UAH returns to action on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2 and 3, against Ferris State at the Von Braun Center. Puck drop is 7:07 both nights. — Michael Napier

It was a tough night for anyone looking to score.  There were sticks and shin guards in the way, and so many shots went wide.  I’m happy with what I saw from the boys in terms of controlling the slot defensively and winning puck battles, but we had a lot of offensive execution problems, from cross-ice passes either being two feet ahead or two feet behind in the neutral zone, or someone not being ready to receive a pass in the slot.  Those things come with time, especially with everyone adjusting to a new system and 11 guys adjusting to the pace of the college level.  Guerriero made all the saves he needed to make.  We’ll see better efforts down the line.  — Geof Morris

The excitement of finally opening up the WCHA season at home against our longtime rivals was dulled by a 6-1 Bemidji State win on Friday night.

The game seemed to be closer than the score indicated as Bemidji State outshot UAH only 26-23. But when UAH had its lapses, the Beavers — and Markus Gerbrandt in particular — were quick to pounce.

Gerbrant had a hat trick, including two goals 16 seconds apart early in the third period to put the game away.

The game started with the Chargers getting the most consistent pressure, and it finally paid off with 4:11 to go in the first period on Alex Allan’s power-play goal. Doug Reid got an assist.

But it wasn’t long until BSU took the lead with its first burst of scoring. Gerbrandt tied the game with 2:53 left in the period, and Brendan Harms — on a nice redirect in the slot — scored 38 seconds later.

Cory Ward extended Bemidji State’s lead in the second period with a goal at 12:45. Gerbrandt’s two-goal burst made it 5-1, and Charlie O’Connor finally made it 6-1 with 6:28 to go.

Matt Larose made 20 saves for UAH. Andrew Walsh made 22 saves for BSU.

Kyle Lysaght, who suffered life-threatening injuries in a car accident in Atlanta back in March, handled the ceremonial puck drop before the game.

Game 2 of the series is tonight at the Von Braun Center starting at 7:07 p.m. — Michael Napier

• Box score

UAH looked overwhelmed on Friday. On Saturday, the Chargers got the hang of it.

It’s still a 3-2 loss to Northeastern, but much progress was made compared to the 9-1 debacle from Friday. The Chargers (0-2) were better prepared at the start, and played with more consistent energy.

And Carmine Guerriero showed why he was such a big get for this club.

Guerriero made 34 saves in his first collegiate start, making several critical saves on Kevin Roy and company to keep UAH in it all contest long.

One similarity to Friday night’s game, however, was that a Charger was sent off early in his collegiate debut. Brent Fletcher received a hitting from behind major penalty and a game misconduct at the 2:23 mark, duplicating Brandon Clowes’ action from the first game.

Northeastern (2-0) capitalized in just eight seconds of the major power play to take the first lead. Braden Pimm deflected Mike Szmatula’s shot past Guerriero.

Unlike Friday night, UAH would not let the game get away. The Chargers would kill the rest of the penalty — with a little help from Colton Saucerman’s hook of Stephen McKenna — to keep the score at 1-0. That was the score at the end of the first.

The Chargers increased their offensive pressure in the second period, and Guerriero continued to make big saves to keep UAH in it.

Two crucial penalties — cross-checking by Anderson White in front of the UAH net, and another cross-checking on Joakim Broberg after the whistle, led two a two-man advantage for the Huskies. NU got its second power-play goal of the night, as Cody Ferriero’s drive from just inside the blue line ricocheted off the post and in at the 16:02 mark.

Still, UAH was in the game heading to the third period down 2-0. And eventually, the Chargers’ pressure would lead to a power play goal of their own. At 4:57, Chad Brears one-timed a Regan Soquila pass from behind the net past Northeastern goalie Derick Roy to cut the lead to 2-1. Clowes also got an assist.

Colton Saucerman padded the NU lead with a goal with 6:52 to go. But Northeastern piled up the penalties, giving UAH chances late. A Dax Lauwers holding call with 2:03 left, followed by a Saucerman hooking penalty with 57 seconds left, gave the Chargers a two-man advantage, plus an extra attacker with Guerriero pulled.

UAH blasted away, but Derick Roy was up to the task until a Steve Koshey bullet cut NU’s lead to 3-2. But it was too little, too late with only 4.2 seconds to go.

The Chargers’ next action is the big WCHA-opening series at home with rival Bemidji State on Oct. 25-26. — Michael Napier

Commentary: No one likes a loss, but that was a solid game by the Chargers and a day-and-night difference from last night. The boys were forward on their skates all night long and willing to trust themselves and their teammates from end-to-end. There were a few too many penalties, but NU coach Jim Madigan would probably get mad if I said that very loudly in his vicinity.

Giving up two power play goals isn’t something you like, but killing seven more penalties isn’t bad. Carmine didn’t see that first puck, which jostled about on its way to the net. He didn’t have much chance on Ferriero’s rocket — the boys had been doing a great job of strangling the point shot, but it’s pretty hard to do that when you’re down to one forward. But allowing just one goal on Fletcher’s major had to give the boys some jump, and they showed that with a very tight 20 minutes starting halfway through the first period.

Our power play goals were fun ones: Regan feeding Chad for a great wrister on the glove side just outside the slot showed off the familiarity they have from their days at Merrit in the BC league. Steve’s laser blocker high was the clear point shot that the boys were looking for all through the final power play. But not holding the puck in the offensive zone kept the boys from what would have been a thrilling comeback.

Now the boys get a week off before we’ll see them at the VBC. Make sure to come on out! — Geof Morris